1.

Decide the size of your coop

As a general rule of thumb, one chicken needs 3-4 square feet of space of coop. So if
you're planning to have 3, then you'll need 12 square foot coop (3×4, 6×2, or bigger).

However, if you plan to coop them all the time, you need at least 10 feet each.

If the space is too small, your chickens will not be happy. The coop will get smelly real fast,
your chicken will be stressed out, they will start pecking each other, they will get sick, and
eventually, die.

You can technically provide less than 3 square feet per chicken, BUT they must be outdoors
most of the time.

For smaller bantam breeds, you'll only need 2 square feet instead of 4.

2. Decide the location

Consider these when choosing the location for your chicken coop:

1. Sunshine and shade – your flock needs natural sunlight, but not all day

2. Wind – a nice flow of air is good, but avoid places exposed to strong wind. Under a
tree is often a good place for reason number 1 and 2

3. Ease of access – you'll need to check the coop 2 times per day or more, make sure
it's easily accessible for human

4. Smell and noise – don't place the coop too close to your house, or your neighbor's
Pro tip: Don't decide a location right away, monitor the area for at least one week to make
sure there's no major problem.

3. Plan the coop

Your coop isn't just a wall and roof to protect your chickens, there are things on the inside
(and outside) to keep your chickens alive and healthy. Here are a few important things to
plan.

Must-haves:
 1. Nesting box – this is where your hens will lay their eggs. You need to have at least 1
box per 2 hens with the size of 12x12x12 inches and about 10-20 inches above the
ground

2. Windows/ventilation – your chicken will get sick easily if there's no light and proper
ventilation

3. Feeder and waterer – for obvious reasons

Nice-to-haves:

1. Perch area – chickens love to sleep on perch

2. The run – in the addition to the shelter, an outdoor fenced area is important to keep
your chickens happy

3. Dust bath box – chickens need to clean themselves with dust to stay healthy

4. Poop boards – place it below perching area, it'll save you a lot of time cleaning the
coop

5. Lighting – in the winter, warm lights can boost egg production

That's the basic, but not everything. I can't go too in-depth in this article, otherwise, the
whole page would become too long.

And that's all you need to know…now you're ready to build a chicken coop.

61 Free Chicken Coop Plans:

Capacity for Chickens:
1-4 5-10 11-20 >20Difficulty to Build:
Easy Intermediate Hard

1. Urban Chicken Coop

This raised chicken coop is perfect if you don't have a big area or if you're not raising too
many chickens in your flock. You can see by the image that while it's beautiful, it seems
really easy to build. Well, it is! The best thing about this one is that Lynda included a well-
designed infographics on how to build the coop.

Dimensions (feet) 6x3

Ideal Capacity 5 chickens

 (1 chicken needs 3-4 square feet of space)

Difficulty Easy

Build this coop ›

2. Natalie's Chicken Coop Plan

If I were to rank this coop based on the details, this would be one of the top ranked. While
this is not the easiest to build, Natalie wrote every single material needed to build this coop.
Along with nice 3D image from SketchUp. It's not the easiest, but you won't have any
problem building it as long as you downloaded the PDF file from her blog.

Dimensions (feet) 8 x 3.5

Ideal Capacity 7 chickens

Difficulty Intermediate

Build this coop ›

3. The Palace Chicken Coop

In addition to the coop itself, it has a run large enough so each chicken will get around 10
sqft area. Just by looking at the image, you can know that “The Palace” is sturdy. It looks so
professional it makes you wonder if you can build it yourself. Don't worry, even Jaden and
Scott who aren't architects can design and build it by themselves.

Dimensions (feet) 6 x 4 for the shelter

Ideal Capacity 6 chickens

Difficulty Intermediate

Build this coop ›

4. The South City Coop

You won't believe if I say this is Rick's first ever major building project, but it is. If Rick can
build this, you can too. South City Coop is ideal if you don't want your coop and run to take
much space because the shape is long to the side and not wide to the front. Lastly, it has so
many windows and ventilation so you don't have to worry about lighting and air circulation.

Dimensions (feet) 6x3

Ideal Capacity 5 chickens

Difficulty Intermediate

Build this coop ›

5. Free Chicken Coop Plan by BarnGeek

The guys at BarnGeek said that this exact chicken coop is being sold for $2,000, but they
managed to build it for free with leftover lumbers from another project. The biggest plus of
this plan is the ease of access, you can gather eggs, feed, and water your chickens without
hassle.

Dimensions (feet) 6x4

Ideal Capacity 6 chickens

Difficulty Easy