If you are thinking about keeping chickens you’ll want to start by planning a coop for them. Too many floor plans and layouts choices can seem puzzling. We’ll look at the different types of chicken coops plus their uses.

Visit Keeping Chickens with Duke for the best chicken coop designs and blueprints.

Deciding on which type of chook coop best fits your needs depends on several issues. For instance: number of chickens, useable space for building, the need for portability. These are all significant things to regard. For example, if you decide to only keep a few chickens and want easy maintenance, you might choose to use a portable chicken coop.

First we’ll examine the small coop. Small coops of course contains only a minimum number of chickens. They hold anywhere from two to six chickens. These small pens are used for keeping chickens as pets. Small coops are generally constructed like little playhouses or sheds with fencing all around. Preventing your hens from escaping and wandering about your neighbor’s yard.

More details about the pet chicken coop can be found on our website Keeping Chickens with Duke.

Medium chicken coop plans are about the same as the small chicken coop designs except they hold more chickens. Even though a midium sized chicken coop can hold two times the amount of hens as the small coop, it is not adequate for raising chickens for profit. Whether from the chickens themselves or their eggs, the number of hens you can raise in a small or medium pen will not make enough of either to be profitable.

The best size for a portable coop would be a small or mid-size coop. If you want to raise a lot of hens but still want the freedom of a portable chicken coop, then it would be best to build several mid-sized coops.

This brings us to the design for the large chicken coop . The sky is the limit for the large coop. The number of chickens you want to keep will determine the size of the coop. Have at least 6 sq ft per chicken, better still try for 10 sq ft if the area is available. That means that you would allow 200 sq ft of area for the run if you want to lodge twenty hens.

A good chicken house design for people who live in an metropolitan setting is an enclosed portable chicken coop. By closing in the coop area you will protect your pets from getting loose and from neighborhood predators. This is not as big of an issue in the country.

To learn more about keeping chickens visit www.keepingchickenswithduke.com and pick up our How to Keep Chickens Tips and Resources Guide.