How to Pick the Perfect Coop
Experience Can Be Kind or Harsh, Depending on Your Choices in Life and in Chicken Coops.
Choosing the right chicken coop, the first time, will save you time, money and most likely tears. Over the past five years I have worked with hundreds of people to help them do just that. Many were in the place I suspect you may be right now. The people I have spoken with often fall into on of three camps when it comes to buying a chicken coop.
The Newbie
The first group is the newbie. I have never done this before. I am really confused. Help, please. Even those who take the time to read or listen to friends seem to find it a bit daunting to take up part-time backyard farming tasks and responsibilities. There are a lot of unknowns and I usually find that the information that they do have is limited and insufficient. It really isn't surprising given the mishmash of information that people need to sift through to find the good info.
Those Who Persevere
The second group that I interact with is more seasoned but made a choice that put them in that place I started out this article warning you about. They may have made a make-shift coop that wasn't secure or purchased a sub-par hen house.
A predator will likely find a way into any insecure structure. The inevitable result is the loss of life for the chickens. Those customers are determined that they are not going to let that happen again. They learned from expereince and that can be a cruel teacher. So, if I can help you to avoid some of the harsh reaslities of making some basic good decisions about your first or second chicken coop purchase, I am thrilled to do so.
I do not want to forget to mention another unfortunate event that can happen to backyard chicken keeper. It is chicken coop fires. I have spoken to too many people who experience fires in their coops, often from heat lamps. Even if you never get through this entire primer, please be super cautious, or just don't use heat lamps in your coop. It is unusal to need to warm up chickens. They love the cold, unlike us. Heat lamp usage one of the few things that the Amish builders warn about when it come to chicken tending.
Seasoned Keepers
The third group is the seasoned chicken keeper. They just kept their chickens so long that they wore out their coop, moved or decided to upgrade. There is no doubt that they should be writing this instead of me. Luckily, through the years I have learned a lot from this group. It suprised me at first that they love the convenience features and automation after the quality and safety, of course!
Now that you know which group you fall into, let's start with the standard Amish chicken coop styles. Why the Amish chicken coop styles? Well, because I know them and they are by far the best made chicken coops that you will find anywhere - maybe I am a tad bit biased - who knows?! Since they make chicken coops by hand, to meet the customization you specify, you can pretty much get any style you can dream up. But, let start with the industry standards before we create your chicken mansion.