Positioning your chicken pens and coop is a very important point you must pay attention to as it will have a direct influence over how many eggs your chickens lay and therefore, how happy you are overall with the results of your chicken coop.
Selecting the perfect spot on your yard to place your chicken coop will be important so that you’re happy with it for years to come. Consider it from a variety of angles because many things are going to be impacted by where the coop is located.
There are just a few points to consider.
Climate and Environmental Issues
Climate also plays a major role in determining the positioning of the coop. You need to be especially careful when you live in a place with heavy rainfall. When there is frequent rainfall in your place, try to build the chicken coop in an area which has plenty of trees nearby for protection. This helps in reducing the chances of the chicken coop being hit by direct rain.
During rainfall, if the coop and pen is placed in the area of the yard where the water runs, then there are chances that you’ll have a flooded chicken coop and a wet and muddy pen. This can lead to mosquitoes and other pests and possibly disease. To avoid this, you must make sure that the coop is positioned in area where there is no water running.
And last, if where you live it gets windy is another reason to consider building the chicken coop near some trees or other structure that can help shield the chickens from the wind gusts. Remember ventilation is good not so much that it will allow the wind to get inside the coop.
Protection Against the Predators
First of all, the coop must be in a location that is closer to you, so that you can keep an eye on them. This is because, the chicken coops often attract a number of predators and hence this poses a high risk to the chickens.
In case you have a large farm, you may have some areas of the farm where the animals have access to. Choose to place the chicken coop far from such locations so that the chickens do not fall a prey to the predator animals.
Amount of Sunlight
Build the chicken coop in a place with sufficient sunlight since the chickens require a good amount of natural sunlight. Building it in an area which directly faces the sun would be a better idea. In case you fail to build it in well lit area, you may have to provide artificial lighting which unnecessarily increases the cost of electricity bills.
Decide a proper place for positioning your chicken pens and coop after keeping in mind all the above considerations. This will keep you and also the chickens happy for a long time. You will also feel good to see that the number of fresh eggs produced daily has increased considerably.
You can save time by having a plan for constructing your chicken pen and chicken coop. For some of the most popular chicken pen plans and chicken coop ideas look into Bill Keene's DIY construction guide.