Building chicken coops and hen house shelters are critical for protecting your chickens, particularly at night. But do not let the thought of having to build a small chicken house put you off your dream of fresh, chemical-free eggs from building chicken coops in your own backyard! Using good chicken house design, you can have your coop up in a few days. I will give you an idea of how to set yourself up for an easy time with your chicken house construction. I will also point you in the direction of DIY chicken coops and DIY chicken houses. Before you run out to buy DIY chicken houses material and chicken runs it's a good idea to make some decisions about how many chickens you're going to start with, whether you want your operation to grow, and where you're going to place the chicken house on your property. For instance, if you're only going to keep 4-8 birds, a moveable chicken house plan would work well for you. A portable, ark-type chicken house lets you rotate your flock around your yard with a minimum of effort. Of course, you'll want to make sure that wherever you place your chicken house and chicken arks, it will have ready access to fresh water. You'll also want it to be close enough to your feed storage, so that you won't have to cart feed in from a distance. Build your own chicken house so that it gets adequate sun. But remember, chickens don't sweat. Make sure that they have protection from fierce sun and high temperatures. While you're at it, make sure they have shelter from winter winds, too. There are lots of different kinds of chicken pens you can build for your chickens. No matter what design you choose in constructing a chicken house, be sure it will deter predators while keeping your chickens healthy and chicken coops and runs. You will find comprehensive, easy-to-build, step-by-step instructions by reading the movable chicken house article on http://bestchickenhouseplans.com/ While the advantages of chicken keeping are obvious you will need chicken house blueprints, we should not overlook one of the less pleasant aspects of the hobby. Chickens generate a fair amount of waste, and it is important to set up a way to clean and dispose of this waste in an efficient and responsible manner. Not only is keeping the coop clean important to the health of the chickens, but it also will ensure that any unpleasant odors will be minimized Chicken manure is a high quality fertilizer. So it makes perfect sense that it be collected and reused in the garden. A great strategy for dealing with waste if you are constructing a coop based on chicken house plans featuring a solid floor is to use the high fill method. Basically this entails filling the floor of the coop with 4-6 inches of pine shavings, and periodically raking the fresh manure into the bottom of the mix. Often a layer of food grade DE (diatomaceous earth) may be added to absorb excess moisture in your chicken house plans. As the old waste is processed the height of the mix will drop, necessitating the need for addition fill material. Needless to say this method does require that the interior of the coop be easily accessible, so if your chicken coop plans do not include a door large enough to allow access all areas within the coop, it is recommended that you investigate a different design or modify the design to include a way to make the interior more easily assessable. Usually the entire mix would only be required to be replaced once or twice per year. The old mix may then be added to the compost pile, or directly into the garden. It's important to look at your chicken house plans critically, as the design and construction of your chicken coop will directly impact the safety and comfort of your chickens, which will in turn directly impact the quality of eggs you'll get from them. So how can you ensure your chicken coop is built to do its job effectively? There are a few ways to build know how to build a chicken house and use chicken coop blueprints. Firstly, try and build your coop on a high point. You don't want your coop to be in a low area because drainage will cause dampness in and around the coop, which will make it an uncomfortable place for the chickens to live. Chickens, like people, don't want to be cold or wet all the time, so building in a high place will help keep the dampness away. Secondly, it's important to keep your chickens warm. An easy way to do this naturally is to build the coop somewhere that faces the sun, and place your windows facing southward to maximize the amount of light they get throughout the day (if you're in the southern hemisphere, face your windows north.) This will give your chickens a natural light source that will help keep them warm in the cold winter months. It's also very important to use the best materials you can, while still keeping the coop economical. Choose materials that will be easy to clean. The less porous the materials are, the better, as less bacteria and moisture will soak up into the structure. Also, quality materials, like strong wire, will help keep predators out of your coop, ensuring the safety of your chickens is to build a chicken house. For instructions on how to cheaply and easily build your own quality chicken coop, click here to check out Building a Chicken Coop. This guide will provide you with easy to follow plans for a variety of chicken coops that are affordable, easy to construct and don't require any specialized tools!