30 DIY Chicken Coops

Your hen house needs a secure, waterproof, and predator-proof roof. This post has clear, concise, and detailed DIY plans for roofing your coop.

Need inspiration and the plans for a DIY chicken coop, run, nesting boxes, and even a dutch door? This is the post you need - it's an easy DIY chicken coop perfect for beginners.

Learn how to build your own chicken coop up against an existing building or back wall - in this case, an outdoor shed. This post lays it all out, including how to use upcycled materials to keep your new chicken coop costs down.

Before beginning to build your own chicken coop, it's important to make a few key decisions. The size of your yard, number of chickens, local bylaws, your climate, predators in the area, etc. Here's what to know.

We built our DIY off grid chicken coop last April at our off grid homestead. The extremely cold climate (-50C in winter) meant we had to take special care in insulating, as well as making a few key changes to typical coops. However, we did make a few mistakes with our first hen house. Learn more!

This post is a must-read for free chicken coop plans (including A-frame chicken coops), inspirations, tips, and many detailed instructions for a simple build and design of a new coop.

According to the author, this smaller coop came with a lumber price tag of...$0?!? Read on to learn more.

What type of wood should you use to build your coop? What about nesting boxes? Does it need to be insulated? What should you use for flooring, chicken wire?

These questions and more get answered in this useful post on DIY chicken coops.

My friend Tracy over at Simple Living Country Gal has a really useful post on how to convert a former pig shed into a backyard chicken coop. This is a great DIY project for the whole family.

One of the most frugal ways to build your own chicken coop is to upcycle. Either use materials you already have, scavenge, or get second-hand bits and pieces to create a coop. Check out this charming upcycled coop - I love the bit about the $5.00 windows!

This simple, small chicken coop can be constructed with basic materials, many of which you likely have laying around your property. Plus, with such a sturdy design this will last you through many winters.

Looking for a backyard chicken coop that is well designed to protect against urban predators like raccoons and ferrets? Try this design, ideal for starting a small flock in an urban setting.

Another great design for a small, urban backyard chicken coop. This cute little house won't be an eyesore in your backyard space and can be built in a single day for just a few hundred dollars.

This A-frame chicken tractor has a built-in nesting box and perch, watertight roof, and protection from predators. Plus, it's light and easy for you to move around your yard. The materials will cost you around $100 unless you upcycle old materials to incorporate into the design.

This 4' x 8' coop is solidly constructed to keep out predators of all sizes. The instructions even explain how to dig down and bury your chicken wire along the perimeter to prevent animals from burrowing underneath. Also, some great tips on roof construction for those with snow-heavy winters!

For those that want to avoid digging post-holes but still want a solid, level chicken coop. This option has an easily accessible nesting box and lots of internal space for a medium-sized flock. As an added bonus, it has a very vibrant paint job.

This large chicken tractor has built-in nesting boxes and enclosed shelter, as well as a ramp down to their foraging space and complete protection on all sides. As far as DIY chicken tractors go, this one is pretty big and would be great if you have a larger property to move it around on. If you have the space and foraging available, using a chicken tractor-style coop is a great way to house your flock.

This DIY chicken coop was built using all upcycled materials, whether they were donated, scrapped, or found on the builder's property. The plans have some helpful insight into ways to reuse different materials in ways you might not have expected. With this simple design, most people with basic carpentry skills should be able to easily build this style.

For those with a limited budget and space constraints, this small A-frame design chicken coop and run would work perfectly for those living in an urban area. The authors of this design purposely designed it to be easily moveable and non-permanent since they rent a home in a neighborhood.

Another urban design, these authors specifically designed this DIY chicken coop to house 5 laying hens, since that was the maximum allowed by the local by-laws in their town. They even added a cupola to the peak of the roof to help provide more ventilation to the coop.

Okay, this one might be a little over the top, but it just looks so good. Designed to appear like a miniature barn, this DIY chicken coop will take some skill to replicate.

The builders upcycled remnants from an old garage they tore down, and provide detailed instructions and step-by-step pictures. They even added a motion sensor light to the front of the coop. To be honest, this might make a better guest-house than a chicken coop!

This sizeable DIY chicken coop is made of two parts: a 10' x 8' chicken run and an 8' x 8' chicken coop to provide shelter and a nesting area. For a coop of this size, keep in mind there can be quite a high cost for materials if you don't have some to upcycle.

These instructions from the Modern Farmer can be adapted to a variety of coops, such as 4' x 8', 6' x 12', or 8' x 16', depending on your square footage requirements for your chickens. They provide some useful insight into items to incorporate into your design, and what chickens like and don't like in a coop. They also accompany each step with labeled 3D drawings for your reference.

This definitive guide to building your own chicken coop has all of the information you need to imagine, plan, and build a perfect hen house. While it doesn't include traditional plans, the Almanac provides all of the pertinent information you need when figuring out how, or what you want to build for your chickens. Make sure you take a read through this before settling on your final design.

These plans from HGTV will help you build a small DIY coop that will fit in a small yard. The raised-enclosure design will fit 6 chickens, and has a footprint of 6' x 10', with a ramp and chicken run as well. They even explain how to convert your chicken coop into a shed if your chicken endeavors don't end up being a long-term thing.

With just a few basic tools, you will be able to build this classic DIY chicken coop. It has nesting boxes on one side and easy access on the other side for food and water. The author provides a full material list with measurements and detailed instructions with rendered images for each step.

This unique backyard chicken coop completely opens on one side to allow for cleaning and bird foraging. It really is an ingenious design that is very compact and practical. It will fit up to 6 birds or more if you allow them to free-range or build an attached chicken run. This author of this post used to build and sell chicken coops as a side business, so he has likely honed his perfect design through many renditions.

This large chicken coop plan can comfortably hold up to 18 chickens and has a footprint of 132 square feet. It uses a raised coop with a ramp down into an enclosed chicken run. With many images for each step, these plans even come with a YouTube video to help you along.

This plan for a classic chicken coop will fit up to 8 chickens and comes with a material list and detailed measurements. They also include optional changes or additions that will help you get creative and customize the final design to suit your own needs.

In this design, Mike & Christine use a creative plan to build a chicken coop that incorporates a large run and home garden. The thought behind this is that the chickens will eat weeds and bugs, as well as add nutrient-rich fertilizer to the soil.

The fenced-in areas are on each side of the chicken coop, one side for the garden, and one side for the chicken run. They rotate which side the garden is on each year to take advantage of the fertilizer-rich soil on the previous year's chicken side. If you have the space, this would be a fantastic addition to any homestead.