If the time has come to select which, of the many designs for chicken coops to build, it can be a bit daunting due to the sheer number of plans and designs available to sift through.

Below we’ll review three basic requirements to enable you to make a good educated decision.  

Before we go right to breaking down which chicken coop fits your needs, there are a few things you need to know to help you decide what your needs are. 

• How many hens and roosters?
• Is there sufficient space available on your land to construct a coop?
• Is there a need for the coop to be mobile?

Each of these is just as important as the other. An example would be if you want to be able to move your coop around your property, but would like to have 10 chickens, that will pose a problem because portable coops are made for two or three birds.

Small Chicken Coops & Hutches

This includes portable chicken tractors as well as stationary hutches. These are designed for a very small number of chickens – two or three large breed chickens and up to six smaller chickens like a bantam..

Perfect for a person who is raising chickens as a hobby and is mainly interested in having them as pets rather than raising them for eggs but that would still be an option even with a few birds.

Small coops are easy and quick to build and usually have the look of a playhouse or shed that have an enclosure attached to the coop. This keeps the chickens in and the predators out.

Mid-Sized Chicken Coops

Chicken coops in this category are really for those who desire eggs and possibly some meat, but only for personal use. There isn’t excessive space for a lot of chickens to be able to lay enough eggs to try and make any sort of income.

Since a mid-sized coop is just about double the size of a small one, you’ll only be able to keep around four to six birds. This type of coop can be assembled to be portable but is typically stationary.

Large Chicken Coops

If room isn’t problematic for you and you are thinking that you’d like to have chickens for profit or maybe to provide your whole family with eggs and meat, then a large chicken coop is probably for you. A large coop can be as large as you want to house as many chickens as you would like to have.

A quality set of plans, which can be easily downloaded from the Internet, will tell you how big a coop you’ll need to construct to house however many chickens’ you’re thinking about keeping.  It will also help you understand how large of a chicken run to build as well as the materials you’ll need, right down to the last nail.