When you set out to buy a chicken coop, remember that "all cooped up" is a bad phrase.
It doesn't reflect the warm, dry, sweet-smelling, and roomy coops that successful chicken ranchers use to house their birds.
A chicken coop is basically a box.
How it's constructed and outfitted determines how best you are going to be able to care for your chickens.
Following is a list of your primary concerns when you set off to buy a chicken coop.
Each is very important.
Space - Three-square feet of coop-space per chicken is the minimum to foster good health and comfort for your birds, four-square feet is better.
If you have the space, the sky's the limit.
Note well, these minimum sizes are for chickens that will have access to a chicken run or a fenced chicken yard.
Feeding - Food should be dispensed into a tray to accommodate a satisfactory table-height for your well-feathered diners, about six to eight inches off the floor of the coop.
Some have reservoirs that dispense more food as needed.
The food trays should be very easy to keep clean.
Watering - Watering devices should have trays or bowls at about the same height as the feeders.
These too can be had with reservoirs to keep the water level constant.
Be sure that the coop you buy, or its attachments, allows you to keep the water bowls and reservoirs clean and easily filled with fresh water.
Cleanliness - Lack of cleanliness is a major problem in factory farms and it quickly leads to unhealthy chickens and eggs.
You may want a coop with removable trays underneath to remove droppings.
It should by easy to clean and able to withstand pressurized water and bristle scrubbing with disinfectant.
Wooden, metal, and plastic coops can be found that are easy to keep clean.
Roosting - The ancestors of our chicken friends spent their nights in the lower branches of ancient trees.
Our modern chickens still take comfort in roosting.
When you buy a coop, remember that each bird should have available at least a ten-inch "reserved seat" on a perch of at least 3 inches longs.
The roosts should be a foot or so above the coop floor.
Nesting - Your hens will offer you eggs because of your hospitality.
Comfortable hens are comfortable layers.
Nesting boxes should be about 18-inches square, with a two-inch rail round about, and raised above the coop floor, but not as high as the roosts.
They should be at least slightly partitioned from the rest of the coop to help the layers accommodate their instinct for laying eggs in a safe place.
Nesting boxes must not be counted as part of the required minimum living space for each bird; increase coop space to accommodate boxes.
Up to four hens don't mind cooperating in the use of one nesting box.
Ventilation - No matter what type of coop you buy, be sure it has cross-ventilation.
Three walls with only one opening is not good.
Chickens need cool fresh air to maintain their respiratory health.
Varmints - Predators, and those varmints that will eat spilled feed and droppings, must be kept away from your birds.
Chicken wire works to keep chickens in, but it's not so good at keeping enemies out.
Snakes, rats, and mice can crawl through it.
Raccoons can reach their paws through it.
Any coop screening should have openings no larger than a quarter-inch, as with hardware cloth.
There are countless ways to trick-out a chicken coop.
A chicken coop can be a rather fundamental structure or something that resembles a palace.
You could build one yourself if you want to exercise your carpentry skills with the scrap wood from behind the garage.
All kinds of plans are available.
Or you could assemble one from a kit.
Punch "chicken coop" into your web browser to see all options.
You have to do some thinking and engineering to accommodate your feathered friends.
By all means, keep in mind what fun and good health raising chickens can bring.
But also keep in mind your time, your space, and your budget options before you buy a chicken coop.