When the time comes to select which chicken coops to build, choosing the design can be a little intimidating with all the options to choose from in a long list of designs and plans that are available.

We’ll take a look at the three basic categories that will allow you to get a good idea of what’s needed and help you make a educated decision.  

There are three things you need to keep in mind as you review the information below that will help you refine your choice in which design truly meets your needs. 

• How many hens and roosters do you want to have?
• Do you have enough room for the sized coop you would like?
• Is there a need for the coop to be mobile?

One is just as important as the other, for example, lets say you want 8 chickens but only have enough property to build a coop that would hold 3 or 4 chickens, obviously you couldn’t do that.

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..

Ideal setup for someone that wants a cool hobby without a ton of work and really isn’t in it for the eggs or meat, though eggs would be available if you wanted them.

Small coops are easy and efficient to assemble and usually have the appearance of a playhouse or shed that have an enclosure attached to the coop. This keeps the hens and roosters in and the predators out.

Mid-Sized Chicken Coops

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

Since a mid-sized coop is just about twice 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 most often stationary.

Large Chicken Coops

If room isn’t problematic for you and you are thinking that you’d like to keep chickens for making money 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 big as you want to house as many chickens as you would like to keep.

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