Why Portable Chicken Coops Are Ideal
Portable chicken coops are ideal for
backyard farmers desiring the benefits of pastured eggs. You can keep a
small flock in a small amount of space
and then move them around. The mobility is helpful in
several ways. 
First,
chickens can be messy. They can tear up a barnyard in a short
period of time by eating the grass and scratching. They scratch with
their feet to find the worms and
other insects they prefer.
Being able to move your chickens around will also help to ensure they
have plenty to eat. While it will probably be necessary to supplement
what they can dig out of
the ground with a little poultry feed, the inclusion of worms and bugs
in their diet increases
their egg output and it increases the eggs nutritional value.
You may have read about the nutritional improvement gained by allowing
chickens to range
freely. But free-roaming is not always possible or advisable. By being
able to move them around,
you are creating a free-roaming effect.
Eggs from free-roamers have a higher content of healthy omega-3 fatty
acids and less omega-
6s. The eggs may contain less cholesterol too, according to a study by
Mother Earth News. Taste is another big
advantage -- once you've had bright orange-yolk eggs for free ranging
hens, it's hard to go back to pale, tasteless grocery store eggs.
Portable chicken coops or tractors, as they are sometimes called, vary
in design. One of the
nicest designs makes it easy to gather eggs by including an upper and a
lower section.
The lower section is for feeding and grazing. The hens use the upper
section for laying their eggs
and for roosting at night. The upper section can be opened to make
egg-gathering a breeze.
If you want to allow your hens to brood, which is the term used to
describe hens that are sitting
on their eggs in order to hatch them, you may want to invest in two
tractors. Broody hens, as the
name suggests, like to be left alone.
Portable chicken
coops vary in size, as well. A 60x50 rectangular shape
that is about 40 inches
high will provide a good environment for 3-5 hens, depending on the
size. Larger breeds may
need a little more space. The large portable coop pictured to
the right can fit 10 or more hens.
If you do want to incubate some of your eggs for hatching, you will
need a rooster.
One rooster for 3-5 hens
works. Too many roosters cause problems for the hens. Roosters
do provide a level of protection and leadership for the hens, in
addition to the ability to produce fertile eggs.
Portable chicken coops and tractors are available ready-made for a
reasonable price. If you
are a handy do-it-yourself type, plans are available to make it easy to
build your own.
Moveable coops are
great for raising chickens in a healthy, safe environment.
are uniquely designed to ensure the structures are
long-lasting. Depending on the size you select, most are easily moved.
The portability is sometimes
a nice feature to have.
You can buy
a ready- made coop, including the ones pictured on this page,
or build
one from plans available for
download. If you do build it yourself, be careful to buy outdoor grade
lumber, such as pressure-treated wood and other
long-lasting materials.
Go back to Chicken Coop Plans or home to Egg Laying Chickens, or check out more chicken-related resources:
Best Coop Plans:
How to Build a Chicken Coop - detailed plans and construction guide for making backyard coops.
These chicken coop plans and building guide are the best I've found, and purchased them myself to build our first coops. There are five different chicken coops included, beginning with the most basic double-story ark and culminating with the largest design, the Chicken Barn with attached screened-in chicken yard. I want to use their plans again for their largest chicken coop, the chicken barn, when we are ready to upsize our chicken flock's habitat. The coop pictured here is a medium-sized all-in-one design.
Recommended Chicken Books:
- Homemade Living - Keeping Chickens: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock by Ashley English
- Storey's Guide - Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow
- Barnyard in Your Backyard - A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle
Favorite Chicken Quotes
“ A chicken you eat only once — eggs a hundred times." ~ Tajikistani Proverb
“ You cannot cook one half of the chicken and leave the other to lay eggs." ~ Sanskrit Proverb
“ You don’t have to kill the chicken to get eggs." ~ French Proverb
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Don't Miss
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Chicken
Coop Ideas
A page with pictures of unique chicken coop ideas as well as tips on building them and recommended plans to follow for more mainstream looking henhouses. Your chicken coop and pen can be an attractive, fun work of art as well as a practical residence for your birds.
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Small
Chicken Breeds
Caring for small chicken breeds is virtually the same as tending to standard size hens and roosters. They need less food than their larger cousins, but also enjoy foraging and free ranging on grass. Protection from predators is essential, of course, and a secure chicken coop goes a long way to providing them the necessary protection.
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