Your chickens need a home. Should you build your own, purchase a kit or buy a prebuilt coop? There are a number of things you'll want to consider before you make this decision. Let's look at some of the pros, cons and costs of each of these options.
The prebuilt coop
The easiest and fastest way to provide a quality home for your flock is to purchase a ready-made coop from a local farm supply store. There are a wide variety of designs available and most of these will have all the features and amenities you and your chickens will need. A "ready to use" coop that requires no assembly is most likely going to be a small structure, most suitable for only a few chickens. The size limitation is simply due to the fact that it is impractical to ship, handle and move a large fully assembled hen house. If you live in an urban area and will likely never have more than a few hens, then this is a great choice. Additionally, most ready-made coops are going to look good. That's important when it comes to "neighbor relations" in an urban setting. The bottom line pros are: easy and fast, nice aesthetics and design, secure and functional. The cons are: cost - this will be the most expensive option per square foot of any type of coop, the selection or choice of designs will be limited to what your local stores can provide, transport and placement - you will need a vehicle capable of transporting the coop to your location, and probably some help with loading and placing the coop.
Chicken coop kits
Next let's look at buying a kit that you assemble yourself. These are also available from your local farm and feed stores, but the internet really opens up your options for selection and price. It will take additional time to ship your kit to you, but most will consider that a fair trade-off when weighed against the benefits. If you're going to have more than just a few chickens, then a kit can offer more choices of larger coops than prebuilt. Assembling a kit will generally require less in the way of both tools and skills than building your own. If you're not comfortable with construction projects and handling tools such as a power saw, then a kit may be just the ticket for you. Because you provide the labor for assembly, the cost for a kit will generally be less expensive per square foot than a prebuilt coop. The kit can be shipped directly to your home, so you may avoid the issue of transporting a coop yourself.
Build your own coop
The third option for your backyard chicken coop is to build your own. This is generally the most time consuming, but is usually the least expensive way to get your chicken house. Building your own hen house "from scratch" gives you complete freedom of design. If there are some design features you want, you just build them in! You will need to have some basic carpentry skills and own or have access to the appropriate tools. You also need to have the time to acquire the materials and do the actual construction of the coop. One option that people often overlook is that of hiring a handyman to help you out with some of the construction skills and labor. Because of the cost savings of a build your own project, hiring some help for part of the project can still result in a lower cost than purchasing a prebuilt or kit coop. A critical element of a DIY coop project is to start with a good plan. There are a number of books and plans available on the web. Unless you have a lot of experience with chicken houses and the mind and skills for detailed design, you would be wise to make a small investment in some good chicken coop plan materials.
