Hey, My name is Michael and I love my chickens! They're thriving and loving their new coop, I just built myself. I am not bragging, but I'm truly very happy accomplishing something even without the necessary handyman skills.

Believe me, even if you don't have much experience and skills in construction, you can build your own chicken coop. It's really a lot easier than you think. I have saved significant amount of money by building it myself. I love raising my own chickens and now with the new coop, there's nothing quite like my very own fresh eggs, and as an extra benefit, I get great fertilizer.

If you're considering raising chickens, you should check out this great guide called Chicken Coop Living. It has great advice and information on raising chickens and an easy step by step guide on how to build your own chicken coop.

If you're already raising chickens, and want to build a more sophisticated chicken coop you have to check out A Step-by-step Guide And A Collection Of Award-winning Coop Designs by Richard Edwards. He teaches a step by step guide on how to build over 100 different, time tested and proven chicken coops.

Chickens provide free pest and weed control, personality and of course eggs. The idea of raising backyard chickens is growing more and more popular. People who are interested in being part of the production of their own food, who are concerned about the treatment of animals in the farming industry, who want to share in the care of their environment or who just like having animals around are all turning to raising chickens as a solution. These are the major reasons why people raise chicken at home.

People don't need to have a farm out in the country to keep chickens. Many towns and small cities permit a certain number of chickens at home. Madison, Wisconsin, for instance, allows up to four hens per household. Roosters are often restricted, because of the noise problem they contribute, but hens will happily lay away without ever seeing a rooster anyway. Forget the old wives tale that you have to have one around.

If you're interested in keeping chickens at home, you don't need much to get set up. In the spring, you can get day old chicks from local feed stores. At other times of the year, you can get them from local hatcheries or people who raise chickens. There are many specialty and ornamental breeds of chickens in all sizes. If you're looking for something a little more unusual than the standard Rhode Island Red, you can look into specialty chicken breeders. Information can be found on the Internet. You can also either look up a local breeder or have your chicks shipped to you. Through these you can acquire fancy chickens, such as the Araucana, which lays green eggs, or the ornamental Japanese Phoenix birds.

No matter where you get your chicks, you'll need to have some place for them to live. For the first 60 days, they can live in a small animal cage like those used for rabbits or in newspaper or wood shavings. After 60 days, you'll need a coop for them. You could buy an expensive commercial coop, or find easy plans to build your own chicken coop.

There are few other things to consider. A chicken needs around 3-4 square feet of space because chickens really like to roam. Chickens also need occasional outdoor space to wander about. And if you have a garden, keep them away it. They will gladly eat your baby plants together with the weeds.

The traditional building material for chicken coop is still wood, but some people have experimented with other materials. As long as you know your area and how many chickens you need to house, you can easily find a coop design that suits your space, carpentry skills, and the needs of your chickens.

Raising chickens at home is a rewarding experience which more and more people are turning to in this age of technology. It keeps people in touch with what is satisfyingly natural. Enjoy the rewards of your home chicken coop today!