Backyard Chickens' Guide to Coops and Tractors: Planning, Building, and Real-Life Advice

Like this product. Not finished looking through yet, but so far, so good.

I'll be upfront. This book is fine. But it offers only a little bit more than can be found for free on the BackyardChickens.com forum, and can be frustratingly inadequate at critical points.The design renderings dance on the edge of usability, but are small—making it difficult to see detail. A coop/run structure is complex enough that there really needed to be more detail views.Related, the lumber cut lists are superficially useful, until you realize they have no clear organization. If you were trying to follow along, you'd have to go through the list manually, sort by rough size, and then figure out the raw lumber you need. Plus, the lists are small JPEGs rather than text, making them needlessly difficult to read. They should be tabular text and organized by rough sizes so you can more easily understand what you need to buy.The descriptions by the builders are … fine. But also inadequate because just when you need detail, they get vague. The photos of the in-progress coops are the same. "Here's some wood." "Here's my chicken near a partly built structure." "Here I am drilling a screw into a 2x4." "Here are a few views into the finished coop where you can't actually see how I put it together." It's especially annoying with those where they start out with some nice photos of laying out the frame and prepping the ground, and you think, "Okay, now I will see how it's done." Then, suddenly, the photos jump to 10 steps later and the description says something like, "Then we put it all together." That's when you throw your Kindle across the room.If you're an experienced carpenter, this is probably not a problem. But if you're the kind of person without a lot of experience but do have a few skills and a willingness to try your hand at something challenging, this book will get you just far enough to feel frustrated, but not far enough to actually get the job done.

This is a great book for those who are building their own coop and plan to do so in a conventional manner. Many choices of size and shape with construction details and bill of materials are given. In my case, the purpose of this purchase was to generate some ideas for my own coop that I need to build, and that it did, though I'm not sure there was any unique idea that could not be found on the Internet. The chicken tractor I am building is using PVC pipe and fittings for the framework so as to be very light yet strong, and there was no example in this book that could help me with PVC and the unique structural characteristics that PVC brings. My design is incorporating a solar powered motor to move the tractor slowly throughout the day, along with a solar powered door to open at dawn and close at dusk. I am also incorporating a feeder and waterer that can be serviced from outside the coop. My ideas are a little "outside the box" I know, but for me as a retired engineer, that is part of my fun. This book offered little in "outside the box" thinking yet still was able to generate some ideas for my coop.

This book is very nice with very detailed illustrations and even better, color pictures of the building progress of each coop. The coops are all kind of small but many of the ideas in them can be used for larger coops. In my opinion (and maybe this is because I'm getting old) the print is too small to read comfortably and would be easier to see on a white or barely off-white background instead of the wood print that it's on. So I admit I have not read much of the text because it gave me a headache to try (and I do a lot of reading-but apparently with bigger print and lighter backgrounds). If it had improved readability I would have given it 5 stars, even though we only saw one coop that would have been big enough for our 12 chickens.

This is an overall nice book. My issue is that the book includes an extensive "cuts list" but doesn't actually give you a "purchase wood/supplies" list making it very difficult to get what you need in one trip out. But it does provide a nice set of chicken coops.I really wish that there were more chicken tractor designs presented. Nearly all of the ones in the book are for stationary coops.I wish also that there was more space devoted to protecting chickens from predators (there is a bit, but the author assumes you know some basic things that many readers might not know).

this book has nice plans however the one i chose to build had 10 cuts listed that were to short causing me to pre cut all my material to then find out that ten pieces were to short for the roof that was needed for the plan. i had to purchase another 5, two by tens to complete the coop. the amount of wood needed is not broken down into a purchase list either so you have to wing it(just a cut list). some other materials needed werent even mentioned at all i.e. siding for my coop. at times the plan i chose got extremely frustrating to build due to the plan not being written down in a constuction type way. if you purchase this book-good luck.

I have gone through this book at least 6 times. Every design has a great write up and good tips on construction and housing chickens. Each design has a great 3D and plan views, plus bill of materials nicely labeled. Even updates from the owners on what they would do differently the next time. This is a great book! I took the best of each design and used Google Sketchup (free version) to make my own composite design. Easy as pie. I also recommend viewing the website backyardchickens dot com. Real people writing about real life on the farm.

I just received this book and I have to say that I wish this had been published two years ago when I built my coop. I scoured the internet for basic chicken coop plans and came up empty. The one's I found were either for large flocks or were simply impractical. This book highlights 16 basic backyard coops which can be built by the beginner to expert. It's full of color pictures of each coop's construction as well as a measured drawings and supply lists. I highly recommend this book for people looking to build their first coop.

This is the right book for people planning to build a coop but never has buildt anything before. Its for the total beginner but provides you with ideas also if you are used to tools. It,s a bit boring if you are a handyman/woman.

Very. Pleased, plenty of information for a novice, and started building already. Highly recommended. Thank you

quick efficient service would recommendthnx

A great guide for both inspiration and making your own coop.

This book is great to give you plans and ideas for backyard coops. Take note that it is intended for very small flocks, for the most part. Great for seeing the different arrangements people use for ventilation and interior accommodation of roosts, feed, and nests. If you are starting out on a hobby farm and want more than a few chickens, I would suggest borrowing this one from the library while purchasing a copy of Harvey Ussary's The Small Scale Poultry Flock.