There has been so much on television recently about keeping hens and chickens that the sales of chicken coops and poultry houses has shot up.

Here at ideas-4-pets we have had trouble keeping up with the amount of orders for chicken coops over the past couple of months. However, we now have lots of new hen houses coming into stock within the next few weeks.

There are chicken coops with runs, chicken coops without runs, coops suitable for 2-4 chickens right up to huge chicken houses large enough to house 100 chickens !! A very popular starter chicken coop is the type which has a sleeping area with or without a nesting box and an attached run with a felted roof to provide cover from wild bird droppings (in accordance with avian flu precautions)

These chicken coops do not take up too much room and because everything is integrated under one roof, they provide an ideal “all in one” combination which suits most people’s (and chicken’s) needs.

Because these coops are fairly inexpensive and come in 2 sizes, they are proving to be our most popular seller.

There seems to be an on-going debate as to whether chickens need a nesting box in order to lay their eggs and customer feed-back just adds to the debate. Some customers feel that a nesting box is essential whereas others feel that free-range hens lay anywhere that is dark (ie. the sleeping area) Some customers want to have perches fitted in the sleeping area which some of our coops do, but others are concerned that the perches provided will not be the correct diameter for the birds they have chosen to keep, so other coops do not have them fitted, preferring to let the customer provide whatever diameter they feel necessary for their particular choice of bird.

Whichever chicken coop you eventually decide on, choose carefully and make sure that the one you choose is large enough for the amount of chickens you intent to keep. A happy, contented laying hen will not only provide you with a good supply of eggs, but the whole experience of keeping hens should provide you with a pleasant hobby that reaps its own rewards.