uBuilder Plans

Your plans probably address these questions, but I am a little concerned about painting the inside of the hen house - Do the hens peck at the paint? Do you have to use a special nontoxic paint?

A- I currently house three LARGE hens in my City Biddy. An Ameraucana, a Welsummer, and a Cornish-Rock cross hen (she was saved from the freezer!). My largest hen (the Cornish) weighs around 6 pounds! They fit very nicely in the hen house. I would not adjust the size in any way of the hen house. For one thing this size and plan allows you to use fewer materials - all the major parts come out of (1) 4 x 8 x 3/4 sheet of plywood and (2) 4 x 8 sheets of siding. Heck our cutting diagram even allows you to have the major cuts made at the home center when you buy your materials! You will find that the size works VERY well as long as the hens have a nice little pen attached to it and can come and go outside. My pen is 8 X 3 X 3' 6" tall with a top. I send instructions (verbal for now) with the plans when I ship them. My hens ARE allowed out in our backyard several days a week for a couple of hours to forage on grass, bugs etc... (When I am there to keep an eye on them). I would probably recommend a larger pen size if you can. My yard is SO small and I have two LARGE dogs as well, so this is not really an option for me.

Living in Missouri is not a weather party either. Today the temperature is 102! In the winter the temperature gets as low as -15 degrees with HARD winds! My City Biddy Hen house has been in constant use for three years.

The design is such that floor vents combined with large roof venting provides a great natural convection air flow which keeps the City Biddy COOL in the summer. I help this along by placing my hen house on the north side of my garage in the shade during the summer months. I also grow annual vines (this year it is scarlet runner beans!) along the side of the pen to provide extra shade and I have even added a slatted shade (like for your porch or house windows) to the front where I noticed the sun shining on their water fountain. They seem VERY comfortable. I have not seen them even panting as hot as it is and they are still laying eggs. Meanwhile my daughter has chickens in a conventional hen house (she lives less than 5 miles from me) and she has lost three to the heat and they stopped laying when it hit 95!

The size of the hen house helps in the winter as well. It is small enough that three hens body heat will maintain a comfortable temperature all winter long. I have housed small 3 pound spangled Hamburgs, with their tiny amount of body heat, as well as large hens with no problems. I close the big front shutter and latch it down, but the floor vents and small roof line vents remain open, no matter how cold it gets. Excessive moisture in a hen house is what causes toes and combs to freeze in cold weather, and good ventilation will prevent this. I also allow the hens access to the outside EVERYDAY no matter how cold. They have the good sense God gave a chicken and just go out in the sun a little while then come in to warm up. The fresh air and sunshine is important for health and vigor. In the winter I keep a Fortiflex brand rubber pan for their water so if it freezes I can just bust it out. I check water twice a day when it it freezing, but usually the water DOES NOT FREEZE in the house most days. I guess this means they are warm enough. I have added lights during the winter months, but I only put in a night light bulb on a timer for light to increase laying so it really does nothing for heat. I am sure to close the hen door each night and open it each morning this also helps keep them warmer. I do move the City Biddy for winter. I move it into my garden spot which is in full sun on the north side of my lot. I allow them my 6 x 12 garden for their winter pen and cover it with straw. By the time they dig straw and plow my garden spot needs VERY little work to plant in spring when the City Biddy moves back to the shady side of the yard.

Painting the hen house is very important to easy care! I use a latex paint made for exterior on the outside and a latex gloss paint for all the inside surfaces. Just be sure that the paint fumes are gone as paint can out-gas for a couple of days. If surfaces are painted well they never pick at it. I still have good paint in mine after three years of constant use. If the paint ever fails I would shut the hens in their pen in the AM. Scrap and sand any problem areas, repaint and then clean up paint scrapings well (vacuum a hen house?). By evening it should be OK to let them in if the shutter is open. My hen house also has a linoleum floor. When you top this with pine shavings (never Cedar too many fumes) you can easily sweep out the house in less than 5 minutes!
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Q -Hi! We spontaneously became the proud parents of 3 chicks 4 weeks ago (1 Ameraucana named Pip and 2 Rhode Island Reds named Flitter and Flap). We are finding they are quickly outgrowing the lovely cardboard box we handcrafted for them. :-) I found your website and LOVE the looks of the City Biddy, but I have lots of questions (I want to make sure this is exactly what we want & what will fit in our tiny yard, and I have very little knowledge about what is best for my chickens
A-I have a tiny city yard too! I keep 3 to 4 hens in my City Biddy with ease. I love how well the City Biddy works for me!
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Q -What are the dimensions of the house once finished(length X width X height at tallest side)?
A-The finished size of the City Biddy Hen House is approximately 4 feet 3 inches tall at the front, and 3 feet 9 inches at the back, and the floor is 3 feet X 3 feet. If built with wheels as an option it is slightly taller. The City Biddy Plan also includes two exterior nest boxes, which adds to the interior space. There is a large access door to make cleaning and care easy.

The City Biddy is designed to be used in connection with a secure outside pen. You have many options for this, however I so include a written description for the pen I personally use which is made up of panels 8 feet long by 3 feet 6 inches tall. My pen is framed up of 2 X 2 lumber and covered with 1 inch mesh poultry wire. I recommend also the pen have some sort of top for predator protection.

When used together with the pen described, all chores can be done from outside of the pen, even in nice clothes!
Simply lift the lid on the pen to fill water founts, or give treats without letting out the hens. You can see the feeder to check food levels as you gather eggs, and filling the feeder or interior water containers is easy due to the large "people door". The hen door is easy to open from outside by simply pulling a cord, and shutting is easy as well.
Cleaning takes less than five minutes and you can simply reach inside to get all corners, and perches really clean.

The City Biddy is healthy for hens as well. Excellent temperature control, and ventilation make it comfortable in all seasons (My City Biddy has 3 large hens and NO heat or added lights. After last night's 16 degree temperatures the water in their inside dish, located by the door, had no ice!) Because it is mobile you can provide fresh pasture, or move it around for your convenience.
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Q -What sorts of materials do you recommend for the pen (hardware fabric, chicken wire, wire fencing....)?
A-As far as fencing materials any kind can work as long as the mesh is fairly small and it is sturdy. (We have had weasels in the past get
through chain link!) Again providing a top is important. I have even used the new electric poultry netting with good luck, however this does not protect against predators like hawks since there is no top to the pen. Birds could possibly fly over a topless pen as well, unless they have their wing clipped.

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Q -How many hens does the City Biddy comfortably accommodate?
A-City Biddy plan provides 1296 square inches of floor space, and 6 linear feet of perching space. I recommend housing no more than four to six birds in the coop, although according to some "modern" protocols, it could hold many more.
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Q -How much total space would you recommend for each chicken? How much hen house space? How much yard space? I've read 4 square feet per hen, but this doesn't sound like very much room to roam....
A-Commercially factory laying hens are allowed about 75 square INCHES per bird! And that is 24 hours a DAY! City Biddy plan provides 1296 square inches of floor space- which means 324 square inches per bird if you house 4 birds. The City Biddy is also designed to be used in connection with a secure outside pen. Remember, everything loves a chicken dinner! My personal pen is 8 feet long by 3 feet wide adding an additional 3456 square inches to my hens space. This amounts to a total of 1188 square inches of space for each of my four birds. Over fifteen times the space the poor commercial hen is allowed!

If your situation allows, (mine does!) you can also open your pen allowing your hens to roam freely to graze and forage as God intended for portion of each day. Then close the pen securely for predator protection at night. The pen size above is large enough for continually housing those four hens, however, so you don't really need to allow them out and risk predation. Since the City Biddy is mobile you could just move them occasionally to provide that fresh grass!
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Q -Do your plans include building ideas for pens/yards, too?
A-You have many options for your pen, however a written description for the pen I personally use (which is made up of panels 8 feet long by 3 feet 6 inches tall) is included with your City Biddy plan purchase. We are working on a separate pen building plan, as well, that is almost complete. My personal pen is framed up of 2 X 2 lumber, and covered with 1 inch mesh poultry wire. I recommend also the pen have some sort of top for predator protection. I have my pen secured to four 3 foot metal stakes with zip ties for extra protection. My hens share the yard with two large (not to trustworthy) German Shepherds and the little pen that I describe has worked well to keep the hens safe.
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Q -Do you recommend fencing in the bottom (of the pen) in addition to all sides and the top to protect the girls from
predators, or is fencing not needed on the floor of the pen?
A-I do not have the bottom of my pen fenced. Part of the reason for this is if the pen has a fenced bottom it is very difficult to move the pen with the chickens inside without injuring their feet. Chickens tend to wrap their toes around a wire and cling on while they are being moved and then they do not release the wire when the pen is set in place, getting their toes caught between the wire and the ground. If you have a problem with predators that dig I would suggest one of two options. The first and my favorite is an electric fencing wire (They sell fence chargers at Tractor Supply.com on line and probably where you buy your feed) placed at the bottom outside the pen and a few inches away. Another option is an "apron", Which is basically flaps of wire attached to the bottom of the pen and extending about 12 to 18 inches out. It simply lays on the ground surface all the way around the pen. This apron will discourage any diggers.
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Q -Do I need a separate nest box for each hen or can 3 hens share 2 boxes?
A-The City Biddy Plan also includes two exterior nest boxes, which adds to the interior space. There is a large egg access door to make cleaning, care, and collecting your fresh eggs easy.
Experts recommend one nest box for every four birds. The two nest boxes in the City Biddy provide plenty of space in case two hens "feel
the urge" at the same time.
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Q -Should I plan to put the feed inside the hen house?
A-Hanging the feeder inside as shown in the pictures on the website works great! I hang it so the hens eat at a comfortable head height.
This helps prevent rodents, the hens digging in the food, wild birds eating all the food, and waste. It also protects the feed from the elements which prevents mold and spoilage as well. You can see the feeder to check food levels as you gather eggs, and filling the feeder or interior water containers is easy due to the large "people door".
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Q -Should I also keep water inside the hen house, or can I just keep it in the yard instead?
A-NEVER let your hens be without fresh water! I keep a large poultry water fountain outside in the pen, since the hens are let out every morning (no matter the weather!) I keep my fount on a riser to keep the water cleaner and leave less of a mess. In the winter I keep a milk jug with a large cut out in the top right next to the door full of water. A simple jug like this will help keep litter out of the water and can easily be cleaned or replaced. You might consider mounting a small water container on the main access door or under the nest box perch area to provide water inside of the coop "just in case". The big water fountain outside is easy to fill. Simply lift the lid on the pen to fill water founts, or give treats without letting out the hens. Also since eggs are largely made up of water, clean cool water will not only keep your hens healthy, but will also help encourage lots of fresh eggs!
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Q -Do you ever recommend using a heat lamp in the City Biddy during cold months, or is it a fire hazard?
A-Excellent temperature control, and ventilation make it comfortable in all seasons (My City Biddy has 3 large hens and NO heat or added
lights. Last winter we experienced 16 degree temperatures and the water in their inside dish, located by the door, had no ice!) During the cold months I try to locate my City Biddy where it can receive some wind protection and as much sun as possible. My house is moved to the south side of a privacy fence that acts like a windbreak for it. I have used a night light with a timer attached in the City Biddy during the winter months. Another City Biddy owner had lights and a web cam set up in hers for a while! As long as you use cords and items rated for outside use you should have no problems. But do not try to keep the City Biddy "warm", chickens really do not need warm temperatures in the winter so much as they need dry and un-drafty conditions like the City Biddy provides. Since the City Biddy is small the hens should be able to produce enough body heat to warm it. Only locations with extreme conditions should really need that added heat (Alaska?).
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Q -What tools would you recommend having on-hand during the building process?
A-We have the plans drawn so that the major lumber cuts in the sheet stock can be done at the home center or lumber yard on their
panel saw. This saves time, makes transporting materials easier and is safer than trying to cut 4 X 8 sheet stock at home. The tools you really
need are: power drill/screw gun (well... you could use a brace and bit and a screwdriver, but why?), a saw (jigsaw or circular saw preferred), some clamps (bar clamps), cutters (to cut wire for pen and predator resistant window screen), square and measuring tape, and a hammer (to coax things along.. if necessary). We also provide support by e-mail if you have a problem!
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Q -How long does it take to receive your plans from the time I order them (assuming I pay with Visa or PayPal)? I live in the United States.
A-As soon as I receive notification of payment from PayPal I begin processing your order and usually ship within 24 hours. I use US First
Class mail - which means the plans will usually reach you in 2-6 business days if you live in the United States.
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