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As we were growing up, we cannot remember a time in our life when we did not own any chickens. We have childhood memories of going out and feeding chickens. Every day when we go out to feed the birds, we flash back to feeding the chickens as a child. A lot of people are fond of the childhood memories they have. Many of us have childhood memories like that? Do you remember helping your parents build a chicken coop? Chances are you did not know exactly what is going on. Now, here you are, sitting there wondering how to build a chicken coop. As we write this article, we are going to give you some information that you need in order to build those birds a home.

First of all, before you even get the birds, you need to take the size into consideration. How big should your chicken coop be? Personally, we believe it should be a big one. A lot of people prefer building a smaller chicken coop, so they can transport it. If you do not plan on taking you chickens for a ride anywhere, then opt for that bigger one.

You will have to have a minimum of four square feet for every chicken that will be in the chicken coop. You will have to make your chicken coop as big as possible, so your chicken will lay more eggs and a stress free.

You should note that building a big chicken coop won't be much more work. Sure, it may take a bit more supplies, but those supplies are actually cheap.

Before you start to build this big house, you will need to figure out where to place it. We highly recommend you paying attention to the morning sunlight and putting it where the sunlight shines bright during the morning hours. Chickens love the morning sun, this is a known fact.

In order to have your birds laying more eggs, placing them in the morning sunlight and having them in a big enclosure will definitely do the job.

You should note that you will only need few material to build your chicken coop and these materials won't be expensive at all. Basically, you need some wood, nails, mesh wire and a hammer. To protect your chicken coop even more, you might want to consider to put some shingles on your roof.

When you have the frame put up, you may need some help when it comes to putting the roof on. At this point, when you have the roof on, it will be time to put that mesh wire up. No matter what you do, even if you have to put a ton of nails and staples through it, we highly recommend you not leaving any gaps between that wiring. If you leave gaps, you will make it easy for those predators to grab one of your birds. There are many wild animals out there that would love to have your chicken for dinner. I have no doubt that you will find that building a chicken coop is real fun. Now that you know how to build a chicken coop, it is time to get going.

For a step by step guide on how to build a chicken coop visit Chicken Coop Plans

Sometimes when young pullets are just beginning to lay, they start eating the eggs. It can be possible to retrain them but some chickens are more difficult to retrain than others.

Chickens can often eat eggs for the first time when they've have been damaged - such as being troddne on or dropped. They may think this is some new food to try. They may eat the shell, or not. But once they've tasted an egg, it can be hard habit to break.

Preventative measures.

Make sure your nest boxes in your chicken ark or hen house have a lip on the bottom of the front so it’s hard to kick eggs out accidentally. Chickens need sufficient space to move around in their nestboxes without damaging the eggs.

Next, make sure there is a good supply of bedding material in the nest boxes to protect the eggs from being moved around.

Finally, an egg is easier to break if the shell is thin. Be sure to have oyster shell available at all times for your hens to increase calcium intake and strengthen their shells.

If the chickens can roam free so they have more interest, or you have a chicken ark you can move around, they will have more interest and are less likely to get bored.

Things you can do with chickens who have started to eat eggs

Collect often. If an egg is not collected, it is more likely to be eaten.
If your hens all lay in the morning, be sure to collect as soon as they are done. Keep checking during the day if your chickens lay over the course of the day.

This method can stop it going on, and isolating them in a chicken ark is a good solution too.

What other things could you try

You could try putting golf balls in the nesting boxes. This works as the chickens will be put off after pecking the hard ball.

Wooden eggs look more like the real think, so make work too.

Another thing to try is to remove an egg and heavily coat it with petroleum jelly and then replace it. A beakful fo gloop is the result of pecking.

Boredom can be as much a cause of egg pecking as it is of pecking other chickens. So giving them more interest in their run, letting them range free or putting them in a portable chicken ark can all be possible solutions

If one chicken is setting an example, isolate her before she can teach the rest of the flock.

This is where a chicken ark can be useful, so you can house her separately for a while. She will have interest from being moved around regularly, and if you collect the eggs frequently as well, you may break her of the habit.