How to Set Up a Child-Friendly Chicken Coop

If you live in a farmyard or a place conducive to raising chickens, setting up a chicken coop is a key consideration you’ll have to make at some point.

With a sustainable and operational chicken coop, you can create a safe and comfortable space to grow and raise chickens—helping you feed your family and make a decent living.

This is especially true if you’re planning to construct the coop by yourself—as this is the best way to save on costs and craft the coop most suitable for you and your family’s needs.

And if you also have little ones around the house, you’ll want to ensure they are in safe hands as they handle the chores and obligations surrounding poultry rearing.

With that said, there are some considerations you’ll have to pay in mind before undergoing a chicken coop construction plan. The last thing you’d want happening is for your child to injure themselves or the chicken in their usual stint around the coop.

If you want to build a child-friendly chicken coop, read on. This article will address the things you need to know to ensure that the construction is both chicken and child-friendly. Let’s jump right into it.

Build a Sturdy and Safe Coop Design

Mindset matters. When first building the coop for your overall construction project, your general approach will set the tone for the overall flow of the project. 

You don’t want to focus on cost-cutting, which can consequently heighten the risk of safety hazards in the coop. Instead, you should prioritise sturdiness, longevity, and safety for your children and chicken flock.

Sturdy coops have a few fundamental characteristics that set them apart from standard coop designs. They often use treated wood or metal framing to withstand external weather conditions like rain and snow. The inside also has minimal sharp edges—reducing the risk of puncture wounds for your livestock and kids.

Sturdy coop designs also consider predator risks. It utilises stronger hardware cloth instead of chicken wire to prevent small predators like rodents from sneaking in and squeezing through. Safe coops are also designed with a sloped roof and on stils to improve ventilation and prevent flooding damage.

When a coop is designed with safety in the forefront, it can reduce the risk of your child needlessly endangering themselves, like stepping foot into a rodent-infested coop, bumping on a sharp object, or exposing themselves to bacteria-infested floodwaters.

In turn, this can ensure a safe and secure place for your kid to go about their tasks and safely interact with your flock, granting you peace of mind.

Assign Age-Appropriate Chores for Your Kid

Involving your kid in the poultry business is a great way to instil the value of responsibility and practicality in them. That said, it’s essential to assign age-appropriate tasks—as giving them tasks beyond their capabilities can heighten their risk of injury and may even endanger the flock in the process.

That isn’t to say, however, that you can’t start early. Children as young as 3-5 years old can help around the coop by doing simple tasks like collecting eggs, scattering feed, and filling water bowls. For older kids up to 9 years old, you can teach them to gently handle docile chicken and refill feeders.

For kids aged 10 years and up, they can refill bedding, clean the coop, and check the chicken for signs of illness. By giving them these responsibilities based on their age group, they can learn important poultry-raising skills in a manner that fits their capabilities. Just be sure to supervise them as they progress through more difficult activities.

Position Nesting Boxes Lower

When designing the chicken coop, it’s important to consider its inherent accessibility and functionality for younger children. 

Typically, a low and accessible height can make egg collection safe for your little ones. If it’s too high, it can cause slip-ups and injuries as your child attempts to collect the eggs housed within.

An ideal setup is for nesting boxes to be positioned a foot or two away from the ground. This prevents it from being exposed to bacteria that may be present in the flooring while still keeping it accessible.

Furthermore, you can also create a hinged lid or side-access door panel to help the child collect the eggs without disturbing the chicken. This makes egg gathering stress-free for both your kids and hens.

If you’re considering getting additional products for your chicken coop project, browse through Somerzby chicken products for some practical ideas.

Install Cleaning Trays for Easy Maintenance

Besides physical injuries, another risk children can be exposed to inside a chicken coop is an unsanitary environment. 

Overcrowded hens or coops left uncleaned for too long can be a breeding ground for bacteria and illnesses. This can pose a risk to your child as they may come into contact with bird droppings unknowingly—which can infect them and pose a health risk in turn.

During the construction process, it’s essential to create a system to collect bird droppings and make it easier for you and your kids to facilitate clean-ups. 

A removable cleaning tray serves as a perfect solution, as they can catch droppings and slide out when needed. This helps prevent the buildup of fecal matter within the coop. The best material for this tray is plastic or metal, as they aren’t absorbent and are fairly lightweight.

By installing these pull-out trays, kids will have an easier time dumping out the droppings and rinsing the trays. This can make it easier to uphold a clean and sanitised system within the coop.

Choose Kid-Friendly Chicken Breeds

Building a safe and hazard-free chicken coop is one thing, ensuring that its operations are kid-friendly is a totally different story. One major factor in ensuring that the coop remains child-friendly is selecting breeds that are kid-friendly from the start.

A few great breeds to consider for chicken farming include Silkies, Cochins, and Plymouth Rocks. Silkies are affectionate and incredibly easy to hold and carry. Cochins are fairly docile and not prone to fright when being handled. Plymouth Rocks are friendly and sociable animals to other hens and people.

Depending on your location, you may have access to a different set of chickens specific to your region. Do your research and pick the breed that’s well-behaved and easy to handle. This way, your kid won’t ever suffer from surprise attacks or aggression from the chicken, keeping both parties safe.

Put a Sanitation Station Near the Coop

Another essential consideration to make when building a chicken coop is preparing a hygienic space for people. Having a dedicated storage area for gloves and coop-cleaning tools can help reduce risks, but it’s not a cure-all solution.

Chicken can carry bacteria like salmonella, which can be a major health hazard for your kids. In such cases, having a nearby handwashing station can be a literal lifesaver to keep these pathogens at bay.

To create a handwashing station, you can place a sturdy table in an accessible area outside the coop. Equip it with a spigot, some liquid soap, and a hand sanitiser in two pump bottles. Then, put paper towels or a clean cloth for drying.

No running water? A bucket and a basin would do just fine. You should also have a mat outside the coop to to scrub dirt off the rugs. By setting up a hygiene station and having your child build the habit of cleaning up after themselves after coop duties, you can make chicken raising a safe activity for your kids.

Don’t Forget the Chicken’s Welfare

Above all else, don’t forget the purpose of the chicken coop: to raise healthy and happy chickens! An environment that looks after the chicken’s welfare is a good one, as they can thrive and stay free from threats like diseases and predators.

For starters, avoid overcrowding the coop to prevent chickens from feeling too stressed. A rule of thumb is to assign 3-4 square feet of space inside the coop and 8-10 square feet in the run for each chicken.

Regularly put in chicken feed and fresh water in the coop; get your children in on this routine to ensure that the chicken stays content. You should also clean the coop regularly.

When a coop and its inhabitants are well taken care of, this can automatically translate to a better experience for its caretakers—in this case, your children. 

As such, it’s key to strive to foster an environment where the chickens live in a harmonious and enriching space. By doing so, you won’t risk your kids getting infected by airborne illnesses or getting attacked by a stressed-out chicken.

We hope these tips will help you in your chicken coop construction journey. How to Set Up a Child-Friendly Chicken Coop.