A Chicken Ark Could be the Best Design for Your Chickens
For most people starting out to keep a small flock of chickens, a simple chicken ark is ideal. This is a portable run and coop in one and can easily be made from a good set of chicken ark plans.
Chicken arks are tent shaped, and have either a covered section for roosting and nesting at one end, or the larger ones have the coop part in the apex at the top with a run underneath. It's fundamentally one portable unit.
Bars along each side extend into handles each end, so the chicken ark can be lifted and moved by two people.
If you have a hen house in one place, all the vegetation will be scratched away by the chickens. They can take up quite a lot of room too. Chicken arks keep the birds in one place with freedom to peck and graze, but the unit can easily be moved to fresh grass.
Its a really flexible way of housing your chickens. For example in the fall you can put the chicken ark on open beds so the birds fertilize, cultivate the ground and eat the bugs.
Chickens really dont do much damage (and youll find you dont begrudge them the odd strawberry or tomato) plus they are very good at keeping your bug population down. If you do have concerns, you can let them out in the afternoon and theyll come back to roost at dusk. This can also help to stop them straying too far.
The design of the chicken ark is also predator proof. The run is normally fine for daytime protection and at night the hens can be safely shut in the roosting area.
The run part of the chicken arks must be made from stout wire to prevent predators chewing it. The rest of the ark is normally wooden and the simple shape means they are easy to build. You may even be able to assemble most of the parts needed from other projects.
Good plans for building a chicken ark will really save you time and trouble. They are vital if you've not done many projects like this before and you'll be sure you end up with a chicken ark you and your chickens are really pleased with.