How to Build Animal Housing

by Carol Ekarius

With dozens of adaptable plans for sheds, coops, hutches, multipurpose barns, windbreaks, and shade structures, this guide covers everything you need to know to build safe and sturdy housing for your animals. Stressing the importance of evaluating your goals, planning ahead, and budgeting accordingly, Carol Ekarius helps you determine the best structure for your particular situation and offers expert advice on tools and construction techniques. Build a functional and comfortable house for your animals that they’ll be proud to call home.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Construction

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Carol Ekarius is a freelance writer.

Reviews

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book my husband used to build our awesome 3-room chicken coop with a little improvising...and I mean awesome!!! We never had any other animals on this 10 acres to have to build anything other kind of animal housing. But, I will not get rid of this book just encase one day something comes along. There's plenty of housing plans for animals on a small scale for smaller acreages.

[Whitney Pittsenbarger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if we will or won't use any of the designs in this book. But there were a lot of good ideas and got our wheels of inspiration turning. A lot of good info too.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How to Build Animal Housing" is a good reference book to keep around if you think you'll be building livestock housing in the future. When going through the book I focused mainly on housing for chickens and goats. I was hoping for detailed schematics of a variety of coops, but the author only covered a few of the broader types of coop structures. I had to turn elsewhere for more detailed information.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very interesting and informative. I did not read the entire book, limiting my reading to the smaller animal housing that I am interested in. One disappointment was that the plans are difficult to understand; at least I, as a lay person, found them difficult to follow. I think I'd only be able to complete the simplest of projects the book offers, such as a nest box for a rabbit.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some good building instructions, but the section on poultry was smaller than I hoped.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covers not just plans, but all sorts of different information you need to consider before you buy one single nail.

[Danielle Short · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as useful for an urban homestead context.

[Amy R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives good, basic plans for building animal housing

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great help to me! Lovely ideas for all kinds of animals.