The Plastic Coop – The Pros and Cons of Keeping Your Chickens in Plastic Coops
There’s a lot to be said for plastic…especially when it comes to a plastic coop.
It’s easy to clean, it’s light, it’s colorful. The only commercially available plastic coop, The Omlet Eglu (sic), has been sold by a UK manufacturer in recent years.
But before this came along, plastic was used to make chicken coops in some very ingenious ways. Surf the web and you’re sure to come across plans for plastic chicken coops and plastic chicken coops made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) water pipes.
These contraptions are quite functional, they usually won’t win any design or beauty awards, nor will they often impress your neighbors. But on the bright side, they’re super easy to clean (which is a big deal, by the way).
An interesting feature in one of the plastic chicken coop plans is that the bottom pipes are fitted to hold water, which gives the structure some weight, preventing it from blowing away during stormy weather.
Draining the water makes the coop and operation quite portable. And portability is certainly a plus to help keep your chickens as “free” as possible and prevent the chicken coop from turning into a mud puddle or dust bowl. (You don’t need a lot of chickens to strip a square yard of lawn in a few days.)
If you are worried about plastic not being “green” but still think that using plastic is the best way to go for your chicken coop, you can consider recycling old plastic structures such as plastic dog houses and plastic children’s houses. Again, by surfing the web you will find instructions on how to convert these things into functional chicken coops.
The positive characteristics of plastic have prompted many manufacturers to offer easy-to-clean plastic nesting boxes, plastic feeding and watering systems, and other plastic amenities for chicken coops.
Plastic netting is required in many chicken coop plans. And here the lightness, ease of cleaning and flexibility of plastic are put to good use.
Whether you decide to buy a plastic coop or do it as a DIY plumbing or recycling project, looking into a plastic coop is definitely a viable and practical option.
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