How to Build Animal Housing: 60 Plans for Coops, Hutches, Barns, Sheds, Pens, Nestboxes, Feeders, Stanchions, and Much More

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Cows and horses, donkeys and mules, sheep and goats, pigs and fowl, even llamas are living on small farms and in backyard barnyards throughout the United States. But how and where are these critters being housed?

Author Carol Ekarius knows. In How to Build Animal Housing, she provides dozens of plans--with illustrated, step-by-step instructions--for species-specific shelters that are well ventilated, safe, appropriate for the animals, appealing, convenient, and a solid value for their owners.

The book is essential reading for anyone interested in animal health and welfare. It includes complete plans and step-by-step, illustrated instructions for sheds, coops, hutches, multipurpose barns, and economical easy-to-build windbreaks and shade structures. Ekarius covers new high-tech, portable structures made of plastics and fabrics, such as hoop houses and hen spas, as well as more traditional alternatives, such as straw-bale structures. Always practical, she enumerates the advantages and disadvantages of ready-to-build kits and modular barnyard buildings and includes designs for watering systems, feeders, chutes, stanchions, and more--the essentials that help owners keep their animals healthy and happy.

Ekarius wisely emphasizes the importance of careful planning, choosing an appropriate housing site, and complying with local zoning regulations; pest control, basic housing maintenance, and insurance costs are also discussed. Real-world advice from farmers and veterinarians on the types of housing and facilities animals like best enliven the text throughout.

How to Build Animal Housing is the most comprehensive and useful guide of its kind. For small-scale farmers, hobby farmers, do-it-yourselfers, and animal lovers, this book is indispensable.

Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Great for a first-timer... December 29, 2004
79 out of 80 found this review helpful

I purchased this book and quickly found that it is basically a catalog of plans that are available free online from USDA and others. The web links for the plans are printed right in the back. If you spend some time surfing, you'll find much of the useful information (and more) without purchasing the book.

There is helpful information in the planning section, and some basic tools and methods to get started. It would also be a helpful book for those newly transplanted city-folks to read prior to jumping into raising livestock.

If you have experience with livestock or construction, you can find all you need online. If you are planning your first projects, this will be helpful.

3 out of 5 stars

The plans included didn't meet my needs October 10, 2005
44 out of 46 found this review helpful

I was hoping for a book of plans that included small, simple to build shelters for just a few goats and chickens. The plans included were large and the building instructions were not detailed enough for beginners to do themselves (without a seperate how-to-book). If I could have looked through it first, I would not have bought it.

5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book January 16, 2005
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I really liked this book. It has a lot of good plans, from simple chicken coops to full-blown small barns. It has super references, is well-laid out, and especially for the small homesteader it also has good general information. I belong to several homesteading sites and have highly recommended it to that group.

4 out of 5 stars

Great book, just what I was looking for. January 1, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This book has a great array of shelters. I was looking for a couple types of shelters... chicken coop and horse run-ins and found ideas to match just what I needed for both!

5 out of 5 stars

A 'must' for any who want an all-in-one volume centered on animal housing needs. December 14, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

If you're a small-scale farmer interested in building the best pen, coop, hatch, or shelter for your animal, whether it be a pig, chicken or horse, then How to Build Animal Housing is for you: it offers tips on how to evaluate the housing needs of numerous animals and shows how to adapt existing barns and structures as well as how to build from scratch. Chapters blend discussions of animal behavior with surveys of safety issues and needs to provide a practical manual backed by the author's 20+ years of farming experience. A 'must' for any who want an all-in-one volume centered on animal housing needs.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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