There are many things to consider but the first 2 things for long term success don’t buy a chicken house with a felt roof as red mite could become a major problem, you will not be able to control the red mite if they breed under the felt. The next consideration is cleaning of your poultry house, if cleaning the house is easy then you will find after 6 months you will still be cleaning the chicken house on a regular basis if the house is difficult to clean then it is too easy to delay cleaning which is not good for the birds.

So when looking for poultry houses ensure you do not buy felt roof models, they are many other options of wooden roofs or onduline (corrugated) roofs which are ideal for the birds.

On cleaning the more access you get in chicken houses the easier they are to clean. Personally I find lift up roofs very hard to clean, leaning in and trying to clean could be very hard, not to mention the roof could be blown off and broken if you get a gusty day - this is more common than you might think. Slide out floors sound great but if bedding is uneven then they don’t slide out and especially if they get wet and swell they really don’t open at all. Full size doors are good but that would be a very big chicken house indeed for full access so this is unlikely for most. Our houses have completely removable sides so you get 100% access to the floor area and cleaning is quick.

Ventilation in chicken houses is also vital to ensure ammonia smells do not damage the birds but ventilation should be in the top of the house and not directly in the faces of the birds or this will also cause health problems.

Perches are also vital in a house, normally 30cm of perch per bird would be fine. Please ensure perches have nice comfortable edges to ensure they dont damage the feet on the birds. Also I would suggest perches are not above 12-15″ off the ground.

Ensure the house is wide enough for the birds to get onto the perches, some houses are too narrow and the birds can not get on to the perches (we have also suffered from this in the past).

Ideally the entry pop hole for the chickens should be lockable at night time as Mr foxy is learning how to lift the sliding pop holes and we are getting many distressed calls due to Mr foxy.

Nest boxes, ideally these should be quite deep for the birds and in a nice dark place in the house. If they could be opened from outside this would be much easier for egg collection and again should have the option to be locked and predators will enter the house in any weak areas.