I bought this book because I was looking for some ideas for building a chicken coop. Being new to raising chickens, I needed something that would provide some good, sensible ideas for building a chicken coop. I really like this book for a couple of reasons:
1. There are several different designs included in the book covering housing of different types for various purposes or situations: Duck nest Boxes, Internal Nest Boxes, Broody-Bantam-Rabbit Coop, Broody Boxes, Anti-broody Coop (Sin Bin), Trap nest Box, Show Box, Bantam Ark, 8ft Run, two Arks, Free Range Feeder, Eight-Hen House, and more.
2. There appears to be sufficient detail on each plan to enable me to be successful in completing the projects.
Some of the short comings of this book include: 1) for the beginner, the book does not provide a lot of background on which type of housing should be used for a particular situation. For example, would I be better off building a fixed coop or a movable (tractor) coop? 2) The plans in the book are hand drawn, and it takes some additional effort to understand them compared with professionally drafted plans. 3) There are no materials lists or step-by step instructions, so you'll have to spend some time to calculate those things as well. It would have been nice if the author had included at least a materials list for the plans as specified.
However, I am very pleased with this book, because it has helped me to think about the housing needs for the chickens, and it has provided me with a lot of good construction and design ideas/considerations. At the end of the day, I'll probably adapt one or more of the plans in this book to my own needs and build it.
I recommend this book for anyone who is thinking about raising chickens or other poultry, and planning to build their own housing for their birds.