Do-it-yourself foam block chicken coop: step by step instructions for building

A DIY foam block chicken coop can be a great home for chickens. The poultry house is easy to design, quickly built, and the cost of construction is not so high. Birds feel quite comfortable in such a building in the cold season, because even without insulation, a thick wall of foam blocks ensures the temperature in winter is above 10 degrees Celsius.

Advantages and disadvantages of foam block chicken coops

Chicken coop can be built from wooden beams, shell rock, bricks, gas blocks, cinder blocks. Each type of material has its positive and negative sides.Recently, poultry houses made of cellular concrete, that is, from foam concrete or aerated concrete, have been very popular.

Advantages of a foam block chicken coop:

excellent thermal insulation performance;
light weight of materials and the ability to save on the foundation;
low hygroscopicity;
durability;
does not burn or sustain combustion;
can be sanded and trimmed;
ecological components (cement, sand, water);
speed of construction;
does not require finishing and insulation;
low construction cost.

Build Flaws:

construction is carried out only by the frame method;
foam concrete does not hold fasteners well;
fragility of foam blocks forces to lay reinforcement in the area of openings and in every 5th row.

Choosing a building site

It is better to build a poultry house on a hill or on a flat surface that is not flooded with water during rains and snowmelt. True, the place should be protected from cold winds by a nearby fence or plantings (trees, shrubs).

The building should stand on sandy and dry soil, away from the road and noisy places, chickens should preferably be protected from stress and loud sounds.

The windows of the chicken coop should face south, because the birds need to provide a normal daylight hours. There should be enough free space near the chicken house to equip the walking area.

Projects

Before you build a chicken coop, you need to develop a project for the room and draw a drawing in three projections, indicating all dimensions. A properly made plan will help calculate the amount of materials for construction. When designing a poultry house, you need to remember that 2 chickens should account for at least 1 square meter of area.

The minimum size of a building designed for 10-20 chickens is 15-20 square meters. The height of the chicken coop should be 2 meters - it is convenient to enter such a house without bending, and besides, the birds will feel comfortable there. When making a project, you need to choose the type of roof and what it will be: shed, flat, gable.

At the design stage, it is necessary to consider the location of windows and doors, as well as the ventilation and heating system. In the room you need to place perches, nests for laying hens, feeders, drinkers.

Sizes

Building area depends on the number of birds (based on 1 square meter per laying hen). For ten chickens, you can build a house measuring 3x3 meters. In such a house, you can install a longline perch at a height of 50 centimeters from the floor. For ventilation, you need one pipe with a diameter of 0.20 meters. On the ceiling, one 60-watt light bulb is enough. The roof can be pitched.

For 20 chickens, a barn with an area of 15-20 square meters is being built. The height of the house should be 2 meters. In such a room there should be two light bulbs with a total power of 120 watts. At a height of 0.5 meters from the floor, two perches with a total length of 6 meters should be installed. For ventilation, one plastic pipe with a diameter of 20 centimeters is enough. The chicken coop should fit at least 6 nests.

For 30 chickens, a poultry house is made with an area of 20-25 square meters. In such a room, you can install a longline perch and 10 nests for laying hens. There should be 2-3 light bulbs on the ceiling with a total power of 120-140 watts.The room can be divided into 2 sections, so that each has 15 hens. The roof must be gable.

Required tools and materials

To build a poultry house, you need to buy not only the required number of foam blocks, but other materials and tools. Before you go shopping, you need to make a project and make calculations. In the European part, poultry houses are being built with a wall width of one foam block, for cold northern regions this value will have to be doubled.

Usually, foam concrete blocks of D400 and higher grades are bought for construction. The amount of material for one row is calculated as follows: add up the length of all four walls, divide the value by the length of one block. Then the height of the wall is divided by the height of the foam block and the desired number of rows is obtained.

The total number of materials is found by multiplying the number of blocks in one row by the number of rows.

The following materials and tools are needed for construction:

foam blocks for walls;
floor beams, boards, logs for the roof;
cement, sand for foundation;
roofing material for waterproofing;
metal roof tiles;
floor boards;
windows, doors;
reinforcement with a diameter of 6-8 millimeters;
electric cable, wiring, sockets, switches;
glue-cement for masonry;
hand block saw;
drill for drilling openings for wiring;
grinder for drilling strobes for rebar;
notched trowel for applying adhesive solution;
rubber hammer for fitting blocks;
sanding grater for smoothing uneven walls.

How to build a house from foam blocks with your own hands

A foam block chicken coop is built very quickly. True, it is recommended not to rush and lay no more than 5 rows per day. Laying is carried out not on a concrete solution, but on a special glue. Although it costs more, it allows you to save on insulation.

Foundation

For a chicken coop, a foundation is made from a concrete mixture prepared from cement, sand, water, which is poured into the formwork. Such a base will allow the load to be evenly distributed over the entire area. Between the foundation and the first row, it is imperative to lay waterproofing material so that water does not sink in.

Walls

Building walls starts from corners. Focusing on one corner (the highest), the blocks are laid on the masonry mortar. If at the end of the row the whole foam block does not fit, it is sawn.Reinforcement will help increase the strength of the walls. The fittings are laid around the entire perimeter in grooves pre-drilled by a grinder filled with an adhesive solution.

The first reinforcement is done after laying the first row, the second - after the 5th row. Wooden formwork is installed above window and door openings or it is made of metal corners.

Roof

After the walls are built, the roof is made. First, reinforcement is installed around the entire perimeter, then a wooden beam (it is fixed with anchor bolts). Then they assemble the skeleton of the roof, install floor beams from timber or boards, erect vertical racks, make a cornice, that is, a crate. At the final stage, a roofing is installed on top of the waterproofing.

Floor and ceiling

For a poultry house, the floor and ceiling can be made of wooden boards. True, the floor is first poured with concrete on the reinforcement, and then a wooden coating is made. The ceiling can be sealed with fiberboard or plywood.

Insulation in the chicken coop

A foam block poultry house needs to be insulated not from the inside, but from the outside. In this case, you get a warm chicken coop, and the “dew point” will be brought out, and the house will not collapse under the influence of moisture. Styrofoam is usually used as a heater.

Interior design

The inside walls of the house can be plastered with gypsum plaster and whitewashed with lime. Straw or sawdust should be laid on the floor.

Perches and nests

For the construction of perches, take a bar measuring 40x30 millimeters and round off its edges. The bars are installed at a height of at least 50 centimeters from the floor. The perch is fixed to the wall at a distance of 30-40 centimeters from each other. Sand trays can be placed under the bars. On the opposite side, nests are installed. They are made from wicker baskets or wooden boxes.The bottom of the nests is lined with straw.

Drinkers and feeders

In the middle of the room, away from perches and nests, drinkers and feeders are installed. Drinkers can be made from plastic bowls or you can buy ready-made bunker structures. Long grooves and troughs are suitable for feeders. You can buy ready-made bunker feeders.

Sand-ash baths

Usually, sand with ash, so that the chickens can take sand-ash baths, is poured into the yard for walking birds, located near the poultry house. The open-air cage is made of wooden beams and fine mesh.

Lighting and heating

Electrical wiring and wiring with switches are installed in the poultry house. To lay the cable in the walls, strobes are made, after which they are plastered. Ordinary light bulbs with a power of 60 watts are suitable for lighting. True, they need to be covered with a ceiling or a grid.

Ordinary electric or infrared heaters are used as heating devices in the poultry house.

Ventilation

In the chicken coop they make the simplest ventilation system, which consists of two plastic pipes with a diameter of 20 centimeters. They are installed near the wall at a distance of 20 centimeters from the floor and in the ceiling, lowered 10 centimeters lower, and taken out.