Build a chicken coop: step-by-step instructions for building your own hands, drawings and dimensions

Keeping chickens is a rather difficult process. One of the problems that poultry farmers always face is the choice of location. It is necessary to build a suitable chicken coop not only for winter, in summer birds also need a comfortable home. Therefore, if you just put them in a barn, you are unlikely to achieve good egg production. It is important to consider lighting, temperature, ventilation.

Basic requirements for a chicken coop

The requirements for the poultry house directly depend on whether you will keep broilers or layers there, as well as on the time of year. There are also a few general rules:

1. The building should serve as reliable protection against predators and small rodents.
2. Chickens get cold easily, so stay out of drafts.
3. Ventilation is also needed - stuffiness negatively affects birds.
4. Don't forget the lighting. Chickens are diurnal birds, in a dark room they reduce activity, gain weight poorly and rush.
5. Distance to residential buildings - at least 3 meters.
6. It is important to keep chickens calm and quiet.

Summer chicken coop

In the summer versions of chicken coops, broilers are most often populated. For meat-and-egg breeds, the size of the poultry house is usually determined at the rate of 3 chickens per 1 square meter. In the case of laying hens, this number increases to 4 birds. The building itself must be built on a hill so that it is not flooded with water during rains.

Winter design

With a properly built hen house, you can get fresh eggs all year round. However, in winter, birds need adequate heating, they need more light. The vestibule is important, thanks to which less cold air will enter the chicken coop when a person enters it.

The winter chicken coop should also be located high enough to protect from melt water.

Drawings and projects

The chicken coop should not be made too cramped - it is necessary that the chickens can move freely there. This will increase their egg production. Usually they build at the rate of 2-3 birds per 1 square meter. Also, on the site next to the building, it is necessary to equip a walking area covered with a chain-link mesh. Protection from wind, direct sunlight and rain is also important. The location of such a platform and access to it from the south side is ideal.

You also need to adhere to the following rules for a chicken coop for 10 chickens:

• max 4 slots;
• feeders - along the wall, opposite the perches;
• The chicken coop should be built to be easy to clean and feed;
• floor is smooth but not slippery;
• drinker and feeder - at a height of at least 50 millimeters;
• perch attached at a height of 60 centimeters;
• window area should not be more than 10% of the floor area;
• the presence of a ladder outside.

Also, according to building codes, the chicken coop should be located at a distance of at least 4 meters from the border of the territory. The chicken coop is made from the west or east side, and the windows are from the south to give more light. Most often they make a frame house, as the most economical and easiest to build.

Suitable building materials

Different materials are suitable for a chicken coop, but foam blocks, brick and wood are most often used. They have the following pros and cons:

1. Foam blocks are easy to build and reliable, but usually expensive.
2. A more economical option is a brick house, but additional insulation is needed.
3. Chicken coop made of wood fits well into the countryside, convenient and environmentally friendly. Requires fire safety.

Often buildings for chickens are made from various improvised materials to save money.

How to build a house with your own hands

Building even a small chicken coop consists of several stages. Step-by-step instructions include designing, building a foundation, walls, roofing, flooring, then internal elements and insulation are added. This is not the easiest thing to do, and you need to strictly follow the pattern.

Building the foundation

There are three types of foundation:

• ribbon;
• pile;
• columnar.

The choice of species depends on the size of the chicken coop, as it affects the weight, and on the stability of the soil. If it is unstable, it makes sense to build a tape one, but in other cases it will be too expensive.

Most often used columnar. Its construction consists of the following stages:

• marking the place and placing the pegs in the corners;
• then remove a layer of soil 20-30 centimeters thick;
• make holes for the posts, the depth is half a meter;
• dig up posts, cement stones and bricks together;
• after setting the mortar after a few days, cover the posts with bitumen;
• pour gravel or gravel into the space between the posts;
• attach the lower support beams to the posts.

Poles are usually placed every meter and a half along the perimeter of the chicken coop.

Chicken coop floor

For broilers, the floor is usually made light, but laying hens, which are also kept in winter, require warming. But, in any case, the design should consist of two layers. You need to build the floor as follows:

1. Lay the beams on the finished support frame.
2. Make the next layer out of boards.
3. Place insulation on top, such as mineral wool.
4. Lay the finishing floor boards last.

Building walls

The main thing to consider when building walls is that they must be thick enough to keep warm.Choose the material, focusing on the frame. If it is strong enough, tape or slab, then you can take a cinder block, brick or foam block. But in this case, additional insulation will be required.

Light wood walls are usually set up on a column frame. First, load-bearing beams are attached from four sides, then horizontal bars are attached from above. Outside, the chicken coop is sheathed with boards, taking into account the entrance and windows.

Building walls from adobe is popular. For this, bricks are molded from clay and straw, from which the walls are laid out. This material retains heat well, it is environmentally friendly. However, it will take a long time to grind.

How to insulate a chicken coop

The most economical and convenient option would be to insulate the house with mineral wool. It is laid after the outer skin is ready:

1. Between the next layer of skin, leave a space of about 15 centimeters (along the width of the beam).
2. Lay two layers of cotton wool between the supporting beams, secure with staples or construction harnesses.
3. Place shielding roll or foil on top.

Next, you need to sheathe the walls with internal boards, their width is at least 12 centimeters.

Ventilation

During summer, doors are usually opened for ventilation, but in winter this process must be strictly regulated. Without ventilation, harmful ammonia fumes from chicken droppings accumulate in the chicken coop, and walls can rot. Stuffiness also harms chickens.

Typically, there are two types of ventilation:

• natural - holes with doors are made on opposite walls;
• forced - fans are inserted into the holes, which can also be completely closed.

Lighting

For better egg production, you need to provide a long daylight hours for chickens - 16-18 hours.For proper lighting, first of all, windows are needed on the south and southeast sides of the chicken coop. Also install a lamp of 30-40 watts, always with a ceiling. It should illuminate feeders, perches, drinkers, but in no case nests.

Additional heating

Comfortable temperature for chickens is 15 degrees Celsius, in winter - at least 10 degrees. Therefore, artificial heating is required. Most often, electric convectors are used. They consume little energy and are not dangerous to use. Usually put two convectors. One works constantly, the other can be set to work at night.

Chicken coop interior design

The following elements must also be placed in the house itself:

• nests - in the far part of the room, for the peace of birds;
• roosts - their section should not exceed 25 millimeters so that chickens can comfortably wrap their paws around them;
• feeder;
• drinker;
• dishes with sifted ash for bathing and getting rid of parasites (sometimes sand is added).

Features of chicken coops in the cellar

The poultry house can also be equipped in the cellar, if it is not possible to make an insulated chicken coop. Keeping chickens there differs little from other methods. But there are a few caveats:

1. Will have to equip sawdust or hay bedding, which needs to be changed once a week or more often.
2. Lighting is important to give chickens the right daylight hours.
3. Insulate the walls with a rolled heat insulator, its thickness should not be less than 5 centimeters.
4. It is necessary to ventilate the basement, also equip ventilation with air vents.

If you take into account all these features, you can build a comfortable, warm chicken coop. Under the right conditions, the birds will lay all year round.

Adequate space is needed for broilers, even if you only intend to grow them in the summer.

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