Do-it-yourself chicken coop for 20 chickens: how to build, dimensions and area, drawings

Farming poultry on the site is popular among summer residents, as it is affordable, and eggs and chicken meat are in demand on the market. In addition, it is not so difficult to breed a chicken, and you can create a chicken coop yourself, with knowledge and building experience. Let's figure out how to build a chicken coop for 20 chickens with your own hands and how to properly equip it inside.

Optimal chicken coop sizes

The dimensions of the future premises should be selected based on the optimal placement of livestock and ease of maintenance.

Area and dimensions

One square meter should fit two to four chickens or three to four broilers. The minimum area of a chicken coop for 15-20 birds should be approximately eight to ten square meters for meat and egg breeds or five to seven squares for broilers. It is better to make the shape of the chicken coop rectangular, elongated, so that it can be cleaned without going inside.

Height of the house

For a comfortable stay of roosters and layers, as a rule, a height of one and a half meters is enough. However, during construction, the convenience of cleaning the premises should be taken into account. Therefore, poultry houses are often made taller - so that it is convenient for a person to be inside.

No overlap

If you plan to build a chicken coop without overlap, the walls should be built one and a half meters high. The roof is constructed with two slopes. The skate rises two meters or more. Inside such a chicken coop, you can stay without any problems. However, you will have to carefully get out, as there is a risk of seriously hitting your head on a sloping roof.

With an attic

In this version, the walls should be driven out to a height necessary for free movement inside the building, that is, a couple of decimeters higher than human height. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the overlap, floor and bedding. They, in total, will take 45-50 centimeters in height. A poultry house with an attic will require more insulation material, but it is possible not to insulate the attic, but only the ceiling itself.

On poles

We dig four beams into the corners of the future chicken coop, build the ceiling at a height of half a meter to eighty centimeters from ground level, put the roof at a height of two meters. This option is more suitable for the summer season, but it can be insulated.

Projects and drawings

During construction, you can rely on ready-made drawings, calculated taking into account all norms.

Chicken coop location

The place for construction should not be flooded and accumulate liquid. If the soil in the area is prone to moisture accumulation, it must be drained. It is best to place the building on a slope or hill. It is good if the slope is on the southeast side. In this case, this will provide the birds with good illumination. At the same time, you should not build a poultry house near the roadway, as the noise generated by cars will negatively affect the general well-being of birds, which will worsen the quality of eggs and meat.

Materials and tools for construction

Concrete mortar will be needed to fill the foundation of the poultry house. For the frame you need wooden bars and boards. For interior cladding, plywood sheets are required. The roof of the chicken coop is built of roofing felt or slate. To fence the courtyard, you will need a net and metal clips.

From the tools you will need a trowel, a planer, an ax, as well as a tape measure and a building level.

Stages of building a chicken coop

The construction of a chicken coop is divided into several stages: laying the foundation, building walls and floors, erecting a roof and ceiling, installing doors and windows, insulation and interior design.

Foundation

Construction should start with laying the foundation.

Columnar

The foundation for the future building can be built from bricks. For marking, we drive in wooden pegs and fit them with a rope, checking its horizontal position with a level. Then we remove a layer of earth two decimeters thick. We dig eight holes for poles in the corners and around the perimeter.

The bottom is covered with gravel or sand. Two bricks are placed in the holes. They are covered with cement and two more bricks are placed on top. We put the cabinet up to the level of the rope. Finished posts are processed with mastic.

Tape

To lay the foundation in a tape way, you will need building blocks, brick or wood concrete. A trench half a meter deep and 35-40 centimeters wide is dug along the perimeter of the base. The bottom is cleared, compacted, covered with rubble. A layer of construction sand is poured and compacted from above.

Formwork is made from boards so that the shields rise at least ten centimeters. Reinforcement is laid inside the foundation - to increase the stability of the structure. Two rods are enough, they should be at a distance of fifteen centimeters from each other.

After all preparations, concrete is poured. We level the top layer and leave it for three weeks. Then we remove the formwork and start building walls.

Building walls and floors

To install the walls, you need to make a frame and fill it with layers of a mixture of clay and straw.The frame structure can be made from an iron corner. In the walls, you need to create door and window openings and an opening for the egg box. Two layers of boards half a meter thick are laid on the floor.

Roof and ceiling

It is recommended to build a gable roof so that it retains heat better. The frame is made of battens and rafter legs. The casing of the frame is made of materials with low thermal conductivity. You can cover the roof with roofing material or metal.

Doors and windows

Windows and doors are thought out in the chicken coop in advance, even at the stage of preparing the wall frame. Windows must be covered with a metal mesh - to protect against the penetration of predators.

Chicken coop insulation

Straw, shavings with sawdust, moss peat are suitable as floor insulation. The litter must be deep in order to create the necessary temperature in the room.Wall insulation is chosen depending on the material from which the walls are built. Walls should be insulated on both sides.

Features of poultry house arrangement

The chicken coop is equipped from the inside in such a way as to provide the chickens with the most comfortable conditions under which they will regularly give eggs. In addition, it should be comfortable for a person to be in the chicken coop, as they regularly have to fill the feeders and clean up.

Feeders and drinkers

Feeders should be large and comfortable. The size is selected so that all birds have enough space during meals. Automatic silo feeders are popular as they skip feed as needed.

Perches

Chickens love to sleep on the roost, so it also needs to be equipped. The length is selected based on the number of birds. For an adult laying hen - twenty to twenty-five centimeters, for a chicken - fifteen centimeters.If necessary, you can equip several perches. They should be equipped in such a way that the gap between them is from thirty centimeters.

Litter

Litter is made from sawdust, straw dust, corn cobs, peat. The thickness of the litter layer is from twenty centimeters. Hay can be used instead of straw and corn. In summer, the layer of the underlying surface may be less. The litter is completely changed at least once every five months.

Nests

Plywood or boards are suitable as a material for creating nests. Nests can be mounted or separate.

For hinged structures, special attention should be paid to the strength of the fasteners.

Ventilation Arrangement

Ventilation is required in the room, it should be provided at the construction stage. Holes can be in the form of small windows, which, together with windows, will provide additional daylight.

Lighting

Infrared lamps are suitable for lighting the poultry house. In addition to light, they give heat to the chicken coop. However, the lamps should not burn around the clock. For the he alth of chickens, it is necessary to provide them with light for fourteen hours a day.

Installation of the heating system

Chickens do not tolerate low temperatures, so the chicken coop must be insulated. Without high-quality heating, the bird will not be able to winter. In most cases, supplemental heating is a must, especially in northern regions where winter temperatures stay low for extended periods of time.

With sawdust

To insulate the walls, they are puttied with sawdust and clay. In this case, it is necessary to observe the correct proportions: the amount of sawdust and clay should be in the ratio of three to two. Clay must be soaked in water and stirred until smooth, and then mixed with sawdust.The solution is applied to the wall, a layer three centimeters thick. After drying, the walls are covered with lime.

With a boiler and potbelly stove

The easiest way to heat a chicken coop in winter is to use a stove stove. It consists of a boiler and a chimney. This system is low maintenance and can be powered by virtually any non-toxic material.

Infrared lamps

Infrared heater works by electromagnetic radiation. It consists of a housing, emitter and reflector. For its operation, only the presence of electricity in the room is necessary.

Playing yard

Birds need regular exposure to fresh air to stay he althy. It is necessary to equip the chicken coop with an aviary of the maximum area that you can afford. Twenty birds will require at least sixteen square meters of space.It is better to make an aviary covered, as many breeds of chickens are able to jump over a high fence.

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