How to build a small chicken coop. How to build a chicken coop: photo, video, step by step instructions. Chicken coop lighting

Breeding chickens for many becomes not only a good opportunity to regularly receive fresh homemade poultry meat, but also an opportunity to earn money if laying hens bring a sufficient number of eggs. In order for chickens to grow up healthy, they need their own chicken coop, which can be successfully made with your own hands. Especially if at the time of construction the total number of individuals is no more than 10 pieces.

Understanding what goals and needs you need to build a chicken coop to meet is the key to creating the most comfortable home for birds. The main purpose of the building is a place for the chicken to spend the night and a secluded place where you can lay eggs. Therefore, the chicken coop must be built in such a way as to protect chickens from:

• adverse weather conditions;
• rodents;
• predatory animals.

Many owners of poultry houses are familiar with the picture of a devastated chicken coop: severed heads, sucked blood and chewed off paws. Ways to eliminate an unwanted guest are presented in the article.

In addition to the main space where the birds will be given access to food and water, they will need a perch and space for future nests.

Reference! Since cleaning the mini-house for chickens will also be necessary, this will need to be taken into account when calculating the height of the building. You should be comfortable cleaning the interior as needed.

Additionally, you will need to take care of the microclimate necessary to maintain the health of chickens. As a result, regular ventilation of the house and a sufficient amount of sunlight are very important.

Preparation for construction

Before organizing a poultry house for 10 chickens with his own hands, the farmer needs to do some preparation.

1. First of all, a place is chosen where the poultry house will be located. Then a plan of the internal organization of the building is designed, how it will look from the outside.
2. The next step is to select suitable materials for construction. You need to carefully consider what to make walls, a roof from, how good insulation the chickens will need.
3. The construction of a chicken coop, in which the birds will be comfortable and safe enough, should be designed according to drawings that take into account the landscape features on the site, as well as the growth of the breeder.

Attention! If you use ready-made drawings, you need to check how suitable such a building will be for both the site and the farmer. Again, special attention is paid to the height of the chicken coop.

Technical features of poultry house design

It is not so difficult to draw up a drawing of a chicken coop on your own. To do this, you need to know a few basic principles of construction:

1. Doors are recommended to be installed so that they can be opened inside the room.
2. At the floor inside the chicken coop, you need to make a slight slope so that cleaning is faster and easier.

The size of the object is calculated depending on how many chickens are planned to fit in the house. If you do not plan to increase the number of chickens, it makes no sense to make a large building. Otherwise, it will take up space that could otherwise be used on the farm.

Consider the features of several types of chicken coops, and give examples of drawings that can be used to build a mini-house.

summer chicken coop

Quite simple in execution and low-cost construction. To bring it to life, you will need a minimum amount of materials, and initial building skills. Another distinguishing feature is the lack of a foundation. Such poultry houses are made on the basis of additional protection of chickens from rodents and predatory animals.

In addition to the poultry house itself, an aviary with a canopy is necessarily installed. The latter is necessary for cases of sunny hot days, so that the birds do not overheat during walks and do not get sick.

winter construction

This type of poultry house for 10 hens must be supplied with a foundation. In order to keep warm inside the room during the cold season, it is best to attach a special vestibule in front of the main entrance to the chicken coop.

The interior of the chicken coop should include sufficient lighting, ventilation, plus a place that will be equipped specifically for walking chickens. The maximum number of heads per 1 m 2 should not exceed 3 pieces. Therefore, if it is planned to increase the number of birds in the future, it is better to build freer poultry houses.

Video - Winter chicken coop

Required building materials and their choice

The reliability of the building and its convenience for birds significantly depends on the materials used in construction and their quality. What is usually required to create a compact birdhouse is shown in the table below.

Since the construction market is quite wide, and the farmer may have a number of questions about what would be best to use for the construction of the chicken coop, here are some basic tips for selecting the required material.

1. Light summer poultry houses are best built from wood. This is a natural material that does not require large financial costs for insulation, since it will act as a heat insulator to a sufficient extent.
2. If you plan to create a permanent poultry house that will be used in the winter, brick walls will be a better option. But they will need to be additionally sheathed with wood to better retain heat inside the house.
3. Even though birds need adequate light, high wattage bulbs should not be chosen. For an incandescent lamp, a range of 40-60 W is sufficient, for a fluorescent lamp - 40 W, for an energy-saving lamp - 15 W. If the light bulb is at a height of about 2 meters, its light is enough to cover 6 square meters of floor space.

Prices for various types of timber

Choosing a place to build a chicken coop for 10 laying hens

Once the dimensions of the future building are determined, as well as suitable materials and tools are selected, the optimal site for the placement of the poultry house is selected. Convenient placement of the chicken house is necessary because for chickens it will be a permanent place of residence, and often a place not only for sleeping, but also for laying eggs and walking. Therefore, nothing should cause discomfort to chickens.

What rules will you need to follow when choosing a location:

1. A rather dry place, since high humidity has a negative effect on the health of chickens.
2. It is advisable to choose a place with a slope. This is necessary in case of rainfall. So the water can leave quickly enough from the chicken coop, and not spoil the soil next to it.
3. The location of the chicken coop should be well lit.
4. The most successful would be the location of the chicken coop so that the adjacent aviary is located on the south side. Thanks to this, the aviary will be heated all year round.

We build a chicken coop in the country with our own hands for 10 chickens

First of all, consider the principles of creating a foundation, if the design of the chicken coop provides for its presence. When the organization of a summer house is required, the columnar type of foundation is optimal.

What will need to be done:

If you plan to provide the chicken coop with a stronger foundation, it is better to use the following algorithm:

Floor and walls of the house

If the chicken coop is planned to be made without a foundation, you can get by with a simple earthen floor. Otherwise, it will be necessary to lay a plank surface, on which to later place a litter of soft materials. The thickness of the litter should be at least 3 cm. Straw or a layer of sawdust often acts as a heater.

As the basis of the floor, a bar crate is necessarily installed, on which the boards are hemmed. Moreover, to insulate the floor in the room, it is desirable to make sheathing not only from the top, but also from the bottom.

As the main material for the construction of walls, both beams and bricks can be used. The second method is more costly in terms of the amount of materials required, since it requires additional insulation of the birdhouse. To build walls from a bar that retains heat quite well, you must use the following algorithm:

Since unwanted “guests” such as a ferret, rat or fox can try to enter the house, in no case should there be gaps in the walls of the building. To reduce the likelihood of an attack on chickens, it is recommended to protect the house with metal sheets or slate, digging them into the ground so that about 30 cm remain above the ground in height.

Roof

The roof is one of the important elements of the building, as it has a direct impact on the thermal insulation and microclimate inside the poultry house. As a consequence, the roof should not contain any gaps that cause drafts. As for the type of roof, it is better to opt for a shed or gable roof. This will protect the chicken coop from the threat of flooding during rain.

The organization of the roof takes place in several main stages:

The interior of the chicken coop

Nest prices for laying hens

Nest for laying hens

As soon as the main room of the chicken coop is ready, it is necessary to provide the birds with suitable living conditions. Here are a few basic requirements for the internal arrangement of a mini-house for 10 hens:

Prices for a chain-link mesh for fencing an aviary

Rabitz

Many farm stores offer ready-made chicken coops for a different number of chickens. Including 10 or less. For some, this may be a viable option for breeding the most popular poultry. And those who want to be completely sure that they have foreseen all the subtleties of building a poultry house and equipped the interior of the chicken coop so that the chickens are comfortable will prefer to develop drawings on their own and subsequently take up the tools.

The chicken coop itself should be located in the most remote part of the fenced yard. People and pets should not often walk near him, as some breeds of chickens experience severe stress while outsiders are in the yard.

Partially shaded and sheltered from rain is ideal for a poultry house. You can place housing for chickens near dense shrubs. In sunny weather, they will provide a reliable shade, and in rainy and windy weather they will become an excellent shelter for the bird. As a rule, various insects often settle under bushes, so chickens will like to rummage in the ground near them.

Reliable chicken coop with extensive range

You also need to worry in advance about the future protection of chickens from such cunning predators as foxes. For added protection, the house is built from high quality wood having a thickness of 19 mm.

The fence should not have any holes through which foxes or rodents can enter the chicken coop. In this case, the building does not need to be placed on the ground.

Ideally, the house should be on foundations or piles so that foxes and rats cannot dig. If fox holes were seen nearby, then the ground around the chicken coop is additionally strengthened with a metal mesh.

A good chicken coop is one of the components of proper maintenance and raising healthy livestock.

How to build with your own hands

Determination of the area of ​​​​the poultry house and walking yard

The chicken coop should not be too tight for the birds, so the calculation of the area should be taken responsibly. During the construction of the chicken coop, its dimensions are calculated as follows: per 1 sq. m can live 2-3 birds.

But this does not mean that for two chickens there will be enough chicken coop for 1 sq. m. Birds will not be able to feel comfortable, so you need to start from a minimum area of ​​​​3 square meters. m.

Near each poultry house there is always a small walking yard. It is fenced with a net and here at least 2 square meters are provided for each chicken. m of free space.

Thus, for a herd of 10 hens, a yard with an area of ​​​​2x7 m is well suited. With 20 hens, the size of the yard doubles.

In the photo you can see the optimal dimensions for a small chicken coop:

Foundation laying

1. The site intended for construction is completely cleared of shrubs and other large vegetation. You don't have to worry about weeds and herbaceous plants.
2. After that, an even pit is dug with a depth of at least 30 cm. The bottom and walls of the pit made are laid out with a galvanized mesh.
3. After that, it is poured with a special solution, which securely fastens it to the ground. This prevents rodents and foxes from getting inside the chicken coop from underground.
4. Formwork is attached around the perimeter of the foundation. Her second inner frame is built at a distance of about 20 cm from the first.
5. After that, it is poured with concrete, which is closed with burlap. In this state, the foundation for the chicken coop should stand for several days so that the solution can dry properly.
6. After the mortar has hardened, the formwork is removed, and then the foundation of the poultry house is covered with soil remaining after digging the hole. It should be carefully leveled so that it fits well on the galvanized mesh.
7. Now it remains to install the poultry house itself on the foundation made.

Walling

The construction of the walls of the poultry house takes place according to standard technology.

The first crown must be isolated from the foundation with a double layer of roofing material or any other insulating material. In this case, the ends of the timber are always fastened into half a tree.

The gaps formed between them are closed with scraps of wooden beams. All subsequent crowns are laid in the same way. They are connected at the corners with a tongue-and-groove fastener.

Do not forget that between the crowns and in the locks you need to lay a heater. Linen jute fabric will perfectly cope with this role. It perfectly retains heat inside the chicken coop, preventing it from dissipating even during a harsh winter.

However, in the event that the house is built from a bar of natural moisture, then the crowns should be hung on dowels made of wood.

At the corners of the log house, special holes are made for dowels. They need to be placed every 1-1.5 meters in a checkerboard pattern. The depth of the hole should be the thickness of two and a half bars.

After the holes are made, the dowels are driven into the tree to a depth of 7 cm. This must be done so that after shrinking the walls of the house do not begin to squint to the side.

The walls of the poultry house must have a height of at least 1.8 meters. When the work with the walls is completed, you can proceed to fixing the ceiling beams, rafters and roofing.

roof construction

The best design for the roof of a chicken coop is considered to be a gable one, since the formed attic space will become a convenient place to store various equipment. You can also store feed, hay and garden supplies there.

Roof construction is often used wooden beams at an angle to each other.

Some breeders think that a flat roof might be a more viable option for a chicken coop, but that's not entirely true. Water will linger on it, which over time can damage the roof of the finished structure.

In the photo you can see how the rafters for single-pitched and gable roofs are equipped:

Gable roof device

Rafters for lean-to

After installing the wooden beams that act as a roof, you can begin to cover the ceiling with a board. For these purposes, absolutely any board can be suitable, but it is important not to forget to insulate it, since most of the heat leaves through the ceiling and roof. To save on insulation, you can use cheaper coal slag and expanded clay.

In the photo you can see the ceiling insulation scheme in the chicken coop:

Arrangement of ventilation

Before the final insulation of the ceiling and roof, it is necessary to install the ventilation system. To do this, you need to knock down two wooden boxes, and then attach them at different ends of the house.

One part of the ventilation pipe should be located 50 cm below the ceiling, and the second - flush with the ceiling. You can regulate the level of air intake using tin dampers installed at the ends of the ventilation pipes.

Schematically, the ventilation system may look like this:

In this video you can see the process of building a chicken coop with your own hands:

Perch placement

In the poultry house, it is imperative to equip comfortable wooden perches. They are made from poles having a diameter of 4 to 6 cm.

They are located opposite the windows as far as possible from the entrance to the chicken coop. It will be more convenient for chickens if the perch height does not exceed 1.2 m for small breeds, and 0.6 m for large breeds.

Approximately 20 cm of perch length is required per hen so that the birds do not push each other hard during sleep. As for the distance between the bars, it should not be less than 35 cm.

Nest location

Nests for chickens should be in the farthest corner of the house. Their number must be determined at the rate of one nest for 5 goals.

Best for nesting wooden boxes with a height of 35 cm, width and depth - 30 cm. It is important to equip a wide entrance to it.

The approximate width and height of the entrance should be 25 cm. A special 5 cm threshold is made at the entrance, and a take-off shelf is nailed in front of the nest.

The roof of the nest should be at a slope of 45% so that the hens cannot sit on it and dirty the droppings. It is advisable to equip all the nests in one block, installing it on the floor of the house. The nest block should rise 40 cm above the floor surface.

Sizes and arrangement of feeders

Chicken feeders should be as easy to maintain as possible. The length of each feeder depends on the total number of birds: about 10-15 cm per chicken. This allows the birds to feed without pushing each other away. If the feeding is adjusted correctly, then no food remains in the feeders.

At a height of 15 cm from the floor of the chicken coop, two small feeders are attached in the form of boxes with parameters of 10x10x40 cm. They constantly contain chalk, shell or gravel, which are necessary for laying hens for the normal formation of eggs.

Y-like feeders with lattice walls are placed on the territory of the walking yard. They contain green food, which the birds must completely eat in one sitting.

In the photo you can see a schematic layout of perches, nests, and other equipment in the chicken coop:

Schematic diagram of the chicken coop

Arrangement of a corral and gates

After completing all the main work, it's time to start arranging the corral near the poultry house. Most often, it is fenced with a mesh-ring ridge mounted on concrete pillars.

In this fence, you need to make a convenient gate through which the owner of the site will pass to the birds. It is enough to put together a wooden frame from a bar, pull a mesh over it and that's it - the gate is ready. But do not forget about the presence of a reliable lock on it.

As you already understood, when arranging a chicken coop, it is necessary to take into account many different points.

Preparing to move in

Before settling the bird, you need to properly prepare the chicken coop. Preparatory work involves cleaning and disinfecting the chicken coop.

To kill all pathogens, it is necessary to flush the chicken coop with a 2% hot solution of soda ash. To do this, it is enough to dilute 200 g of soda in a bucket of water. In addition to soda, you can use a 2-5% solution of creolin. It is diluted in the same proportions as soda.

When the disinfection work is completed, the owner of the chicken coop needs to put straw or pine sawdust in the nests, pour food into the feeders, and pour water into the drinkers.

Chicken coop hygiene and timely disinfection are very important and every farmer knows about it.

In this video you will find practical tips on how to build a chicken coop:

How is a winter coop different from a summer coop?

1. The winter one is large and the walls are insulated.
2. For them, they necessarily make a foundation and an additional vestibule in order to better retain heat.
3. Lighting, heating and good ventilation are installed in the winter room.
4. A special fenced walking area is equipped.

In the following video, you can learn in detail the main nuances of building a winter chicken coop:

In conclusion, I would like to say that the knowledge of how the chicken coop should be properly equipped will also be useful to you if you want to turn it.

Well, we, in turn, are happy to provide you with information about how this type of activity can be beneficial and how to organize it from scratch.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

In order to breed or keep chickens throughout the year, you need to have a good winter chicken coop. Only in this case, it is possible to get eggs from chickens throughout the year, because these birds do not rush in the cold and with a short daylight hours. About the features of the winter chicken coop and its construction for 10, 20, 30 and 50 chickens will be discussed later in the article.

What should be a winter chicken coop?

Winter chicken coop

1. The place for the construction of the winter site is selected on a hill. Then during the thaw, when the snow melts, water will not flow into it.
2. It is always warm inside - approximately the same temperature is maintained due to heating. If there is no heating, then warming is done - in any case, in the winter chicken coop it should be no less than + 5 ... + 10 degrees Celsius. But it is desirable that in winter the chicken coop be from +12 degrees and above, then the chickens will rush without interruption.

Different breeds of chickens need their own, certain conditions. Temperature, lighting are usually regulated in accordance with the needs of a particular breed.

1. It should be dry in the winter chicken coop, as high humidity will quickly lead to the development of mold, and then disease, among birds.
2. Artificial lighting is mandatory. After all, if in the summer a couple of windows are enough, then in the winter you can’t do without light bulbs. A short daylight hours will cause the chickens to stop laying, so it’s impossible without additional lighting.

These are the most important criteria in accordance with which the premises are built. But, in addition, inside should be safe and quiet. A place for construction is selected calm - in the depths of the site, away from the house and roads, where it can be noisy.

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building materials

Building a winter chicken coop is not difficult if you have all the necessary materials and a place to build. But what kind of materials might be required? The number and type of them directly depend on what kind of room will be built, its design, features (species, functional), size.

It is impossible to build a winter chicken coop from sheet iron, since it practically does not hold heat and leads to condensation on the walls.

Usually such rooms are made of wood, OSB, chipboard, plywood or similar material. They hold heat well and are easy to use. But it is more difficult to work with bricks and cinder block. But it all depends on the capabilities and preferences of the breeder. In addition, it is also worth purchasing immediately and basic materials:

• cement, sand;
• nails, screws, screws;
• bars and boards;
• chain-link mesh (for an aviary);
• door and window hinges (if necessary);
• stone wool, polystyrene or other material for insulation;
• windows or glass;
• pipe for ventilation;
• electric cable, light bulbs, switch-switch;
• roofing material, slate or other roofing material;
• expanded clay (floor insulation).

Pile-screw, columnar and strip foundation

Before building a winter chicken coop, a foundation is always made. In the case of such a small and simple structure, a pile, columnar or strip foundation is usually used.

1. A pile-screw foundation is more expensive than a column foundation, but it also withstands heavy loads. For its construction, markings are made on the site using pegs with a stretched rope, and then piles are screwed into the corners of the building.
2. The columnar foundation is usually placed on loose or sandy soil. After marking the site, pits are made along the perimeter (50x50 cm and 70 cm high) at a distance of a meter from each other. Sand is poured into the bottom of the pits, compacted, bricks are laid and concrete is poured, and then columns are placed. They should rise 20-30 cm above the ground. Then the site is covered with gravel.
3. The strip foundation is very popular in the construction of a chicken coop. For its construction, they dig a trench around the perimeter of the future structure and make formwork from boards. Then the concrete base is poured and this is the main drawback of the work, because working with concrete requires compliance with the technology and it will take a long time for the concrete to harden in order to proceed to the subsequent stages of construction. So, a wooden chicken coop can be built only after 3 weeks, and a brick one - 4-5 weeks after pouring concrete.

How to build a winter chicken coop with your own hands?

Site leveling, drawing of the future building

It is not difficult to build a winter chicken coop with your own hands, but you will have to follow certain rules, and the most important of them is to observe the correct dimensions. The chicken coop must correspond to the number of chickens that will live in it, which means that you must first determine the number of future birds.

You can build a winter chicken coop with your own hands without a drawing. However, experts still recommend making a drawing of the future building in order to make their work easier.

After determining the dimensions and acquiring materials, construction can begin.

• The first and most important thing is the alignment of the site. Approximately 35 cm, the top soil is removed and a 10 cm gravel pillow is made.
• Now the foundation is being laid - any of the ones described above.
• The next stage of construction is the installation of the floor. For this, a support frame is made. From below it is sheathed with boards. Logs are made with a section of 100x150 cm and a distance of 50 cm. The base is attached to the foundation pillars, but first a layer of roofing material is placed on them (for reliability). Expanded clay (insulation) is poured into the cells of the floor, and the floor is sewn up with boards.

So that the floor boards do not rot for a long time, they are impregnated with a special solution.

• The walls are made of timber or OSB (you can also make bricks). In the case of a beam, do not forget about the linen-jute material, which is placed between the beams so that there are no gaps. OSB is attached to the frame, which is made of vertical and horizontal bars fastened together. Such walls are sheathed on one side, then a heater (stone wool) is placed inside, and only then the second side is sewn up.
• If the chicken coop is made of brick or timber, you need to insulate it from the outside with foam, which is then fastened with a metal mesh, smeared with a reinforcing mixture and covered with paint.
• During the erection of walls, openings are made for doors and windows.
• Now you need to insert windows and doors and check that they are reliable, do not have gaps (when closed).
• During the erection of a winter chicken coop, one should not forget about ventilation. It can be made in the wall using a conventional pipe.
• If necessary, heating is carried out, but this is not necessary.
• The roof is built double-pitched or single-pitched. Before laying the roofing material, the roof is glazed with roofing material for waterproofing.
• Artificial light is made inside and it is very important to ensure that all wires are out of reach of chickens or moisture - they are usually placed in special plastic boxes.
• An aviary is being made outside.

Winter chicken coop for 10 hens

Chicken coop for 10 chickens

It should be noted right away that the winter chicken coop for 10 chickens has a very modest size, so it will not take up much space on the site. It is quick to build, easy to maintain, and comes in a wide variety of shapes.

Interesting!

There is an incredible variety of winter chicken coop designs for 10 hens on the Internet. All that is needed is to find a suitable one and recreate it with your own hands, if possible, supplementing it with innovations and improvements.

A 2x2 meter house is built for 10 chickens (the methodology for building a chicken coop can be clarified above). Some chicken coops are built immediately with an aviary for walking, others without. For 10 hens, a 2x3 meter aviary will be enough. After the chicken coop is built, it is important to equip it inside.

• A bedding 7-10 cm thick spreads on the floor.
• Perches are made from timber with a diameter of up to 6 cm. For 10 chickens, 2 meters of perches are enough. They can be made in several tiers to save space, but only with a ladder to make it convenient to climb.
• Nests are installed for laying hens. They can be made in one or more tiers. A wide variety of materials are used for manufacturing (sometimes they are even made from old car tires). The size of each nest is 40x40 cm. Only 2 nests are needed for 10 females.
• Feeders and drinkers are hung on the walls or placed on the floor so that they do not interfere with the hens, but are available at any time.
• In winter, for additional heating, you can install incandescent lamps.

Chicken coop for 20 chickens

For 20 hens, a 3x3 meter chicken coop will be enough. You should not be greedy with the amount of space, as chickens in cramped quarters may begin to show signs of cannibalism.

Perches are made with the calculation of 20 cm per chicken. That is, at least 4 meters of timber with a diameter of about 6 cm are taken. They should be installed as far as possible from the entrance to the chicken coop. You can make 1 or 2 tiers.

It is advisable to use feeders and drinkers that are hung on the wall, then food and water will not be heavily polluted. But hang them no more than 15 cm from the floor.

Nests are located in the depths of the chicken coop, where it will be as comfortable as possible. Large boxes, old tires, wooden crates, or the like are used to make a winter nest. Gravel and shell are poured into them, and then soft straw so that the eggs do not beat. They must be strong and reliable. One nest is made for 3-5 hens. That is, in a chicken coop for 20 chickens, only 4 nests are enough, which can be installed on top of each other (2 tiers).

Chicken coop for 30 and 50 chickens

The number of chickens in the chicken coop is determined before the start of the winter chicken coop. Indeed, depending on the quantity, a certain area is made, the number of perches, nests.

• A chicken coop for 30 hens should have an area of ​​​​approximately 7.8-9 square meters. A winter chicken coop for 50 chickens has an area 1.5-2 times larger - 10-15 square meters.
• Perches in total should be 6 meters long for 30 hens. You can make them in 2-3 tiers of 3-2 meters, respectively. For 50 chickens, a 10-meter-long perch timber is taken, which is divided into convenient sizes and attached to the walls.
• Nests for 30 hens are made 6 pieces, and for 50 hens 10 pieces. But do not forget that roosters do not need them. So first you need to exclude roosters and then, based on the amount received, make a certain number of nests (3-5 hens are taken per nest).

The winter chicken coop differs from the summer one only in more compact dimensions, insulation and a small aviary. A properly built and equipped room allows you to get eggs from hens even in the coldest months. It is for this reason that you should not save on the construction of a winter chicken coop - the work and investment will fully pay off in the first year.

If you are reading this article, then most likely you have decided to start breeding and keeping chickens. This idea has many positive aspects. For example, you will always eat fresh eggs and be able to cook nutritious meals from them. In addition, domestic chickens are also fresh meat. And if you keep a lot of chickens, then the eggs can be sold, i.e. sell, which will serve as an additional source of income for your family budget. However, first you need to make a reliable and durable chicken coop, thanks to which ideal conditions for the life of poultry will be created.

The construction process consists of several important steps. Do not assume that everything is simple, especially if you want to keep chickens in the winter season. After all, you need to worry about high-quality ventilation, reliable roofing, walls, heating and other important components. This article will provide complete material about all the construction and equipment processes. Interesting video materials, selections of photographs and diagrams will make the process of studying information exciting. A step-by-step instruction will allow you to figure out how to build a chicken coop.

What should be a house for chickens

A bird, like a person, needs a comfortable habitat, so before starting construction, it is worth highlighting several important factors that will make it possible to make a warm and cozy chicken coop. This space has a number of requirements:

• Temperature regime. If you plan to keep the bird during the winter season, then it is important to take care of the proper temperature. So, in winter, the temperature should not be lower than 12 ° C. There should be no drafts inside the room, they pose a threat to the health of the bird. In summer, the temperature in the room should not exceed 25°C. If these temperature regimes are not observed, then the chicken will stop laying eggs.
• No moisture. To prevent chickens from getting sick, there should not be high humidity inside. Ventilation can solve this problem. There are several ways to arrange it, it can be forced or natural.
• Lighting. Light is life. As a result, the egg production of chickens also depends on the presence of light. There should be light bulbs inside the chicken coop that diffuse a warm yellow light. To ensure the lighting mode, some home craftsmen use automatic timers and relays that turn on / off the light at a given time. When conducting an electrician, everything must be done so that all cables are inaccessible to chickens.

• calmness. For a normal and calm life of chickens, there should not be much noise around. Therefore, the chosen place must be isolated from a busy country house.
• Security. This is another important criterion that ensures the calmness of the bird. The chicken coop must be protected from the penetration of rodents and other predatory animals into it. Given this, many decide to build on a columnar foundation.

Video: features of keeping chickens in a chicken coop

Where is the best place for a chicken coop?

The location of the poultry house is an important stage in the preparatory work. You need to think not only about yourself, so that an unpleasant smell does not penetrate into a residential building, but also about the comfort of chickens. For example, some breeds do not like frequent intrusion into their territory. Because of this, they begin to rush worse.

A suitable place would be a remote corner on the territory of your summer cottage. If you have a barnyard, then it is important to remember that extraneous noise also negatively affects their egg production. Often, many decide to attach a chicken coop to an existing barn. But here, consider which pet will be the neighbors of the chickens - calm or mostly noisy.

When choosing a place, it is important to take care of the place for their walking. Often you can see a picture when chickens walk throughout the yard. This does not add beauty, in addition, on the threshold of your house, you may stumble upon the “gift” left by them. Place for walking chickens should be limited. As a rule, up to 2 m 2 is allocated per head. So, when keeping 20 chickens, the site should have dimensions of 4 × 10 m. And this is only for their walking.

If you cannot afford such an area, keep in mind that some summer residents resort to an original solution by making walking tunnels around the perimeter of the territory from a metal mesh.

The chosen place should be at the same time with shaded and sunlit areas. The shade will protect the birds from overheating on hot days, but at the same time they will be able to bask in the sun on cool weather.

Video: the best place for a chicken coop in a barnyard

For the construction of a chicken coop, it is recommended to choose an elevated place. This will eliminate the flooding of the territory during the rainy season or when the snow melts. If this is not possible, then dig a drainage ditch to remove excess moisture. Although the elevation can also be made artificially by pouring rubble, gravel or earth.

The windows of the chicken coop are preferably located on the south side for better and longer sunlight entering the room. Also, on the south side, it is recommended to install a manhole, a door and build an aviary. The south side is the most protected from cold winds.

What should be the size of the house

Having decided on the construction site, it is necessary to decide what dimensions the poultry house will have. This setting is influenced by several factors. It is necessary to build on the maximum number of chickens and accurately calculate the usable area:

1. If you plan to keep meat breeds, 3 heads should account for 1 m 2;
2. For keeping egg breeds for 4 heads - from 1 m 2;
3. For breeding and keeping chickens for 15 pieces - from 1 m 2.

Separately, it should be said about the chickens. They must have individual quarters separated from adults. This will allow them to have free access to food. However, you should not allocate too much space for them. As a rule, a small box is enough for an overnight stay. On the other hand, one should not create conditions for their crush.

So, a poultry house intended for keeping 10 chickens can have dimensions of 2 × 5 m. As for the height, it should be convenient for you when you have to go there. Too low a ceiling will create discomfort while cleaning and cleaning the chicken coop. The optimal height is 2.2 m.

Given this, it will be practical to equip a gable roof, raising the ridge to 2.2 m, and leaving the walls at a height of 1.5 m. Such a chicken coop will be convenient for both chickens and its maintenance. On the other hand, it is much easier to implement a pitched roof. Nests can be installed in the low darkened part.

We have prepared several suitable schemes and drawings. Based on them, you can make an individual project or build a ready-made poultry house. We suggest you look at some interesting options in the next section.

Drawings and diagrams: ready-made projects for the construction of a poultry house

So, to summarize everything, for the construction of a chicken coop for 10 chickens, the drawings should be calculated based on the following parameters:

• The area is more than 4 m 2.
• Up to 4 nests.
• Feeders should be along the wall and opposite the perch.
• There must be access to the cleaning and feeding system from the outside.
• From the floor level, the drinker and feeder should rise at least 50–100 mm.
• The floor should be smooth but not slippery.
• Perch at a height of about 600 mm.
• The area of ​​all windows should not exceed 10% of the floor area.
• The presence of an aviary for walking is recommended.
• Be sure to have a ladder in the chicken coop.

Plus, the area and layout of the future poultry house will depend on what you want to place inside it. To save and optimize the interior space, a perch rail is installed. An ordinary snag usually copes with this role. Chickens can sleep on it.

When organizing a perch, it is important to consider that one bird will lay one egg in 1-2 days. Therefore, one place will be enough for 4 hens. Perches should be high as this will prevent damage to the egg. Moreover, they should be located in a clean, dry place and away from the place of lodging for the night. Otherwise, chicken droppings may end up on the eggs.

As for the norms, there is SNIP 30-02-97, which indicates the following parameters of the room:

1. At their summer cottage, you can keep and grow no more than 40 chickens.
2. From the chicken coop to the border of your territory should be at least 4 m.
3. If there is an adjoining to a residential building, then from the front door to the house there must be at least 7 meters.
4. Carrying out an extension to the house, it is recommended to coordinate the project with the architectural commission.

If chickens are kept for personal needs outside the city, there are no norms and restrictions.

Types of chicken coops based on needs

There are several types that can be built:

Build a new or reconstruct a finished building

If you have an unneeded shed or garage, then it might be worth considering renovating it. You can save a lot on the purchase of building materials. You will only need to equip the room inside for the normal living of chickens.

On the other hand, such a room is not always suitable. For example, an inconvenient location, a small area, and the like. Today, there are many ready-made schemes that will help you quickly develop a finished project. In this matter, you should not think only about saving money. As mentioned above, the egg production of birds and their health depend on how comfortable the conditions inside the chicken coop are.

If you still prefer the old room, then make sure that there are no lumber inside it covered with lead paint or previously used to store various chemicals. All of these can have a detrimental effect on the health of chickens.

Stages of building a poultry house

Having familiarized ourselves with all the requirements and provisions for the construction of a chicken coop, we highlight the main stages of construction:

Stage 1- design.

Stage 2- making the foundation.

Stage 3- construction of walls and partitions.

Stage 4- erection of a roof.

Stage 5- production of flooring.

stage 6- furniture.

Stage 7- warming.

Stage 8- production of heating.

These are perhaps the main construction processes that you should tune in to. We will go through all these processes, and also give some step-by-step instructions.

The foundation is the foundation of any building.

Installing a chicken coop directly on the ground is a bad option, so a foundation must be built. For a poultry house, the base can be made using different technologies:

• columnar;
• slab;
• tape.

In the manufacture of a slab foundation, the technology of work is as follows:

As you can see, the process of making the foundation is not so complicated. Although it takes a lot of effort. This kind of foundation is ideal for a chicken coop built from blocks or bricks.

It is much easier to build a chicken coop on a columnar base. We have prepared for you step-by-step instructions for building a poultry house on a columnar foundation, so you can find out all the details of this process in the next subsection. The only thing worth saying is that steel pipes, bricks, blocks and similar material can be used as support pillars.

Video: foundation breakdown features

Wall construction technology

The walls must be windproof and warm. The choice of material for the construction of walls depends on the foundation made. If a tape or slab was made, then you can use cinder block, foam block and even brick. However, these materials have a high level of thermal conductivity, so they must be insulated from the outside and from the inside.

If the foundation is chosen columnar, then it is better to give preference to a light frame structure made of wooden blocks. A wooden frame is laid on top of the supporting pillars, on which the entire frame of the future chicken coop is fixed. For the construction of the walls of the walking part, it is recommended to use a metal mesh. It can be attached to a metal corner.

Another option for building walls is polycarbonate. This building material is practical. For example, it is easy to wash, it is beautiful, strong and reliable. However, such a chicken coop will be problematic to use in the winter season. Some summer residents use logs for construction.

Often used adobe. You can make your own adobe bricks using clay and chopped straw. Such walls will provide a sufficient degree of heat retention and comfort. The only problem when working with this material will be the leveling of the surface.

As you can see, there are many building technologies and materials that can be used to make a reliable and beautiful poultry house. In any case, regardless of the material chosen, it is important to make sure that the walls are decontaminated in order to avoid the appearance of fungus, bacteria and the like.

Video: OSB wall construction

Wall insulation - winter version

So, if you decide to insulate the walls with mineral wool, then on the walls you should make a frame of 50 × 50 mm bars. The beam is fixed strictly vertically. The step of laying the timber is adjusted based on the width of the insulation. So, if the width of the mineral wool is 600 mm, then the step of the timber should be 590 mm. This will allow the mineral wool to be tightly packed without leaving any possible gaps.

The bars are fixed to the wall with self-tapping screws (if the frame is made of wood) or dowels. It is also recommended to make a vapor barrier layer. To do this, a plastic film is fixed to the wall in front of the mineral wool flooring. Its installation must be carried out with an overlap of up to 150 mm.

The thickness of the heat-insulating layer must be at least 50 mm. If, after installing the insulation, you find gaps, then they can be filled with mounting foam.

As for the external wall insulation, it is better to use polystyrene or polystyrene foam. For fastening, a special plastic dowel with a cap is used. This fastening method is used when the walls are built of bricks, blocks and the like. Be sure to cover the heat-insulating layer with protective plaster using a facade mesh.

In some cases, external insulation should not be performed, especially if you live in a warm region. Outside, the chicken coop can simply be sheathed with plywood and painted with moisture-resistant paint.

Roof - reliable protection from rain

The best option is the gable roof of the house. Due to this, the height of the ceiling inside the room increases. If the roof is well insulated, then ceiling stuffing is not even required. For covering, the best option would be a metal tile or slate.

The manufacturing technology of a gable roof is as follows:

• Rafters are installed on top of the wall frame.
• A waterproofing sheet is laid on the rafters and nailed. It is necessary in order to prevent wetting of the heat-insulating layer. The film thickness can be 200 µm. Each waterproofing strip should be overlapped up to 200 mm. It is advisable to glue them together with adhesive tape. Due to this, the coating will be completely sealed.
• After that, for the roofing, it is necessary to fill the crate. It is stuffed over waterproofing. The step of the crate will depend on the type of flooring chosen.
• When the crate is ready, you can proceed with the installation of the roofing.

Video: making a poultry house roof

Ceiling insulation - additional protection from the cold

The procedure for warming the ceiling of the house is necessary if you live in a cold region. In this case, floor beams are additionally fixed to the rafter system. On top of the beams, that is, from the attic side, you can fix plywood, which is fastened with ordinary self-tapping screws.

Thermal insulation material, such as mineral wool, is placed in the space between the beams. Additionally, you can fix the vapor barrier film. It is attached with a stapler. The ceiling is hemmed with the same plywood, or you can use wooden lining, drywall and the like.

Floors in the chicken coop

Finishing the floor is one of the main events in the interior arrangement of the chicken coop. The finishing method depends on your goals. If you want to breed and keep broilers for meat, then it will be enough to make a light, non-insulated floor. However, the floor must still have a double structure. It is not difficult to implement it, especially if you have a columnar foundation:

• Beams are fixed to the support frame, acting as a lag.
• From below it is necessary to hem with boards.
• A heater, such as mineral wool, is laid on top of the boards.
• Next, a finishing floor is laid from the boards.

In the case of the manufacture of a shallow strip foundation, the floors can be made of earthen or adobe. To do this, prepare a mixture of finely chopped straw and clay. The clay mixture is applied in layers. Each layer is carefully rammed. In this case, before laying the next layer, the previous one must dry out. The process is quite lengthy, but the foundation will turn out to be reliable.

If the foundation is made using slab technology, then it is enough to make a wooden flooring on top of the concrete. However, it is better to use a different insulation or lay waterproofing. Mineral wool absorbs moisture. Further, the process of manufacturing the floor is as follows:

1. The base must be protected from penetrating moisture, so it can be covered with roofing material from above. The canvases must be glued together with a special bituminous mastic. Due to this, reliable waterproofing of the wooden flooring will be created, which will be completely protected from the penetration of chicken waste.
2. On top of the flooring, an embankment of sand, straw, hay or sawdust is made. However, hay and straw absorb moisture and do not dry well. Because of this, the flooring will rot and provoke the appearance of fungi and bacteria.

To eliminate this possibility, a layer of straw or hay must be made thin, and it is recommended to change it regularly. Therefore, as practice shows, it is better to use sawdust for flooring, especially since they can be easily purchased at the carpentry shop, sometimes even for free.

Internal arrangement of the poultry house

One of the main places inside the chicken coop is the perch. Perch means a wooden pole. This is where the chicken spends most of its time. An important rule is not to place perches one above the other. For one chicken, you need to calculate about 30 cm. The distance between the poles should be about 50 cm.

As for the location of the feeders and drinkers, they should be higher. Considering that chickens often arrange “showdowns” on the territory, dust can rise inside the chicken coop. To protect the drinker from dust getting into it, a small visor should be made on top.

You should also build nests. These places should be dark and secluded. This will ensure good egg production. There should also be litter inside the nest. The nests themselves are made in the form of boxes, which are closed on top with a removable lid. As practice shows, nests should be equipped with a separate cover. This will allow you to remove the eggs and change the litter.

The location of the feeders should be done at the height of the back of the bird. Due to this, the chicken will not scatter food with its paws, but will get it out by slightly stretching its neck. The number of drinkers and feeders should be sufficient so that they are enough for all chickens.

Video: arrangement of the inside and outside of the house

Heating - comfort and coziness

The chicken is very cold tolerant. Especially cold and drafts negatively affect the legs of chickens, freezing due to the lack of feathers on them. As already mentioned in this article, the indoor temperature should not fall below 12°C. If you live in the northern regions, then in addition to insulating walls, floors and ceilings, it is recommended to install heating devices.

In the absence of heating, the bird eats more food, gets fat and becomes lethargic. These are additional costs. If you are breeding chicks in an incubator, the heat of the chicken itself may not be enough. For these and other reasons, chicken coop heating is essential.

Video: chicken coop - winter version

Two ways of heating: natural and artificial

Heating a chicken coop can be done in two ways. Natural heating means maintaining a comfortable temperature without the use of heaters. The bottom line is to use the litter, which was mentioned above.

In October, the floor is sprinkled with slaked lime 1 kg / m 2. The thickness of bedding made of peat, sawdust, hay or straw reaches 7 cm of thickness. As the chickens live, the litter is trampled down and it needs to be poured. Previously, the flooring must be agitated with a pitchfork. By spring, the thickness of the litter can reach 25 cm.

The peculiarity of the bedding is that during the composting process it releases heat. Accordingly, the poultry house is kept at a stable temperature of about 12°C. The available heat slows down the decomposition of manure and disinfects pathogenic microbes. But with all this, it is necessary to organize high-quality ventilation. Otherwise, harmful ammonia will accumulate in the chicken coop. In addition, in winter, the ventilation pipe should be closed briefly with a lid so that warm air does not quickly escape.

However, if the outside temperature drops below -10°C, then all these methods are ineffective. Another method of heating should be used - artificial. We suggest you consider several options presented in the table:

As you can see, there are many ways to create a poultry house heating. You should choose the one that you can organize and that will pull the family budget.

Video: features of the organization of heating

Insulation without energy costs - an innovative solution

We have considered with you the traditional solution regarding how to arrange heating inside the chicken coop. When installing artificial heating, a lot of money is spent, and if you use the technology described above for natural heating, you have to make a lot of effort to control the level of humidity, otherwise there is a risk of fungus and mold.

Considering all the pros and cons, some summer residents resort to an original solution using the Net-Plast mixture used for spacecraft. The net layer is bacteria that should settle on the floor in the poultry house, namely in the prepared litter. The composition is packaged in packages of 0.5 and 1 kg. According to some estimates, 1 kg of this mixture will be enough to heat 20 m 2. In this case, these bacteria will live for about three years.

To begin with, sawdust is poured into the chicken coop, you can also add oat husks and dry straw. All components are thoroughly mixed with each other. Next, Netto-layer bacteria should be evenly poured onto the resulting mixture and mixed again.

Heat in this case will appear in this way:

• The feces of the hen fall on the bedding.
• When they come into contact with these bacteria, heat begins to be released. At the same time, an unpleasant odor is completely eliminated.

In another way, it is called a fermentation litter. From time to time, it is enough to slightly loosen the bedding and, if necessary, add sawdust or straw. However, you do not have to clean the chicken coop.

At a temperature outside of -20°C inside the poultry house, it can be +15°C. If the frosts are stronger, then you can additionally connect temporary electric heating.

This solution has many positive aspects. For example, there are great cost savings due to the fact that electricity and fuel are not completely consumed. After a while, there is no need to clean the chicken coop, as the composition of the bacteria can lie with the litter for about 3 years. And after this time, you can get high-quality fertilizer for the garden.

Ventilation of the interior: several common ways

With the onset of winter, ventilation plays an important role in keeping birds, although in the summer it is not the least important. It’s just that everything is simplified in the summer, because you can open doors, windows and organize an influx of fresh air. Decaying chicken manure releases a harmful substance - ammonia. If good ventilation is not established, then there is a serious risk of illness for chickens and even for the person who will serve the chicken coop. Worst of all, due to the lack of ventilation, the walls and all the interior decoration will begin to rot and become unusable. For this reason, even at the stage of project development, it is important to consider the manufacture of ventilation.

When developing a ventilation project, it is worth considering some nuances. For example, in winter, the flow of fresh air must be strictly regulated. Otherwise, there is a chance that the temperature will drop quickly, and the chickens will be cold. You should also minimize the presence of drafts, which also negatively affects the health of the bird.

So, there are 3 most common ways to organize ventilation in a chicken coop:

• mechanical or forced;
• natural;
• supply and exhaust (a kind of natural).

Let's consider separately the features of each of them.

mechanical ventilation

Forced ventilation is beneficial if you have a lot of chickens and the chicken coop has a large area. Under such circumstances, it is important to organize a stable change of air. It's easy to implement. We will provide you with a quick guide to this process. Additionally, you can watch videos:

Additionally, the system can be equipped with temperature sensors to control the operation of ventilation. You can also purchase equipment to automatically turn on / off the fan. How to do this, you can learn from the video.

Video: organization of forced ventilation

natural ventilation

This type of ventilation is the easiest to organize. There are 2 interesting solutions that we offer you to choose from. Let's compare them and note the pros and cons:

We offer you to watch a video that tells about the manufacturing technology of such a ventilation system.

Video: making natural ventilation in a poultry house

Building a frame chicken coop: step by step instructions

To consolidate all the material, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the step-by-step instructions for building at home. In addition, you can watch the videos:

Good afternoon, dear readers! Building a chicken coop with your own hands - drawings, videos and step-by-step instructions in this material. If you have landed on this article, then most likely you have decided to start breeding and keeping chickens. This idea has many positive aspects. For example, you will always eat fresh eggs and be able to cook nutritious meals from them. In addition, domestic chickens are also fresh meat.

And if you keep a lot of chickens, then the eggs can be sold, i.e. sell, which will serve as an additional source of income for your family budget. However, first you need to make a reliable and durable chicken coop, thanks to which ideal conditions for the life of poultry will be created.

A chicken house should not only be cozy inside, but also beautiful outside.

Building a chicken coop with your own hands

The construction process consists of several important steps. Do not assume that everything is simple, especially if you want to keep chickens in the winter season. After all, you need to worry about high-quality ventilation, reliable roofing, walls, heating and other important components.

In this article about building a chicken coop with your own hands - drawings, videos and step-by-step instructions, complete material will be provided about all the construction processes and equipment. Interesting video materials, selections of photographs and diagrams will make the process of studying information exciting. A step-by-step instruction will allow you to figure out how to build a chicken coop.

What should be a house for chickens

A bird, like a person, needs a comfortable habitat, so before starting construction, it is worth highlighting several important factors that will make it possible to make a warm and cozy chicken coop. This space has a number of requirements:

• Temperature regime. If you plan to keep the bird during the winter season, then it is important to take care of the proper temperature. So, in winter, the temperature should not be lower than 12 ° C. There should be no drafts inside the room, they pose a threat to the health of the bird. In summer, the temperature in the room should not exceed 25°C. If these temperature regimes are not observed, then the chicken will stop laying eggs.
• No moisture. To prevent chickens from getting sick, there should not be high humidity inside. Ventilation can solve this problem. There are several ways to arrange it, it can be forced or natural.
• Lighting. Light is life. As a result, chickens also depend on the presence of light. There should be light bulbs inside the chicken coop that diffuse a warm yellow light. To ensure the lighting mode, some home craftsmen use automatic timers and relays that turn on / off the light at a given time. When conducting an electrician, everything must be done so that all cables are inaccessible to chickens.

Chicken safety is paramount!

• calmness. For a normal and calm life of chickens, there should not be much noise around. Therefore, the chosen place must be isolated from a busy country house.
• Security. This is another important criterion that ensures the calmness of the bird. The chicken coop must be protected from the penetration of rodents and other predatory animals into it. Given this, many decide to build on a columnar foundation. - read!

Video: features of keeping chickens in a chicken coop

Where is the best place for a chicken coop?

We have prepared several suitable schemes and drawings. Based on them, you can make an individual project and start building a chicken coop with your own hands according to the finished one. We suggest you look at some interesting options in the next section.

Drawings and diagrams - ready-made projects for the construction of a poultry house

So, to summarize everything, for the construction of a chicken coop for 10 chickens, the drawings should be calculated based on the following parameters:

• The area is more than 4 m 2.
• Up to 4 nests.
• Feeders should be along the wall and opposite the perch.
• There must be access to the cleaning and feeding system from the outside.
• From the floor level, the drinker and feeder should rise at least 50–100 mm.
• The floor should be smooth but not slippery.
• Perch at a height of about 600 mm.
• The area of ​​all windows should not exceed 10% of the floor area.
• The presence of an aviary for walking is recommended.
• Be sure to have a ladder in the chicken coop.

Plus, the area and layout of the future poultry house will depend on what you want to place inside it. To save and optimize the interior space, a perch rail is installed. An ordinary snag usually copes with this role. Chickens can sleep on it.

Nice wooden bird house.

When organizing a perch, it is important to consider that one bird will lay one egg in 1-2 days. Therefore, one place will be enough for 4 hens. Perches should be high as this will prevent damage to the egg. Moreover, they should be located in a clean, dry place and away from the place of lodging for the night. Otherwise, chicken droppings may end up on the eggs.

As for the norms, there is SNIP 30-02-97, which indicates the following parameters of the room:

1. At their summer cottage, you can keep and grow no more than 40 chickens.
2. From the chicken coop to the border of your territory should be at least 4 m.
3. If there is an adjoining to a residential building, then from the front door to the house there must be at least 7 meters.
4. Carrying out an extension to the house, it is recommended to coordinate the project with the architectural commission.

If chickens are kept for personal needs outside the city, there are no norms and restrictions.

Types of chicken coops based on needs

Children play with chickens in their summer cottage. The chicken coop is located near the fence away from home, so the layers will be calmer!

There are several types that can be built:

Build a new or reconstruct a finished building

If you have an unneeded shed or garage, then it might be worth considering renovating it. You can save a lot on the purchase of building materials. You will only need to equip the room inside for the normal living of chickens.

Building a chicken coop with your own hands from a bar. Warm poultry house, reliable?

On the other hand, such a room is not always suitable. For example, an inconvenient location, a small area, and the like. Today, there are many ready-made schemes that will help you quickly develop a finished project. In this matter, you should not think only about saving money. As mentioned above, the egg production of birds and their health depend on how comfortable the conditions inside the chicken coop are.

If you still prefer the old room, then make sure that there are no lumber inside it covered with lead paint or previously used to store various chemicals. All of these can have a detrimental effect on the health of chickens.

Stages of building a poultry house

Having familiarized ourselves with all the requirements and provisions for the construction of a chicken coop, we highlight the main stages of construction:

1. Stage 1- design.
2. Stage 2- making the foundation.
3. Stage 3- construction of walls and partitions.
4. Stage 4- erection of a roof.
5. Stage 5- production of flooring.
6. stage 6- furniture.
7. Stage 7- warming.
8. Stage 8- production of heating.

These are perhaps the main construction processes that you should tune in to. We will go through all these processes, and also give some step-by-step instructions.

The foundation is the foundation of any building.

What kind of foundation do for a chicken coop? Columnar is better and easier to build.

Installing a chicken coop directly on the ground is a bad option, so a foundation must be built. For a poultry house, the base can be made using different technologies:

• columnar;
• slab;
• tape.

In the manufacture of a slab foundation, the technology of work is as follows:

As you can see, the process of making the foundation is not so complicated. Although it takes a lot of effort. This kind of foundation is ideal for a chicken coop built from blocks or bricks.

It is much easier to build a chicken coop on a columnar base. We have prepared for you step-by-step instructions for building a poultry house on a columnar foundation, so you can find out all the details of this process in the next subsection. The only thing worth saying is that steel pipes, bricks, blocks and similar material can be used as support pillars.

Video: foundation breakdown features

Building a chicken coop with your own hands on a columnar foundation. We take out the floor.

Wall construction technology

The walls must be windproof and warm. The choice of material for the construction of walls depends on the foundation made. If a tape or slab was made, then you can use cinder block, foam block and even brick. However, these materials have a high level of thermal conductivity, so they must be insulated from the outside and from the inside.

If the foundation is chosen columnar, then it is better to give preference to a light frame structure made of wooden blocks. A wooden frame is laid on top of the supporting pillars, on which the entire frame of the future chicken coop is fixed. For the construction of the walls of the walking part, it is recommended to use a metal mesh. It can be attached to a metal corner.

Building walls from chipboard boards is fast, reliable and easy!

Another option for building walls is polycarbonate. This building material is practical. For example, it is easy to wash, it is beautiful, strong and reliable. However, such a chicken coop will be problematic to use in the winter season. Some summer residents use logs for construction.

Often used adobe. You can make your own adobe bricks using clay and chopped straw. Such walls will provide a sufficient degree of heat retention and comfort. The only problem when working with this material will be the leveling of the surface.

The warm walls of the poultry house are made of adobe, this is how the construction of a chicken coop is carried out with your own hands in the middle and southern regions of Russia.

As you can see, there are many building technologies and materials that can be used to make a reliable and beautiful poultry house. In any case, regardless of the material chosen, it is important to make sure that the walls are decontaminated in order to avoid the appearance of fungus, bacteria and the like.

Video: OSB wall construction

Wall insulation - winter version

So, if you decide to insulate the walls with mineral wool, then on the walls you should make a frame of 50 × 50 mm bars. The beam is fixed strictly vertically. The step of laying the timber is adjusted based on the width of the insulation. So, if the width of the mineral wool is 600 mm, then the step of the timber should be 590 mm. This will allow the mineral wool to be tightly packed without leaving any possible gaps.

It is advisable to insulate the walls of the house with mineral wool and do not forget to lay a vapor barrier!

The bars are fixed to the wall with self-tapping screws (if the frame is made of wood) or dowels. It is also recommended to make a vapor barrier layer. To do this, a plastic film is fixed to the wall in front of the mineral wool flooring. Its installation must be carried out with an overlap of up to 150 mm.

The thickness of the heat-insulating layer must be at least 50 mm. If, after installing the insulation, you find gaps, then they can be filled with mounting foam.

As for the external wall insulation, it is better to use polystyrene or polystyrene foam. For fastening, a special plastic dowel with a cap is used. This fastening method is used when the walls are built of bricks, blocks and the like. Be sure to cover the heat-insulating layer with protective plaster using a facade mesh.

Wall insulation with hay or straw in briquettes.

In some cases, external insulation should not be performed, especially if you live in a warm region. Outside, the chicken coop can simply be sheathed with plywood and painted with moisture-resistant paint.

Roof - reliable protection from rain

The best option is the gable roof of the house. Due to this, the height of the ceiling inside the room increases. If the roof is well insulated, then ceiling stuffing is not even required. For covering, the best option would be a metal tile or slate.

The original roof is 2 slopes, so that in summer it is convenient to collect rainwater for watering plants.

The manufacturing technology of a gable roof is as follows:

• Rafters are installed on top of the wall frame.
• A waterproofing sheet is laid on the rafters and nailed. It is necessary in order to prevent wetting of the heat-insulating layer. The film thickness can be 200 µm. Each waterproofing strip should be overlapped up to 200 mm. It is advisable to glue them together with adhesive tape. Due to this, the coating will be completely sealed.
• After that, for the roofing, it is necessary to fill the crate. It is stuffed over waterproofing. The step of the crate will depend on the type of flooring chosen.
• When the crate is ready, you can proceed with the installation of the roofing.

We put the barrel under the drain.

Video: making a poultry house roof

Ceiling insulation - additional protection from the cold

The procedure for warming the ceiling of the house is necessary if you live in a cold region. In this case, floor beams are additionally fixed to the rafter system. On top of the beams, that is, from the attic side, you can fix plywood, which is fastened with ordinary self-tapping screws.

It is important to insulate the ceiling to reduce the heat transfer of the house in severe frosts.

Thermal insulation material, such as mineral wool, is placed in the space between the beams. Additionally, you can fix the vapor barrier film. It is attached with a stapler. The ceiling is hemmed with the same plywood, or you can use wooden lining, drywall and the like.

Floors in the chicken coop

Finishing the floor is one of the main events in the interior arrangement of the chicken coop. The finishing method depends on your goals. If you want to breed and keep broilers for meat, then it will be enough to make a light, non-insulated floor.

A dry and warm floor will provide a comfortable stay for laying hens and prevent the development of any infections and diseases in chickens.

However, the floor must still have a double structure. It is not difficult to implement it, especially if you have a columnar foundation:

• Beams are fixed to the support frame, acting as a lag.
• From below it is necessary to hem with boards.
• A heater, such as mineral wool, is laid on top of the boards.
• Next, a finishing floor is laid from the boards.

In the case of the manufacture of a shallow strip foundation, the floors can be made of earthen or adobe. To do this, prepare a mixture of finely chopped straw and clay. The clay mixture is applied in layers. Each layer is carefully rammed. In this case, before laying the next layer, the previous one must dry out. The process is quite lengthy, but the foundation will turn out to be reliable.

Straw flooring requires regular replacement.

If the foundation is made using slab technology, then it is enough to make a wooden flooring on top of the concrete. However, it is better to use a different insulation or lay waterproofing. Mineral wool absorbs moisture. Further, the process of manufacturing the floor is as follows:

1. The base must be protected from penetrating moisture, so it can be covered with roofing material from above. The canvases must be glued together with a special bituminous mastic. Due to this, reliable waterproofing of the wooden flooring will be created, which will be completely protected from the penetration of chicken waste.
2. On top of the flooring, an embankment of sand, straw, hay or sawdust is made. However, hay and straw absorb moisture and do not dry well. Because of this, the flooring will rot and provoke the appearance of fungi and bacteria.

Straw bedding on the floor of the chicken coop.

Bedding made of sawdust and shavings with the addition of bacteria NettoPlast.

To eliminate this possibility, a layer of straw or hay must be made thin, and it is recommended to change it regularly. Therefore, as practice shows, it is better to use sawdust for flooring, especially since they can be easily purchased at the carpentry shop, sometimes even for free.

Internal arrangement of the poultry house

One of the main places inside the chicken coop is the perch. Perch means a wooden pole. This is where the chicken spends most of its time. An important rule is not to place perches one above the other. For one chicken, you need to calculate about 30 cm. The distance between the poles should be about 50 cm.

Family Araucan breeds live in a polycarbonate greenhouse.

Such feeders and drinkers are easy to assemble from plastic sewer pipes.

Automatic drinker for chickens and laying hens. Paws are dry!

As for the location of the feeders and drinkers, they should be higher. Considering that chickens often arrange “showdowns” on the territory, dust can rise inside the chicken coop. To protect the drinker from dust getting into it, a small visor should be made on top.

You should also build nests. These places should be dark and secluded. This will ensure good egg production. There should also be litter inside the nest.

Nests for laying hens on 3 floors - a hostel?

The nests themselves are made in the form of boxes, which are closed on top with a removable lid. As practice shows, nests should be equipped with a separate cover. This will allow you to remove the eggs and change the litter.

The location of the feeders should be done at the height of the back of the bird. Due to this, the chicken will not scatter food with its paws, but will get it out by slightly stretching its neck. The number of drinkers and feeders should be sufficient so that they are enough for all chickens.

Building a chicken coop with your own hands from boards and plywood.

Video: arrangement of the inside and outside of the house

Heating - comfort and coziness

The chicken is very cold tolerant. Especially cold and drafts negatively affect the legs of chickens, freezing due to the lack of feathers on them. As already mentioned in this article, the indoor temperature should not fall below 12°C. If you live in the northern regions, then in addition to insulating walls, floors and ceilings, it is recommended to install heating devices.

In the absence of heating, the bird eats more food, gets fat and becomes lethargic. These are additional costs. If you are breeding chicks in an incubator, the heat of the chicken itself may not be enough. For these and other reasons, chicken coop heating is essential.

Video: chicken coop - winter version

Two ways of heating: natural and artificial

Heating a chicken coop can be done in two ways. Natural heating means maintaining a comfortable temperature without the use of heaters. The bottom line is to use the litter, which was mentioned above.

In October, the floor is sprinkled with slaked lime 1 kg / m 2. The thickness of bedding made of peat, sawdust, hay or straw reaches 7 cm of thickness. As the chickens live, the litter is trampled down and it needs to be poured. Previously, the flooring must be agitated with a pitchfork. By spring, the thickness of the litter can reach 25 cm.

Poultry house for 20 chickens.

The peculiarity of the bedding is that during the composting process it releases heat. Accordingly, the poultry house is kept at a stable temperature of about 12°C. The available heat slows down the decomposition of manure and disinfects pathogenic microbes. But with all this, it is necessary to organize high-quality ventilation. Otherwise, harmful ammonia will accumulate in the chicken coop. In addition, in winter, the ventilation pipe should be closed briefly with a lid so that warm air does not quickly escape.

However, if the outside temperature drops below -10°C, then all these methods are ineffective. Another method of heating should be used - artificial. We suggest you consider several options presented in the table:

As you can see, there are many ways to create a poultry house heating. You should choose the one that you can organize and that will pull the family budget.

Chinese crested live in a warm poultry house. They can't get cold!

Video: features of the organization of heating

Insulation without energy costs - an innovative solution

We have considered with you the traditional solution regarding how to arrange heating inside the chicken coop. When installing artificial heating, a lot of money is spent, and if you use the technology described above for natural heating, you have to make a lot of effort to control the level of humidity, otherwise there is a risk of fungus and mold.

Considering all the pros and cons, some summer residents resort to an original solution using the Net-Plast mixture used for spacecraft. The net layer is bacteria that should settle on the floor in the poultry house, namely in the prepared litter. The composition is packaged in packages of 0.5 and 1 kg. According to some estimates, 1 kg of this mixture will be enough to heat 20 m 2. In this case, these bacteria will live for about three years.

Fermentation bedding (bacteria) produced in Magnitogorsk, Russia. Much more efficient than Chinese counterparts.

To begin with, sawdust is poured into the chicken coop, you can also add oat husks and dry straw. All components are thoroughly mixed with each other. Next, Netto-layer bacteria should be evenly poured onto the resulting mixture and mixed again.

Heat in this case will appear in this way:

• The feces of the hen fall on the bedding.
• When they come into contact with these bacteria, heat begins to be released. At the same time, an unpleasant odor is completely eliminated.

In another way, it is called a fermentation litter. From time to time, it is enough to slightly loosen the bedding and, if necessary, add sawdust or straw. However, you do not have to clean the chicken coop.

At a temperature outside of -20°C inside the poultry house, it can be +15°C. If the frosts are stronger, then you can additionally connect temporary electric heating.

This solution has many positive aspects. For example, there are great cost savings due to the fact that electricity and fuel are not completely consumed. After a while, there is no need to clean the chicken coop, as the composition of the bacteria can lie with the litter for about 3 years. And after this time, you can get high-quality fertilizer for the garden.

My laying hens live in a polycarbonate greenhouse, Chelyabinsk, down to -35º C in winter.

Read about building a chicken coop with your own hands, how to build a poultry house in 1 day? Laying hens do not freeze in the Urals thanks to the Netto Plast fermentation litter, and transparent walls provide maximum lighting in winter.

Ventilation of the interior: several common ways

With the onset of winter, ventilation plays an important role in keeping birds, although in the summer it is not the least important. It’s just that everything is simplified in the summer, because you can open doors, windows and organize an influx of fresh air. Decaying chicken manure releases a harmful substance - ammonia. If good ventilation is not established, then there is a serious risk of illness for chickens and even for the person who will serve the chicken coop.

Ventilation in brickwork, do not forget to immediately provide for a technological hole!

Worst of all, due to the lack of ventilation, the walls and all the interior decoration will begin to rot and become unusable. For this reason, even at the stage of project development, it is important to consider the manufacture of ventilation.

When developing a ventilation project, it is worth considering some nuances. For example, in winter, the flow of fresh air must be strictly regulated. Otherwise, there is a chance that the temperature will drop quickly, and the chickens will be cold. You should also minimize the presence of drafts, which also negatively affects the health of the bird.

Mortise ventilation in a wooden house - everything is quite simple.

So, there are 3 most common ways to organize ventilation in a chicken coop:

• mechanical or forced;
• natural;
• supply and exhaust (a kind of natural).

Let's consider separately the features of each of them.

mechanical ventilation

Forced ventilation is beneficial if you have a lot of chickens and the chicken coop has a large area. Under such circumstances, it is important to organize a stable change of air. It's easy to implement. We will provide you with a quick guide to this process. Additionally, you can watch videos:

Additionally, the system can be equipped with temperature sensors to control the operation of ventilation. You can also purchase equipment to automatically turn on / off the fan. How to do this, you can learn from the video.

Video: organization of forced ventilation

natural ventilation

This type of ventilation is the easiest to organize. There are 2 interesting solutions that we offer you to choose from. Let's compare them and note the pros and cons:

In this picture you can see the natural ventilation of the house.

We offer you to watch a video that tells about the manufacturing technology of such a ventilation system.

Video: making natural ventilation in a poultry house

Building a frame chicken coop: step by step instructions

To consolidate all the material, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the step-by-step instructions for building at home. In addition, you can watch the videos:

Instructions with photos and explanations for the construction of a simple wooden frame chicken coop on a columnar foundation
Stage of work	Technological process
	First you need to make support pillars. Given the weight of the entire structure of the chicken coop, steel pipes Ø100–150 mm should be used at the base of the poles. You will also need a sheet of metal cut into squares. The thickness of the metal is not less than 4 mm. The cut out squares should be welded to the support posts. Immediately it is worth noting that the pillars should all have the same size.
	The next step is to choose a suitable building site. Using wooden pegs and a rope, the territory is marked. This is an important stage of work, because the final result largely depends on the quality of the preparatory work.
	After marking, it is necessary to remove the fertile soil layer on one shovel bayonet up to 250 mm. At the corners of the dug hole, support poles are installed for the future poultry house. It is important to pay special attention to their installation. They must be installed strictly vertically. Moreover, the upper sole of all 4 supports must be strictly at the same level with each other. The soil under the sole of the post must be compacted. If the soil in your area is unstable, then a sand cushion is sure to be made. A layer of sand and gravel is poured to the bottom. The pillow is rammed, after which the support poles are mounted. Even if there is a slight horizontal difference, it can be leveled by attaching the lower harness.
	Installed support poles must be treated with an anti-corrosion compound, and also painted over with water-repellent paint. This will serve as additional protection. After that, the installation of the upper strapping from the board is carried out. For this purpose, you can use a board 150 × 50 mm. First, a bar is attached to the metal sole from two short sides. For this purpose, a hole is drilled in the metal, as well as in a bar. Fastened with steel bolts. After that, two boards are laid on top from the long sides and fastened in the same way. The fastening must be strong and reliable, because the quality of the future construction will depend on it.
	When the base is ready, we proceed to the manufacture of a wooden frame. However, before this, the dug hole is covered with soil (it can also be crushed stone), which is rammed. Support poles are installed at the corners, which can be fixed with metal corners and self-tapping screws to the previously laid wooden trim. An opening is immediately formed to enter the chicken coop. For greater strength, stiffeners are created in the middle of the height of the building. The beam can be 600 × 500 mm.
	Now it's time to arrange the roof, in this case the roof has 2 slopes. The rafters are installed and attached to the upper trim of the frame.
	The rafters are additionally fixed with spacers to give the roof the necessary rigidity. The formed attic can be used to store hay, sawdust and other things.
	When the frame is completely ready, you should proceed to its sheathing. Outside, such a chicken coop can be sheathed with plywood. The walls of the frame must be insulated with mineral wool. Inside the walls can also be sewn up with plywood, as well as other sheet material. As for the roof, metal tiles are used for it. The roof must be insulated. Inside, the ceiling is hemmed with plywood or similar material. Some use drywall.
	Here you can see that an additional place for walking birds is organized. A bar and a metal mesh were used as a frame. In addition, the perimeter of the foundation is sheathed with a mesh. This will exclude the penetration of predatory animals to the bird. Doors must be installed in the aviary so that cleaning can be done inside. A ladder is also made for the exit of chickens from the house to the street. The ladder is constructed from boards, the transverse boards simultaneously stiffen the structure and serve as steps.
	A simple latch is attached to the chicken coop door. Additionally, it is recommended to install a loop for a padlock so that no one steals the chickens in your absence.
	As for the interior space, here we see that two poles for lodging for the night are fixed. A little higher there is an additional shelf. A small ladder must be attached to the poles to make it easier for the chickens to climb up. To control the temperature regime, a thermometer must be mounted.
	There must be a nest in the chicken coop. It should be located away from fixed perches. Hay is used as bedding.
	Be sure to make a door for the bird to go outside. In this case, a lifting door is used. As a drinking bowl there is an ordinary plastic bucket. There are feeders in the chicken coop.
	This design is quite simple. Even in harsh winters, it will be a great place to keep chickens. It should be added that ventilation for air exchange is mandatory.

As you can see, building a chicken coop with your own hands is quite within the power of even those summer residents who do not have much experience in construction. Up to 10 chickens can live freely in such a house. In order to roughly navigate in size, we additionally provide instructions and diagrams with clearly marked dimensions of each individual element.

Do-it-yourself frame construction of a chicken coop - instructions

Following these drawings, you can design, start building a chicken coop with your own hands and build a small but warm house for chickens in your country house. In the end result, it will look like this:

Do-it-yourself chicken coop construction for 10 - 20 chickens.

The height of the chicken coop is 2450 mm, the width is 1300 mm, and the length is 2500 mm. It is worth noting that during the construction of such a house, you can use 40 × 100 mm bars for the frame and 25 × 100 for frame sheathing.

Construction begins with the formation of the foundation. For reinforcement in increments of 600 mm, crossbars are fixed inside the frame. To begin with, a frame is made of bars, and a USB plate is fixed on top with self-tapping screws.

We make the base of the house from chipboard.

It will be possible to put blocks and other similar material under the base. After that, the frame is made in whole ready-made blocks, as can be seen from the diagrams below:

The frame of the side wall of the poultry house with a door.

A door is immediately formed in the frame. It should be high enough so that you can freely enter the chicken coop to maintain it. The door height can be up to 1770 mm and the width up to 750 mm. Windows have dimensions of 550×600 mm.

So the frame of the back wall or the blank walls of the chicken coop can be made.

All finished sides of the frame are attached to a wooden base. A shed roof is formed:

Simple installation of a shed roof.

After that, you can proceed to sheathing the walls of the frame with boards or sheet material. The roof is covered with slate, metal tiles and the like, there are no special rules here:

We sheathe the walls of the chicken coop with decorative material, install the roof!

Almost the entire chicken coop is ready, in conclusion, side boxes for nests are made. These hanging nests should have a door so that you can pick up the eggs from the nest from the street and also change the bedding. It looks like this:

Option with external socket. It is convenient to collect eggs and change the litter!

Be sure to make an aviary for walking chickens. The size can be absolutely any. In our case, the height of the enclosure is 1500 mm, the width is 2500 mm and the length is 3700 mm. The choice of the size of the place for walking the birds is determined based on their number.

Consider a place for walking chickens, if there is no possibility of a free walk, it is imperative to build an aviary!

So, we have considered with you the question of how to properly build a poultry house for chickens. If you have your own ideas, you can write about them at the end of this article. We hope that this material about building a chicken coop with your own hands has given you food for thought. Remember that before starting work, the volume may seem impossible, but when the process is already running, in practice it is not so difficult to do everything.