DIY chicken house construction

In order for our bird to not get sick, you need to provide it with proper conditions. The house should have adequate temperature and good ventilation. as a rule, during the construction of the shed, many people do not take into account the norms for keeping birds, making a huge mistake. We will consider what sanitary rules exist and how to build a chicken coop with your own hands.

Do-it-yourself chicken coop

Space requirements

No one will answer the question for the farmer what the chicken coop should be. It all depends on how many birds are planned to be kept, what area is available and for what purpose birds are bred. At the same time, there are general norms, which we will talk about.

To determine the choice of design, you should see what kind of device options are. Photos of chicken coops can be found on the Internet, but it’s better to look at ready-made houses, if possible: this will help determine how to place the nests and cages , where to place the feed and cleaning tools.

Dimensions and construction of the room

Before you make a chicken coop for laying hens, you need to determine the optimal dimensions of the room and its appearance. As a rule, people build a rectangular building because of the simplicity of its construction. It looks simple and sometimes does not fit into the general appearance of the house. Buildings that are a miniature copy of, for example, a residential building located on a site look much more interesting. Do not be afraid that the work will become much more complicated. If you preliminarily draw up a diagram and think through everything to the smallest detail, building such a chicken coop with your own hands will not be difficult. A close company will not benefit the feathered: they will rush badly, and a constant feeling of discomfort over time can provoke health problems. At least 3 square meters should be allocated to 3 chickens. m of space.

Before starting construction it is important to think about how many birds in the future you would like to have. But also do not forget that a large house will be quite expensive to warm in winter.

Humidity and light mode

Humidity in the room should not go beyond the norm, therefore, this indicator also needs to be monitored. To ensure that the humidity is always at the proper level, the room should always have a dry litter.

When making calculations, one should take into account the fact that the chicken coop will need to be kept clean. The cleaning process should not be difficult, so there should be no hard-to-reach spots in the house. The height of the chicken coop should be such that the farmer can walk in it calmly.

Requirements to the construction of the chicken house

In order for the laying hens to give the desired number of eggs, it is necessary to maintain a certain light regime, so the house should have an artificial light source. Much also depends on whether the house is warm or not. To ensure that the temperature in the chicken coop always corresponds to the norm, it is advisable to initially consider heating systems , which will certainly be needed in the cold season.

Drawing up a drawing

Before making the chicken coop do it yourself for chickens, they make a drawing, even if it is a small room. This will help in the preliminary stage to fix all the mistakes and think through every little thing well. Accordingly, it is necessary to clearly present the structure of the building. The drawing shows the walls and windows, the internal equipment of the room (nests, feeders, compartments for storing equipment and feed). When creating a chicken coop project, all objects are depicted, taking into account their sizes. Naturally, the drawing is a small copy of a natural building, but all proportions must be observed.

During the creation of the drawing, it is not necessary to copy the scheme that was found somewhere. First of all, one must take into account one’s desires and goals. In addition, it is important not to forget that the size of the house and its configuration depend on how much free territory there is on the site.

With a correctly made drawing, building a chicken coop will turn into an elementary task that even a person without skills in construction.

If the drawing for the chicken coop is ready, proceed to the next step: to prepare building materials and tools.

Selection of building materials

Construction you cannot start a chicken coop without thinking about what it will be made of. It is advisable to select materials even before creating the drawing. You can make a chicken coop from improvised materials, or you can go to a hardware store and pick up something newer.

If you make a homemade chicken coop from improvised tools, you can save. But to build a birdhouse from a thin board or tree that is already starting to rot, it makes no sense. Such a building will not last long, and it will hardly be comfortable for birds in it, so the best option would be to go to a hardware store and pick up something there. The use of various blocks greatly simplifies the construction, but wooden logs remain, despite everything, the best building material for residential premises.

Selection of building materials

Run the chicken coop it is possible from cinder block, brick, vulture plates, sleepers, stone, foam blocks, sandwich panels or adobe. You can also make a chicken coop from just boards. But such a handmade chicken coop will be difficult to make warm. At the same time, maintaining the perfect microclimate in a chicken coop made of wood is the easiest to do.

Modern building materials greatly simplify the construction process, but their pricing policy can hardly be called budgetary. And, as already mentioned above, an ideal chicken coop would be a building made of wood. A wooden chicken coop will not only be a cozy home for birds, but also decorate any area.

A chicken coop made of wood will cost a lot of money. To save money, you can build a brick house, but next to it there will be more work. The roof of the chicken coop is traditionally made from slate. This is an inexpensive building material that has a long period of operation.

Construction of the house

If the tools and materials for the construction of the Coop are ready, you can get to work. Before you build a chicken coop, you need to consider an action plan.The principle of construction of any premises is the same, it includes several stages:

• preparatory (creation of a chicken house construction scheme, preparation of building materials and tools, site selection);
• main (construction itself organization of ventilation, installation of electrical wires);
• final (arrangement of the house).

We will consider each stage separately.

Preparatory stage

Start work with the preparation of the construction scheme. Designing a chicken coop should begin only after the site is selected. The resulting scheme should be shown to a specialist: he will indicate all errors, if any.

as soon as the scheme is ready, proceed to the purchase of building materials. Their list is different for everyone: it all depends on which building material the choice is made (brick, wood, etc.). You also need to decide whether capital construction is planned or not. In the first case, one cannot do without a foundation.

The construction of the chicken coop also affects the choice of building materials. This can be a portable house, used only in the summer, or stationary.

You also need to prepare a construction tool. The more special equipment is at hand, the easier it will be to cope with the task, although a small chicken coop can be built using only an elementary set of a carpenter, including a saw, a hammer and a set of screwdrivers.There is probably such a set in every house.

Choosing a site for the house

You need to decide where it is better to build a chicken coop. Hens are afraid of drafts, so you should not place the house where it will be blown by the winds. You should not take a place where moisture accumulates under the chicken coop: damp will not benefit the livestock — it will be susceptible to colds.

It is advisable to build a chicken coop on a site located under a slight slope. In this case, moisture will not accumulate in the ground under construction, and this will not only positively affect the health of the birds, but also extend the operational period of the house.

It is advisable to place the chicken coop in a sunny area. This will save on space heating in spring and autumn. The building is located not on the ground, but on a certain hill.

The main stage of construction

A chicken coop is being built according to a pre-prepared drawing. The easiest way to carry out the construction of a frame chicken coop. Such a construction is made of wood.

Before proceeding directly to the construction of the chicken coop with your own hands, you need to determine the type of house. If we are talking about a stationary room, designed for a large number of birds, you need to lay the foundation. When it comes to lightweight or mobile construction, no foundation needs to be laid.Under a brick coop, even if it is not particularly heavy, it is advisable to lay at least a small foundation.

Arrangement of the foundation

The foundation for the chicken coop can be tape or columnar. The columnar foundation is simpler in construction. In addition, it is ideal for small buildings. If you plan to raise chickens with the aim of selling eggs and meat to the market, you will have to build a capital building of impressive size. The foundation for the chicken coop in this case is better to make a tape.

First of all, make markings on the selected site. Then remove a small layer of soil, removing all trees and shrubs from the selected area. Plants with a root are removed so that they do not destroy the house in the future. Then columns (piles) are installed vertically, the diameter of which is on average 20 cm. The larger the diameter of the columns, the stronger the foundation. The distance between piles should be an average of 90-100 cm. Have piles at the same distance. This will allow you to evenly distribute the load on all the support posts. Be sure to install support columns in the corners of the house.

To install the columns, dig holes. Do not use wooden beams to equip the foundation: a tree deteriorates under prolonged exposure to moisture. The best option is asbestos-cement pipes or concrete blocks of small sizes that are on sale.The diameter of the recess under the support posts should correspond to the diameter of the selected material. A sand cushion is laid at the bottom of each pit, under which it is advisable to lay a layer of crushed stone. Then pipes are installed, reinforced and filled with concrete. Between the building and the column supports establish waterproofing. It is best to use roofing material as a waterproofing.

Building the walls of the house

The easiest way, if it comes to wood, is to build a frame structure. If we are talking about a brick house, then a grillage is installed on top of the foundation. This is a connecting element between the foundation and the building itself. For the poultry house, the grillage can be made from a wooden beam, since the construction is not heavy. Install the beam in such a way that the joints are on some support pillar. It is best to do groove joints. They can be strengthened with self-tapping screws.

Then, using the drawing of the chicken coop, they build walls. A wooden beam is installed vertically at the corners, which will act as a support for the structure. You can fix the beam to the foundation in various ways. It is advisable to make groove fastenings, further strengthening them with metal corners. Vertical racks are installed not only in the corners of the house. Depending on the length of the wall, there may be 2-3 or more. When installing vertical racks, do not forget to leave room for window openings and doors. Install racks around the perimeter of the building.In order for the frame to be reliable, they connect all the vertical posts to each other with a horizontal mount. It can be a wooden board or the same beam.

It remains to sheathe the walls with wooden boards, laying insulation between them, or to lay a beam between the supporting beams. As a heater in the chicken coop, sawdust, mineral wool, slag, etc. are used. The lining of the house can also be made of drywall. But this material cannot be called wear-resistant.

As for the brickwork, they perform it according to the rules, not forgetting to leave room for windows. The walls cannot be directly on the ground itself, otherwise the chicken coop inside will always be damp. Install the floor at least 35 cm above the ground.

Before using wooden elements, they are treated with special water-repellent liquids. This will help to significantly increase the operational period of a wooden building.

Roof arrangement

The advantage of the frame structure is that individual elements can be assembled on the ground and only then mounted on the foundation. Accordingly, the roof can be made separately, and the finished structure can be installed on the support beams of the walls. The roof frame is made of wood, it does not matter if the chicken coop is made of timber or brick.

The chicken coop layout should reflect the roof structure, which can be single or gable.You can equip a multi-level roof, which will decorate the structure. But functionally, it is no different from simpler designs. It is better that the design of the chicken coop suggests the presence of a gable roof. Building it, of course, is more difficult than a pitched one, but you can equip an attic for storing feed or hay.

Doing a gable roof in the chicken house with your own hands, you should start with the installation of rafters. Then they make a crate, set the skate and lay the ceiling in the chicken coop. The ceiling is covered with boards. Be sure to carry out hydro and thermal insulation of the ceiling. You can use any building materials found in the store. The main thing is to make insulation quality. Otherwise, the room will be too hot in summer and cold in winter.

Even if you do not intend to make an attic, you should opt for a gable structure: precipitation (rain water and snow) does not linger on it ) In addition, the height of the structure increases.

It remains to lay the boards on the floor, make a ceiling, and you can proceed to the arrangement of the room. If the attic is not intended, it is not necessary to make the ceiling.

As for the interior decoration, the house should be whitewashed using diluted lime. The room is whitened not only from the inside, but also from the outside. After treatment with lime, parasites hazardous to the health of birds die.

Then they begin to equip the room.

Ventilation and wiring

Do-it-yourself building of the chicken coop involves not only the construction of walls and the improvement of the roof, but also the installation of the main systems. First of all, you need to think through a ventilation system. The first source of fresh air entering the house is the windows. They should open well. Position them in such a way that drafts do not form during ventilation. Do not install plastic windows in the house. It is better to make frames of wood, which is a breathable material. Such frames can ensure normal air exchange even when the windows are closed.

Construction of the chicken coop

You should also consider how to make artificial ventilation in the chicken coop. It is enough to install pipes of the required diameter and equip them with an electric drive, which can be switched on automatically or manually. The diameter of the ventilation pipes and openings depends on the size of the house. You do not need to equip them with electric drives, but in this case there is no guarantee that the room will be properly ventilated.

Immediately think over how to make artificial lighting in the chicken coop . How well the hens will be carried depends on the daylight hours. And the duration of daylight hours for layers is at least 15 hours. It is advisable that the lighting is turned on automatically.In this case, you don’t have to constantly come to the house just to turn the light on or off. At this stage, you can hire a specialist who will tell you how to do all the automation correctly.

Heating in the chicken coop

It is simply necessary to heat the room in winter. For the health of chickens, the temperature in the chicken coop should be at least 10 ° C. But if we talk about the proper care of laying hens, then the temperature should not fall below 12 ° C. Otherwise, the egg production of chickens will decrease. Accordingly, you need to think in advance how to organize heating inside the chicken house in the winter season.

Care for layers

You can install infrared heaters or make outlets in which you can connect electrical equipment. You can also install a potbelly stove in the chicken coop. Using a stove such as a potbelly stove is the most cost-effective option. For heating, you can also use electric convectors for the chicken coop or batteries. You can start up equipment with temperature controllers. This will allow you to automatically heat the air and save energy.

Whatever heating option you choose, the placement of the heaters must be done so that the chickens cannot get burned. This applies only to those devices that heat up during operation.

The final stage

The final stage of the construction of a beautiful chicken coop is its arrangement . Accordingly, it remains only to think about what to put in a chicken coop so that the birds were comfortable there. First of all, these are perches and nests, a bird hole.

Perches

Some houses do not establish perches , suggesting that birds can sleep on a well-lit straw floor. But this is not so. Birds should sleep on roosts, which are wooden poles with a diameter of 6-7 cm. For birds to perch, it must be comfortable. The poles must be ground: this minimizes the likelihood of injuries to the legs.

Roosts for chickens

Position the poles at a height of 45 cm from the floor. The optimal distance between them is 35 cm. Close to the walls, it is impractical to mount them. There must be a gap of at least 25 cm between the last pole and the wall. In order to save space, a two-tier perch can be arranged.

Nests

When arranging a chicken coop for laying hens, special attention should be paid to the location of nests . Their number should not differ significantly from the number of birds. The structure of the nests practically does not differ from the structure of an ordinary box.Accordingly, nests can be built at home from boxes or dense boxes, it is enough to file one wall so that it is convenient for birds to enter the nest. The manufacture of nests does not require special knowledge and skills. Even if there is no box or box at hand, it will be enough to take a few boards and a couple of screws. The optimal height of the nest is 35 cm.

Chicken nests

The size of the nest depends on the size of the bird. Hens of different breeds differ in different dimensions, so you must first determine the breed of chickens that you will breed. Inside the nests are lined with straw. The straw should be thick enough so that the chicken does not damage the integrity of the egg shell. The straw must be clean and dry at all times.

The nests should be placed in such a way that the bird feels comfortable during hatching. No matter how tame the chicken is, it is overly shy when hatching the egg.

Laz for chickens

Making a manhole for chickens is not everyone considers it necessary, since there is a door. But it is intended for humans, and the birds should have their own entrance, which leads directly to the roosts.

Designing a manhole for chickens does not take much time. The construction principle of the manhole is simple: a hole is left in the wall through which the largest chicken or rooster will freely pass. A ladder should lead to this hole.You can put a simple board by first filling small logs on it.

Laz for chickens

The last step is the manufacture of a door for the manhole, which is mounted to the hole using hinges. Opening a manhole should not be difficult.

In general, this is all that is needed for the chicken coop. It will not be superfluous to watch video clips of the chicken coop device and a photo with a detailed description of the internal equipment of the room, but only for the purpose of familiarization. We equip the houses according to its design, the number of birds and its own needs.

Unusual designs

We examined how to make a stationary chicken house with our own hands. But you can make a mobile version, the structure of which differs little from a stationary one. It is being done in almost the same way, except for the absence of the need to build a foundation and prepare the area for construction.

A mobile house cannot be large. Such a building is designed for no more than 10-12 chickens. It can be built on wheels, which will simplify the movement of the structure. If you make an autonomous small house warm using insulating materials, you can use it throughout the year. The floors in the room can be covered with linoleum, which is easy to clean. Inside this design should be nests and perches for birds.

You can build a double house, in one half of which you can keep birds in the winter, and in the other in the summer. In this case, it is not necessary to install walls throughout the room. In one part of it, walls are installed and internal work is carried out, while the other is simply covered with a net. Accordingly, internal work, which includes the installation of perches and nests, is carried out in only one part of the room. The floor is covered with sawdust. Hens can run in the “winter” part of the building. So that they calmly passed from one part to another, they make an exit in the form of a manhole. It is better to have at least 2 exits.

Buildings of this type are probably the best houses for all-weather keeping of birds. But you can build them under one condition: the presence of a sufficiently large plot of land.

Aviary for walking

We examined how to make your own chicken coop. But layers need to walk somewhere, so it is advisable to build a chicken coop with a fenced walk. Chicken coops with a pen should be equipped with a canopy, under which birds can hide from the sun. If the area for the chicken coop may not exceed 10-15 square meters. m, it is advisable to allocate as much territory as possible for the corral.

Enclose the enclosure for walking with a netting net or build a wooden fence. as an option, you can make a fence from corrugated board. In this case, small sheets are used. Hens fly low, so a high fence is useless.Any means at hand can be used as a guard.

Aviary for walking

Inside the enclosure for walking there should always be a container with clean water and feeders for mineral and conventional feed. Aviary can be closed or open. The canopy is made of wood and any roofing material.

You can build a greenhouse or a greenhouse next to the walking area and sow grass that is useful for chickens, which they lack in the cold season. They cover such a greenhouse with pvc film or polycarbonate.

Content of young animals

If we talk about the complete instructions on how to build a chicken coop, it also includes the construction of a chickbox . Farmers who do not plan to breed birds can do without a stationary place to keep young animals.

The chick compartment is an ordinary cage, for which you need to take a place even in the process of creating a drawing. It is necessary to arrange it so that it is not in a draft with the doors open. You can start making the cage for chickens yourself.

Breeding chickens

It is advisable to place a container under the chicken cage to simplify the cleaning process.Sawdust or straw is placed at the bottom of the pallets, which will prevent the appearance of an unpleasant odor in the house. The floor of the cage should be made of medium-sized mesh. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the temperature regime for chickens should be slightly different than for adult chickens, so an additional heating bulb should be placed above the cage.

Important points

• On your own to build a house is not as difficult as it seems. You can use everything that comes to hand at home (pipe pieces, ruberoid, metal and wooden structures, etc.).
• If we talk about how to properly build a chicken house with your own hands , then you can not help but mention the location of the windows. Through them, street light enters the room, and in order not to turn on artificial lighting inside the house during the day, the windows should be placed on a wall that faces south, because the southern side is sunny. This will help reduce energy consumption for lighting the chicken coop. There should be several windows. It is advisable to cover them with a net through which various insects and predatory animals will not be able to enter the house.
• Decisions and photos of ready-made houses will help determine the design of the chicken coop with their own hands. But you should not just copy the project you like. It can and should be changed in accordance with your own tastes and needs.
• The chicken coop should be convenient not only for birds, but also for their owners.Cleaning the chicken coop will have to be done several times a week, so the height of the door in the chicken coop should correspond to the growth of the owner. The room should not be inaccessible places.
• Be sure to allocate space for tools and storage of straw or sawdust, feed. It can be separated from the main part of the building by a partition. It’s best if it’s a back room.
• Before choosing a design for building a chicken coop, it is advisable to read the advice of experienced craftsmen or watch a video. But this does not mean that all advice should be taken into account. Emphasis should be on those that are suitable for a particular case. Also, all tips should be treated with a reasonable amount of criticism: even the best can make mistakes, all tips must be analyzed before application.

Design Selection

There is no perfect chicken coop. Each design of the chicken coop is good in its own way and has its drawbacks. So a summer house for chickens can be compact and mobile. You can even consider this option, As a prefabricated small chicken coop. Its construction does not require a large amount of money and time, which can not be said about the year-round chicken coop. However, this design will serve for a long period of time.

Alternatively, you can build a modular house. But in this case, you will have to work on the drawing of the building.

Alternatively, you can keep birds in the garage.But the metal structure is not quite suitable for these purposes. The metal garage heats up quickly in the summer and cools quickly in the winter. In addition, metal is not a breathable material. If you make a metal garage warm by first sheathing it with wood inside and laying sawdust or straw on the floor, then it’s quite a bird house. Of course, you will additionally have to build perches and nests at home.

Conclusion

The compact DIY-made chicken coop is ready. To make it a truly decoration of the site, it is advisable to complete its design in an unusual style. You can paint the walls using paints of different colors, this will allow you to make a fabulous house out of the simplest chicken coop.

You can see how to make a chicken coop yourself in the video, but this process is not complicated, even a beginner carpenter will cope with it.

The first thing to do if you decide to build a chicken coop with your own hands is to draw up an action plan. It is necessary to carefully plan the chicken coop, since it will be difficult and costly to remake it after construction is completed.

It is extremely important for the construction of the chicken coop to study the step-by-step instructions with your own hands and clearly follow it. In the drawings of the chicken coop, all sizes indicate as accurately as possible. The design of the house should be thought out. It is necessary to determine in advance how to arrange lighting, heating and ventilation in the chicken coop.Alternatively, you can equip a two-story poultry house, on the first floor of which there will be tools for cleaning and feed, and on the second – directly a room for keeping chickens and chickens.

And finally, it’s worth noting that a chicken can live in any secluded corner, for example, photos and videos that show that a bird can be perfectly equipped even in an old car. can be called comfortable.