How to make a simple chicken coop in the country?

For those who live in the country from early spring to late autumn, it makes sense to have layers and feast on homemade eggs. In country conditions it is quite possible to make a simple but comfortable chicken coop.

Design features

The chicken coop can be ordered to a carpenter, buy ready-made or do it yourself. There are many types of structures, from a small portable version to a large-scale structure. When designing a chicken coop, you should choose a warm, but not hot place. House with nests and perches need to raise above the ground, it will help protect the birds from the night cold and damp.

Mini chicken coops, for several birds, are easily transferred to another location. They can be made in the form of a stretcher, put on wheels or simply transferred in parts.Large plots can afford voluminous chicken coops with a spacious range. Sometimes bird houses are built in several floors.

Chickens on free grazing rush fun. But the one who dares to let them out in the garden will be left without a crop. Owners of poultry houses have found a way out, like a bird to walk up and save vegetables. They build long nets out of a net, into which birds can leave the hen house and enter it from the other side.

With the summer option in the summer cottage, you can not complicate your life at all, make the simplest chicken coop, in the form of a triangle of several sheets of slate, and a small walking distance, covered with a net. Who loves complexity, can build a beautiful house with a string of houses, windows and flower beds. Or a mini-house for broilers, similar to a real rural hut.

How to build your own hands

Before you start building a chicken coop, you need to know how many birds will live in it, the size of the future construction depends on it. The bird house in the country is quite realistic to do it yourself, you just need to follow the step by step instructions.

Preparatory work

In any construction time is needed for the preparatory work.These include: the choice of location, project, materials, preparation of drawings and calculations.

Location selection

From the comfort of the bird will depend on its health and the quality of eggs. Properly chosen place may further affect the egg production of chickens. On a hot summer day, the hens will be uncomfortable in the sun. It is better to place them under a shady tree. In the morning, the slanting rays of the sun should warm and drain the coop that has cooled overnight, and for this it should be located on the southeast side of the trees.

It is better to choose a place for the bird away from the garden and vegetable garden in order to eliminate the risks of chemicals entering the premises when processing garden crops. Sewerage, cesspool and compost pits should not be located near the hen house and walking in order to avoid infection. If you attach a chicken coop to the cottage building, it is easier to heat it and it is easier to keep an eye on the bird. It is impossible to carry out construction in the valley, as the precipitation from the land plot will flow to the chicken coop.

It is better to plant a hedge around the fowl to protect them from wind and drafts. The bird can equally suffer from heat, cold and wind, so all these factors should be excluded.To make it easier to control the birds and close them in time for the night, the chicken coop should be viewed from the most habitable places in the country. When the chickens retire, you just need to close the door behind them.

Project

Construction should begin with the preparation of drawings and calculations. At this point, the place of construction should be determined, a sketch of the chicken coop drawn up with reference to the terrain and the cardinal. It is necessary to indicate adjacent buildings and trees, to consider the level of shade, the wind rose, to exclude the presence of drafts. The drawing of the building can be made independently taking into account the peculiarities of your site or borrow it online.

The construction plan should include a place for roosts, drinking bowls, feeders and walking birds. It is thought over and designated ventilation, lighting. If planning a winter chicken coop, consider the heating system. The dimensions of the building are determined from the calculation: two hens per square meter plus 30% of the additional area under the nests. But in practice, birds are settled in more than what is required by the standards.

Construction process

In the process of construction, all work is performed in stages, focusing on the drawings and calculations.At the initial stage, the terrain is mapped and the foundation is laid.

Foundation

For several hens you can build a small portable chicken coop, it does not need a base. A larger project will require a foundation.

They are of three types.

  1. Columnar. It involves the installation of pillars and the construction of buildings on the frame technology.
  2. Pile Piles are used as pillars, which are driven in on unstable soils or on inclined terrain.
  3. Ribbon. The most reliable foundation, it is poured concrete around the perimeter of the entire building.

Simple country options most often use the columnar view of the base, it is cheaper and easier to perform.

The contour of the future chicken coop should be dug to the depth of freezing. Deepening to do with a step frequency of two meters. The volume of the support will be about 20 cm and rise 40 cm above the ground surface. The formwork can be constructed from a rough plank, 60-80 cm high. Next, reinforce with reinforcement, insert supports and pour concrete. You can start work from any angle of the future building. Cover the flooded foundation with polyethylene and leave for a week before drying.

Floor

When the foundation is strengthened, the basement is strapped. For this, four beams with a thickness of 20 cm each are laid on the roofing material, creating a box. With the help of metal corners bars fasten together.

Boards, put on the edge (lags), with the help of nails are attached to the harness. The areas between them are filled with expanded clay. Then, in order to protect the bird from rodents, the surface is covered with a fine-meshed mesh with a half-meter overlap, which will later rise to the walls. Top lay draft board.

Constructing the floor, it is better to make a small bias towards the door in order to facilitate further care for the chicken coop. When working with wood, it should be remembered that all wooden elements must be treated with antifungal and anti-fire agents. Warm the floor when the walls are already there.

Walling

Wall construction should begin with the installation of side racks. In order to further perform a shed roof, the difference between the front and rear pillars should be about half a meter. It is important to remember that the slope of the roof should not be in the direction of walking birds.

Then, with the help of boards, the top trim is made, they are fastened to the racks with nails. Before you install the crate, you should know the size of the insulation. Thermal insulation layers are laid in the gap between the supports.

In the area of ​​the door, windows, opening for exit of birds, transverse guides are installed. When the frame is ready, the floor and ceiling are sewn up with a cut board.

Roof

To cover the roof, you need to prepare rafters. To calculate their size, measure the distance between the front and rear pillar, add another thirty centimeters to the overhang of the roof.

Rafters, exposed on the edge, mounted to the top trim of the building. The distances between the rafters are equal to the width of the insulation. The rafters are covered with polyethylene, make a crate and mount the roof covering.

To insulate the roof, heat insulation plates are laid between the rafters. In the northern areas, you can use several layers of insulation. A few centimeters of space for free air circulation should be left between the cushioning material and the thermal insulation.

Wall cladding

The walls are sheathed after roofing. To the outer side of the frame, they assemble bars to which boards, plywood, sheets of OSB are fastened, with what the chicken coop was supposed to be sewn up.Between racks laid insulation.

Then the chicken coop is sheathed from the inside. The location of the ventilation openings should be left without skin.

Device and finish the chicken coop

If the walls and ceiling are treated with lime, it will protect the room from parasites.

The floor should be made of warm materials, and cement, ceramic tiles, bricks are not suitable for it. Chickens are prone to rheumatism, if the floor is cold, wet, they sit on their paws and stop walking. Wood is the most suitable material for a chicken coop. In order not to spoil the wood covering chicken manure, the floor is covered with a thick layer of sand and sawdust.

The roof should not be built from materials that are very hot in the sun or noisy from rain and wind. Chickens are equally badly carried both from fear and from overheating.

Ventilation

For solid chicken coops, you can arrange a ventilation box under the roof. Small bird houses can do with two holes with flaps on opposite walls.

The best option would be an exhaust hood equipped with a fan. To install such a system, two square holes should be made on opposite walls.One of them should be forty centimeters lower than the other. A special fan is inserted into the hole.

Lighting

Chickens see poorly in the dark if they freeze, or get scared, start to clog up and crush each other. In such conditions it is convenient to have adjustable lighting with a smooth shutdown.

Nests and nests

It is more convenient to make roosting removable, so it is easier to care for them and to have at different heights. To roost should bring a wooden ladder, it is a wide board with transverse bars.

It is better to cover the nests with straw and periodically change it. Hay is less suitable, as it quickly disappears. Nests should be blacked out, chickens do not like to be carried in bright light.

In the hen house you need to install several wooden poles at a distance of 30-50 cm from each other.

Feeders

Feeders are easy to use if they are made in the form of drawers. Then you can fall asleep without entering the hen house. Feeders are usually knocked out of boards and set at a low height.

Birdwatching

The more space for walking chickens, the lower the risk of spreading infection. Some owners, with a large number of birds, walk divided into sections, in order to avoid a crush. The walking place should be dry, which is provided by sandy soils or drainage system.

Professional Tips

For the construction and equipment of the country hen house Some tips might come in handy:

  • Calculating the area of ​​the chicken coop on the planned number of birds, it is better to build with a margin - in the future there may be more chickens.
  • If a small chicken coop is built for several layers, it is more convenient to put it on wheels. This will help to move the house without any problems, and chickens will always have fresh grazing.
  • Winter coop needs solid materials (brick, stone), they retain heat well and are not fire hazardous, which makes it possible to use a heater.
  • When the days become shorter and the chickens stop rolling, they can be “deceived” by additional lighting, prolonging the “light day” with the help of daytime lamps.

A comfortable chicken coop will appeal to birds, plus a good care. As a result, active egg production and weight gain are ensured.

How to make a simple chicken coop, see the next video.

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Information provided for reference purposes. For construction issues, always consult a specialist.

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