Having decided to make a chicken coop for 20 chickens with your own hands, you can arm yourself with any materials - from logs and timber to aerated concrete, which is very popular today. In this case, the main role is played by a well-thought-out scheme and the use of only high-quality materials so that the house keeps heat well in winter and provides coolness in summer.
What to consider?
When building a chicken coop, you should first decide on its location, the number and location of windows, as well as a number of design features that affect the productivity of chickens. A do-it-yourself chicken coop for 20 chickens is most often a small building with a well-thought-out layout. Yes, yes, even the habitat of your hens must be thought out if you want them to lay well.
So, to build a chicken coop, you need to consider the following:
- Location. First, he must stand on a hill. Secondly, it is best to locate the chicken coop in the east or west, and the windows should face south. This will save on house maintenance and the sunlight will help the birds to lay eggs better.
- Chicken planting area. The ideal option is two chickens per square meter. This will provide good conditions for their maintenance and increase the productivity of chickens. It is important that the dimensions of the chicken coop for 20 chickens are thought out with a margin.
What and how to build?
You can build a chicken coop from any materials on your own. In accordance with the chosen material, it is worth choosing the type of foundation. We will consider the construction of a chicken coop from a bar, therefore we will make the base columnar. Firstly, a columnar foundation is more economical than a rubble or strip foundation. Secondly, such a base is more preferable, since there will be no free space under it where rats or ferrets can settle. And constant ventilation under the floor will protect the wood from decay. The dimensions of a chicken coop for 20 chickens are easy to calculate using a simple formula: one square meter is designed for 4-5 chickens. Accordingly, for 20 chickens you will need about 4-5 square meters. m. of space plus stock. More area should always be considered, because you may want to increase the number of chickens or purchase additional turkeys or ducks.
Foundation: what to choose?
To mark the foundation for the hen coop, we need metal rods and a rope. The rods need to be hammered around the entire perimeter of the future structure, then covered with a rope. The main thing is accuracy so that there are no distortions. Now we are digging a place for the foundation: it should be up to 70 cm deep and two bricks wide. A distance of one meter is left between the pipes. The bottom of each hole is covered with a layer of sand and another layer of medium-grained gravel. The foundation is laid out of bricks, and it is important to properly process the seams with cement mortar. The space between the posts and the ground is carefully filled with gravel to protect the base from moisture and to equip a kind of drainage system.
If there is a monolithic base, then first you need to raise the top layer of the earth by about 35 cm. A sand and gravel cushion is laid over the entire area of the base - its height reaches 10 cm. Formwork is in progress - its height is about 25 cm. We mount the reinforcing mesh - frame made of rods, fill it with durable concrete. Within three weeks we wait for the base to dry, then we mount a wooden floor on it. The right chicken coop must have a foundation. If it still does not exist, and the chicken coop will stand on small posts, then around the entire perimeter a fence of iron sheets should be made.
Equip walls and floors
Any chicken coop should have solid walls. The process of their construction involves the installation of a frame based on a wooden beam, which is then sheathed with boards - insulation is laid between them in the form of mineral wool, sawdust or straw. Walls can be sheathed with clapboard, plywood or chipboard.
Do-it-yourself chicken coop for 20 hens from timber is built according to standard technology. The first crown must be isolated from the base - for this we use a double layer of roofing material. endsbeams must be connected. Then logs from a bar are placed on the base at a distance of 50 cm from each other, and the gaps between the logs are filled with scraps from a bar. Then the remaining crowns are laid according to the tenon-groove principle.
To make a warm chicken coop, it is important to use insulation: jute fabric is most often used for these purposes. After the walls have been erected to the desired height (the minimum height is 1.8 m), ceiling beams are attached, rafters are mounted, and the roof is laid.
Roof Features
For a chicken coop, the optimal roof is a gable roof, since you can still use the attic to store inventory. The ceiling is covered with boards and insulated - it is better to use roll material or expanded clay, which is easy to install. Before insulation and roofing, ventilation is thought out. The drawings of the chicken coop will help in this, where the main design features of the roof are indicated.
The ventilation system consists of two wooden boxes that are placed at opposite ends of the chicken coop. One end of the ventilation pipe is mounted about 50 cm below the ceiling level, the second box is placed flush with the ceiling. To regulate the ventilation and temperature in the room, the pipes are equipped with tin dampers. The microclimate in the poultry house, the level of humidity, as well as the absence of an unpleasant odor depend on good air exchange. In addition to ventilation windows, two pipes can be mounted that go outside through the roof.
How to arrange the floor?
Building a chicken coop requires the most carefulattention to every detail. The floors in this building should be warm, not freeze and not blown. It is best to arrange double floors using a regular inch board. Ideally, they should consist of several parts:
- A subfloor that can be created using a dry, unedged board.
- Vapour barrier layer.
- Bars with a section of 100x100 mm.
In the space between the bars you need to lay insulation, and then the floors are closed with a cut board. If necessary, you can make through the boards in the boards.
The floor in the chicken coop can be adobe with straw cut, plank or cement. It is important to lay a good bedding on top of the base material - it will ensure the cleanliness of the house. Sawdust, chopped straw or sand can be used as such bedding.
Creating perches
A do-it-yourself chicken coop for 20 hens should have well-thought-out perches - they are best made of wood or poles with a diameter of up to 6 cm. They are mounted as far as possible from the entrance to the house, should have a height of no more than 1, 2 m, if the breeds are small, and not higher than 0.6 m, if the chickens are large. Approximately 20 cm of perch is assumed for each chicken, so that the birds can sit comfortably. As for the nests, it is better to place them in the farthest corners of the building. There is one nest for 5 heads - small wooden boxes can be used as this. A large number of nests is important if you are building a laying hen house.
WhenFeeding areas need to be as easy to maintain as possible. The length of the feeders depends on the number of birds - about 10-15 cm per individual. At a height of up to 15 cm from the floor, two more feeders in the form of boxes are attached - they should always contain a shell, gravel or chalk, which are necessary for the birds to form eggs.
The construction of a chicken coop involves the arrangement of a corral - as a rule, it is fenced with a chain-link mesh, which is attached to concrete poles. A convenient gate is being made in the fence, allowing you to approach the birds.
Create a chicken coop for the summer
Very often there is no need to build a solid structure, but only a small building is needed where the chickens can be in the summer. In such cases, you can create a small and light summer chicken coop. As a rule, it is needed primarily for walking birds in warm weather. It can be presented in the form of a fence that allows birds to move around and at the same time protects, for example, a vegetable garden or a garden from them. To save space and make building a chicken coop easier, you can attach it to the wall of another outbuilding on the site.
An important role is played by a place for walking chickens - it is most often located next to the chicken coop. To limit it, a chicken coop net is used, which is useful for fencing not only walls, but also the roof.
Do I need insulation?
Many are concerned about the question of whether it is necessary to insulate chicken coops. In the climatic conditions of Russia, this question is not an idle one,because birds must be protected from hypothermia. Before entering the building, there must be a vestibule - it will protect the main space from direct exposure to cold air. Special insulation is also used to finish the floor, roof and walls, especially if the building will be used all year round. All this is provided for by correctly drawn up drawings of the chicken coop. By the way, the inside of the roof is easily upholstered with felt, which will keep the heat inside.
Important points
- Any chicken coop should be dry. This is the main requirement, because due to low temperatures and high humidity, the condition of the birds may worsen. First of all, they may develop diseases of the upper respiratory tract.
- Size plays an important role. For the summer, you can build large buildings, but in winter the chickens will be cold, so the smaller the chicken coop, the better. At the same time, there should be enough space for the number of chickens.
- There should be enough windows. Especially if your chicken coop is winter! Before sunrise and before sunset, lighting is provided by artificial means. It is advisable to mount two windows facing south.
Interior design
Ventilation and good lighting are perhaps the two most important qualities of any chicken coop. How to equip a chicken coop inside so that the birds are comfortable and comfortable? Experts advise to pay great attention to the correct location of perches, always monitor the condition of water and food. If chickens are constantly on the street, thenfeeders and drinkers in the building itself are not needed. If the chickens are constantly locked in the coop, then all feeders and drinkers should always be with food and water. They need to be placed at a low height so that birds cannot step into them and turn them over.
Chicken baths
Some owners are thinking of a kind of dust baths for domestic chickens. They allow birds to keep their plumage in good condition, while destroying any pests. Dust baths are containers filled with sand, garden soil, wood ash, in which chickens bathe.
Thus, making a chicken coop with your own hands is quite simple. The main thing is to stock up on the necessary materials, think over the drawings, and then proceed with the implementation of the project. Remember that any chicken coop must meet a number of requirements:
- The more space, the better.
- All drinkers and feeders must be in the public domain.
- All perches are at different heights.
- Nests for laying hens should be in the right places.
- The building should always have enough light - natural and artificial.
Experts also advise giving food to birds also in the straw laid in the chicken coop - this will provide chickens with something to do, since a stationary lifestyle leads to a weakening of their immunity and loss of appetite. And the straw makes the chickens constantly look for food, thanks to which they are in good shape.
