If you are an avid poultry farmer and are engaged in breeding and keeping chickens, then the main task for you in this matter will be to create suitable comfortable conditions under which the birds not only do not lose their egg production, but can also calmly wait for spring without getting sick. The more severe the climate where the chicken coop is built, the more requirements are placed on keeping chickens. Normal breeding of birds means the presence of a chicken coop, where it is light and warm even in winter. You can easily build one yourself.
Layout and dimensions of rooms
If you decide to create a do-it-yourself chicken coop for 50 chickens, you must choose one of two ways to grow a bird: on the floor or in cages. At the same time, some aspects are observed, among them it is worth highlighting:
- dry microclimate in the chicken coop;
- natural winter light.
If the room is damp, then the whole bird can earn upper respiratory tract diseases. As for natural light, it will allow you to create comfortable conditions for the production of vitamin D in the body of a bird. If you want to create a chicken coop with your own hands for 50 chickens, then it can provide for the floor keeping of the bird, this gives it relative freedom of movement, and the birds will be able to sleep on perches. If you install cages, you can reduce cleaning time and save space. However, even with a cage content, chickens should be released for a walk in the aviary.
A do-it-yourself chicken coop for 50 chickens should line up where sunlight will enter the room throughout the day. Floor maintenance provides for the need to install perches 60 cm from the floor. In order to ensure the normal functioning of chickens, there should be about 5 layers per square meter. This indicates that a do-it-yourself chicken coop for 50 chickens should be built taking into account its area, which is 10 m22.
Coop layout for 50 birds
50 birds is quite an impressive number of laying hens. In this case, the chicken coop can be 4 m long and divided into separate sections. The door from each compartment should go into a common corridor. Its length is usually equal to the length of the chicken coop. The entrance inside must be through this corridor.
On the walls that adjoin the corridor, cages with nests should be installed. This will make it easierextraction of eggs, and in this case you do not have to go into the section. The opposite wall may have room for ash baths. Feeding birds can be done in cages, but quite often the feeders are installed on the floor. The exit to the aviary can be from the doors, which are located on a small wall. Its length can be 2 m. Such a layout will provide birds with the opportunity to relax and walk in separate cages. A chicken coop project may include an area of 10 m22 and more, in this space the bird will not be crowded, and a person will be able to take care of it.
Building recommendations
Before starting work, you must follow some recommendations. The chicken coop should be wide and long. It is important to take care of so many drinkers, feeders and perches that they are enough for all the birds at once. It is important to provide a chicken coop with heating, for these purposes a warm floor or stove equipment is usually used. The longer the room, the more lamps it should have. Doors should be positioned so that the least amount of cold air enters when they are opened.
Establishing the foundation and working on the floor
Having developed a chicken coop project, one of which you can borrow from the article, you should start creating the foundation. The described building will be capital, so it is necessary to prepare a ditch for the base, the depth of which will be 0.5 m. As soon as the concrete mortar poured to the bottom hardens, you can start laying roofing material.
Floors are made in one of two options. The first involves laying the substrate, on top of which pipes for underfloor heating should be mounted. The entire structure is poured with 3 cm concrete. Such a floor is covered with hay and straw, which will provide heat throughout the chicken coop. The second version of the floor provides for the laying of roofing material on top of the foundation, as well as the installation of a log around the perimeter. They are covered with wood. In this case, the floor will be warm enough, but the heating of the room will need to be provided in another way.
Drawing a chicken coop for 50 chickens is not something difficult. If you decide to start building such a building, then it is important to take care of the availability of a source of heating. This is necessary because the egg production of chickens depends on how warm the room is. If water heating is not possible, then you can install an electric underfloor heating. When the temperature drops to +7 ° C, chickens will feel cold. However, the temperature of the underfloor heating system must not exceed 40 °C.
Building walls
If you decide to build a simple chicken coop with your own hands, it is important to take care of the walls. They are usually made from materials such as:
- brick;
- adobe;
- wood;
- cinder block.
Each of these materials is recommended to be insulated from the outside. This will save energy costs and protect the building from wind and cold. The height of the walls should be slightly higher than human height - 2.2 m. Facing the outside can be done in any way, thenhow inside the walls are plastered and whitewashed.
Walling recommendations
If you want to make the house as warm as possible, then it is best to use wood for building walls, it can be logs or timber. If the building is frame, then it is recommended to use bars. This option should be sheathed with clapboard, thick 10 mm plywood or planed board. Such decoration should be outside and inside the building.
Thermal insulation can be laid in the frame, which is usually foam or mineral wool. When choosing a beam for the frame, it is best to use a square section material with a side of 100 mm. You can use bars with a cross section that is 100 x 50 mm. Before sheathing the structure from the outside, a windproof film must be fixed on the frame. On top of the insulation from the inside, you can also fix a vapor barrier film, it will not be superfluous. Natural sheathing is installed on top of the type of wooden lining.
The chicken coop will become more durable if its walls are made of stone or brick. Despite the fact that materials of this kind are durable, they have the ability to absorb moisture. Heating the chicken coop in this case is absolutely necessary, which entails an increase in energy costs. In addition, it is more difficult to build walls from such materials, the work will be laborious, and the master must have special skills as a bricklayer.
Building the roof
Even the simplest chicken coop must have a roof. She is being erectedafter the completion of the walls. Before laying the last row of masonry, it is necessary to mount the logs. Wood is laid on top, it can be of any kind, for example, OSB or chipboard. The roof is usually pitched. In this case, it is possible to equip an attic inside it, in addition, snow will not accumulate on the surface. In the presence of an aviary, the roof is made in such a shape that it at least partially extends over it. The aviary is usually located near one of the walls or around the perimeter.
Making perches
Quite often, poultry farmers wonder how to make a perch for chickens with their own hands. During the summer they are outdoors. The distance between them should be 0.5 m. They should not bend, and they should be removed from the floor by 0.6 m. It is good to make perches removable, then they can be removed and cleaned. It is recommended to do this 2 times a year.
For work on the manufacture of a perch, you can use a square bar with a side of 40 mm. The wood is sanded and rounded. At the next stage, you need to fix the side strips, which will play the role of supports. Grooves are cut into them, where the poles will be inserted. The distance between them, as well as the number of poles, should be determined taking into account the number of chickens and their breed.
Prepared poles are installed in the supports. The main part of the structure is ready on this, now you can build a pallet. To do this, additional bars should be fixed to the walls at a height of 40 cm, on which the pallet andwill be located. It can be made from any material by filling it with an adsorbent. This design will make cleaning easier. The final touch is the construction of a staircase, which should be placed at a slope.
Arrangement of the paddock
Next to the chicken coop, it is necessary to arrange a platform that will allow you to grow chickens in the summer. The corral should not face the southern and hottest side, but it should not be constantly shaded. It is important to ensure the dryness of the paddock, there should not be dangerous plants growing there. It should also be protected from uninvited guests.
Metal mesh can be an excellent material for a durable and strong paddock. It is important to use a fine-mesh material that is stretched and then fixed to the poles dug in the corners. In order to prevent pets from getting inside and stop laying hens from leaving the chicken coop, it is necessary to make a fence, the height of which is 2 m. The metal mesh is selected so that a curious bird cannot get stuck in the cells. It is important to take into account the difference in the size of roosters and hens, as well as chickens.
Conclusion
Another suitable material for building chicken coop walls is adobe. Such products are formed from cut straw and clay. Bricks can be made independently. In this case, it will be possible to get a poultry house that will be as comfortable and warm as possible for chickens. The only difficulty in the construction may be the alignment of surfaces.
