Cottage is not only a plot with a cozy house and several beds.
If you can spend most of your time in the country, sooner or later you may have an idea to get a private henhouse.
It was in such a case that we decided to consider the question of how to make chicken hen houses at the dacha.
The main functions of the chicken coop
Chicken coop in the village is not just for breeding chickens. It is a home for them, and the success of laying eggs and the growth of young stock will depend on the coziness and comfort of them. From this it follows that the coop simultaneously carries a number of functions:
- Protect chickens from predators and cold.
- A place where chickens can lay eggs.
- A place where chickens can comfortably give food and water.
For this reason, the chicken coop should not be too cramped, otherwise its inhabitants will not feel comfortable, and therefore they will lose weight and will not be pleased with eggs. But an overly spacious room for chickens is not suitable, since in winter it will be too cold for them.
On average, for 2-3 individuals, 1 m² of chicken house area is due, so if you bought 10 chickens, they need to build a 5 m² chicken house.
In addition to the chicken coop, birds should also immediately build an open-air cage in which they can walk. Very often, gardeners do without enclosures, however, in this case, chickens can not only rake well-kept beds, but also accidentally wander to the booth of an angry neighbor dog.
So, to ensure the necessary movement for the birds and their safety, the construction of the enclosure should be planned simultaneously with the chicken coop.
Important! Place for walking is important to have on the green area, so that the chickens can replenish their diet with enough green food.
Where to place a chicken coop: the choice of place on the site
It is important to place a house for chickens on a hill and to foresee a place where not only a chicken coop could fit, but also an aviary. It is very important that the hens' place of residence does not heat up even with heavy rains, therefore in some cases it is recommended to make an artificial embankment on which to lay the foundation for the future hen house.
Regarding the location of the chicken coop is important and such fact as the proximity of the road or other sources of background noise. It should be understood that with the constant presence of extraneous sounds, the hens will not lay eggs and will very slowly gain weight. Therefore, the chicken coop is better to have in the depths of the yard, so that around it was lined with trees or bushes.
Important! Particular attention should be paid to the location of windows and doors. Windows should only go to the south, but the doors can be located either from the west or from the east. If the door is from the south, in winter it will be very difficult to keep warm in the house.
What you need for the house: the choice of materials and tools
Before construction, it is important to understand what is needed for the chicken coop: what materials and tools it is important to prepare for the direct execution of work.
It is best to build a chicken coop made of natural wood, so for work, stock up with a sufficient number of boards and bars, from which you can create a room of designed dimensions.
The foundation will also need several bags of cement and cubic meters of bricks (bricks can be used and broken). As insulating materials you can use sawdust, mineral wool or roofing felt in the chicken coop.
An open-air cage is quite possible to build from a usually metal mesh, but the fence should not only be high, but it should also cover the upper part of the enclosure so that the birds do not fly out.
Also in the aviary, it is imperative to build a shelter under which the chickens can find a shade in hot weather, or take shelter from the rain.
In order to build a real chicken coop with these hands from these materials, it is also necessary to prepare the tools:
- Hammer.
- They drank or chainsaw.
- Nails with screws.
- Ruler.
- Level.
- Shovel.
How to make a chicken coop: drawings and construction scheme
To make a chicken coop with your own hands, it is important to correctly calculate its dimensions, that is, even before the start of construction, complete all the drawings and diagrams and transfer them to the area.
Foundation and floor construction
The first step in building a chicken coop is the floor plans, followed by the foundation of the future structure and the laying of the floor from the boards. However, pouring the foundation is not always mandatory, especially if the building is small and light.
Important! If the foundation during the construction of the chicken coop is not poured, then along its entire perimeter it is important to dig in fairly wide metal plates. They will become an obstacle for predators who can dig into the house and harm the chickens.
But if there is still a need for a foundation, it is better to create it in the form of pillars that will raise the house above the ground. This type of foundation for a chicken coop has several advantages at once:
- Such a foundation will cost significantly less than pouring solid.
- Due to the fact that the house will be raised above the ground, the chickens will always be protected from flooding.
- Pillar accommodation will save coop residents from predators and provide regular ventilation.
To fill the foundation, it is recommended to draw up a detailed drawing of the future chicken coop, transfer it to the terrain and hammer in the corners of the building metal rods.
In order to make the foundation even, the rods will connect with each other and reconciliation will be carried out according to the ruler and level. After that, about 20 cm of the soil is removed under the foundation, and the existing brick is poured into the formed pits and the cement is poured.
In order to raise the foundation high above the ground, wooden pedestals are also installed above the pits, which are also poured with cement, but will then be removed.
The distance between such pedestals in the pillar base is about a meter, and the height of each pedestal should not exceed 30 cm. The level should show that all pedestals have the same height regardless of the terrain.
After the foundation has been poured, the laying of the floor can be started no earlier than after 5 days, since this is exactly the amount of time it takes to completely dry the cement.
If birds will be placed in a chicken coop in winter, the floor in such a room should be warm. For this purpose, a double floor is constructed, in which any material can form the basis, on top of which the beams are laid out and insulation - sawdust or cotton wool.
A clean floor is lined above, for the construction of which it is important to use flat boards, and lay them without cracks.
How to build a warm wall for chickens?
For the bird house to be for the birds not only a shelter from the rain, but also to warm them during the cold season, it is important to take care of good weatherization of the walls of the building.
A chicken coop made of netting is suitable only for the summer, and for the winter it is important either to build good walls immediately, or to insulate the mesh with an additional wall and a good layer of glass wool or other material that retains heat well.
But ideally the walls of the chicken coop should be made of uneven bars. The walls should also have openings for windows that will not only give light, but also become an excellent solution to the issue of ventilation.
After the walls are erected from the bars, the construction is upholstered on both sides with boards, and a heater is placed inside. In such a performance, the chicken coop will be very warm even when the temperature drops to - 20 ° C. 
Did you know? Many breeds of chickens are very demanding of space, therefore, within the chicken coop, each layer must be allowed at least 30 cm to the perch. In addition, we should not forget about the organization inside the chicken coop a place where chickens could easily lay eggs and hatch them.
The height of the walls in the hen house should be about 1.8 meters. Due to this, you will not only provide enough space for the chickens, but also significantly save the area of your backyard plot, since you will mark your birds on the vertical shelves one above the other.
At the end of the construction of the walls, windows are inserted, which should open during the warm season, and the walls themselves should be painted. Many consider this superfluous for the construction of an outbuilding, but you should not forget that the paint is able to preserve the integrity of the tree, so that it will not be necessary to repair the chicken coop for many years.
Making a roof for a chicken coop
A typical project of a chicken coop involves the use of ordinary boards and a gable construction as a roof when a ceiling is created in the room itself, and above it the roof also rises. These you will achieve two goals at once:
- Due to the roof gableness, water will drain from it very quickly, and moisture will never collect in the house.
- Under the roof you will have a lot of space that can be used to store food for birds and the necessary dacha inventory.
For this purpose, first of all, the flooring of beams is laid on the walls, after which the roof beams are fixed at an angle. After that, the flooring will be insulated with good heat-insulating material, as well as cover the beams with roofing felt, which is additionally covered with boards or slate (you can use any roofing material, even pieces of metal, as long as they do not leak).
Did you know? In order to simplify the cleaning of the hen house in the future, it is recommended to lay the floor in it with dry sawdust. First of all, chickens will rummage in them, and secondly - sawdust can retain heat well and absorb moisture. In addition, by selecting them from the chicken coop, you will get excellent fertilizer for the beds with your favorite vegetables.
How to make walking for chickens?
It is better to immediately carry out the construction of the chicken coop on the plot, along with a convenient and spacious range, that is, a special enclosed chicken enclosure. By area, the aviary should significantly exceed the area of the house, and if the latter has an area of 6 m², the aviary should be all 12 m².
The walls on the rails are made from the usual grid, which is stretched on the bars previously pre-dug around the perimeter. Do not forget to also make a gate between them so that you can enter the aviary and leave the birds food, pick up their eggs.
How to prepare a building for chickens?
Home-made chicken coops should not differ in quality from buildings that can be erected by specialists.
In addition to the construction of walls and roofs, such a room is important to properly prepare for the "living" bird offspring.
Disinfection house
A good chicken coop should not be a source of disease for chickens, therefore, before placing birds in a new room, it should be well disinfected.
As a disinfectant, it is recommended to use ordinary soda ash, which will need 200 grams per 10-liter bucket.
The resulting solution will need to thoroughly clean the entire internal space of the chicken coop, including the walls, floor, ceiling and feeders with drinkers.
After that, leave the house open, so that it dries out properly after wet cleaning and the unpleasant smell of building materials and paint has disappeared. Before settling the chickens, also do not forget to cover the floor with clean and dry sawdust, put straw for layers and fill the feeders and troughs.
Ventilation of the room
Many inexperienced poultry farmers do not pay enough attention to the ventilation of the poultry house, but it needs a room with hens both in summer and in winter.
In part, this role is taken by the windows, which must be in the house, but if you have bred a lot of birds, in the summer the windows will not be enough.
For additional ventilation, it is recommended to install special boxes on two opposite walls with the help of which air supply ventilation will be created.
If the summer is very hot and there are a lot of birds in the hen house, make sure that the windows in the building do not close even at night, and the birds always have enough water. Do not forget also that the heat of the hens can hurt and even die, their egg-carrying capacity is significantly reduced.
Thus, spending just a week, you can easily create a good chicken coop with your own hands and do poultry farming. As practice shows, home breeding of birds is quite economical, especially if you can grow food for birds in the garden plots.
