How to make a chicken coop in the country with your own hands?
Increasingly, people choose country houses for permanent or at least seasonal residence. Therefore, the desire to provide oneself not only with the harvest from the beds, but also with fresh chicken eggs is not only understandable, but also quite realizable. And if not everyone has the opportunity to build a monumental structure for a chicken coop, then almost everyone can arrange comfortable maintenance for several layers.
Moreover, there are many interesting options for country chicken coops that will allow make a chicken coop in the country not only a functional outbuilding, but also turn it into a decorative element that sets the style of the entire personal plot.
To provide a family with environmentally friendly products and to keep chickens hassle-free in the country, it is enough to have a chicken coop for birds. However, whatever the number of layers, building a comfortable hen house is a real science, because this house should not only be strong and beautiful, the chickens should be comfortable and safe in it.
Location of the chicken coop in the country
For a novice poultry breeder, for high-quality supervision of pets, it is better to build a chicken coop in the country near the house, while not forgetting about the need to provide the chickens with proper living conditions:
- The soil under the chicken coop must be dry, and even better if it is sandy.
- If the soil is clayey, swampy, or often excessively wet, then measures should be taken to drain it by means of moisture removal, channeling, holes, or backfilling the site with sand. Moreover, the collected moisture can be redirected to a place designated for bathing chickens.
- It is good if the area under the chicken coop slopes to the southeast, which contributes to the best illumination.
- A chicken coop in the country should be fenced off from drafts and a piercing wind, for which you can use green fences or building structures.
- It is necessary to provide comfortable lawns for walking birds with obligatory shelter from the sun or bad weather.
- A shallow pool for swimming is also desirable.
If you do not follow these recommendations for keeping chickens in the country, the poultry may become lethargic, laying hens will produce fewer eggs, and diseases of chickens are not excluded. Moreover, the bird is equally negatively affected by its overheating without sufficient shading from the sun, and high humidity, crowding and cold.
DIY chicken coop construction
When planning to build a chicken coop in the country, it is worth considering all these features and trying to provide future residents with all the conditions for comfort.
The ceiling should be a reliable protection not only from the sun's rays, but also from excessive heating of the bird house, which can lead not only to lethargy of the bird, but also to the development of colonies of depressing chicken parasites.
The floor in the coop should be warm and reliable, but also breathable, so that there is no excessive moisture, leading to the development of mold and mildew.
Therefore, brick, asphalt or stone flooring is not suitable for the poultry house. On a cold floor, chickens will suffer from rheumatism and other leg diseases.
So for the conditions of the middle lane, the best option is a two-layer wooden floor.
Arrangement of a chicken coop in the country
The comfort for laying hens living in a hen house is:
- In abundance of space, it is recommended to provide at least 50 sq. cm square.
- Available feeders and drinking bowls;
- In poles located at different heights.
- In equipped nests, where laying hens will be located in the country.
- In good lighting and ventilation.
In feeding places and in nests, straw bedding is made, which must be regularly cleaned and renewed.
If it is supposed to keep the bird in winter, then it is important to provide a special place for swimming and self-disposal of parasites, covered with ten centimeters mixed with ash and gray sand.
Bird walk
The more birds accumulate in a confined area, the greater the risk of infections and other diseases in chickens. Therefore, it is important to provide chickens with sufficient walking space, which will increase the egg production of layers and the fatness of meat breeds.
For this purpose, chickens, especially in spring, are divided into 10 - 12 birds, allotting them separate areas for walking.
Perches for laying hens in the country
Having made a chicken coop in the country with his own hands, the summer resident should pay attention to the arrangement of nests, where it will be convenient for chickens to lay eggs.
For a dozen chickens, at least two or three nests are arranged, and in the summertime it is recommended to arrange perches in the air, where the bird walks.
The distance between the perches should be at least half a meter, while the nests located at least half a meter from the floor should not bend. Keeping the nests clean allows the device of the visors above them. And to fill the nests, they use regularly cleaned and replaced straw.
It is not worth using hay, because it quickly begins to rot and becomes the cause of the development of infection and pests.
The nests need to be slightly darkened, because laying hens in the country do not like to rush in bright light. Well, if the perches are removable, then they can be removed and cleaned twice a year.
Tips for arranging a chicken coop in the country
The modest size of many household plots has made a variety of designs for chicken coops in demand, including unusual, but very practical structures.
This also applies to portable mini-constructions. You can make a chicken coop in the country with your own hands just like that, which will make it easy to move the structure, while the chickens will always be in sight and never spoil the cultural plantings, which often happens when free-range.
In the design of such a miniature chicken coop, like any other, three main areas should be provided:
- space for roosts;
- a place for walking poultry;
- nests for laying hens in the country
What is the best way to build a chicken coop in the country?
Most often, the following materials are used for the construction of a country chicken coop:
- A wooden block is used for the frame of the chicken coop;
- Wall cladding is often made of wooden lining;
- It is imperative to provide a pull-out tray under the perch so that cleaning can be carried out faster and more efficiently. For this pallet, a galvanized sheet is taken;
- For a walking fencing, a metal mesh with a fine mesh is taken.
- If a chicken coop with a green roof is conceived, where decorative or green crops will be planted, then waterproofing of the roof is required. Any waterproofing material in rolls is ideal for such insulation.
The green roof not only creates an original appearance of the chicken coop, but also reliably protects the bird from overheating inside the house on hot days.
Well, if there are not enough building materials, then you can make a chicken coop in the country with your own hands from improvised means, for example, you can find arched chicken coops made on the basis of plastic pipes, pallets, or completely original solutions.
Having built a chicken coop in the country, it is important to cover all the wooden elements of the structure, regardless of its size and design, with a special compound that protects the wood from damage by pests and from atmospheric influences.
Design options for country chicken coops
Stationary houses for chickens of various capacities, designed for summer or all-season poultry living.
A beginner poultry farmer can be advised of a simple chicken coop design, which can be moved to a new location if desired using two boards that act as portable handles. At the same time, the chicken coop is similar to a one-story cottage with an attic.
The one-story portable chicken coop in the country is even more compact than the previous one.
Arched portable chicken coop.
Many summer residents today pay attention to mobile structures, and they make such a mobile chicken coop with their own hands.
A mobile chicken coop in the form of a wheelbarrow.
Such devices are installed on a single axle frame with wheels. This scheme is good for very chicken coops, which makes it easy to move the bird across the lawn of the site or fenced pasture.
Mobile chicken coop trailer.
This is a two-axle trailer for the installation of a chicken coop of significant size and capacity, which is heavy, which allows you to take the poultry to remote pastures.
Mobile country chicken coops on casters.
Mini-coops on small casters can be installed on a flat base and moved within small areas.
I have long dreamed of building something like that for elderly parents, but I could not find a detailed description anywhere. I would also like to know the approximate costs of building each chicken coop in order to know how much to expect. A good choice of design, everyone can choose a suitable one for themselves, but I liked the mobile chicken coop on casters, which can be rearranged at any time to another place. The article is very useful not only for summer residents, but also for all rural and rural residents. Thank!
My husband and I bought a dacha with a plot. Now we are thinking about what we want to have there. Parents will live permanently, and we will come. Mom wants a chicken coop. Yeah, I didn't think that there could be so many options ... I really liked the stationary chicken coop so that the birds could always be there, I don't like it when they live in the old fashioned way in large sheds along with garden tools (well, this is from childhood memories ... there is no light, you enter carefully so as not to step into the litter .... These houses are very comfortable. The area is small, less cleaning, and it looks very aesthetically pleasing.
Good day everyone! There are many good options for mini chicken coops, but there is one major drawback: the lack of size. It is not always possible to place a chicken coop in the garden and garden (there is not enough space). But each summer resident has a woodshed, where one could "squeeze" a mini-chicken coop for 8-10 layers for seasonal keeping with a small outdoor aviary. The presence of dimensions in the photo would allow you to choose a suitable chicken coop for your shed. It is impractical to fence off a place in a shed for chickens, since then it is necessary to strengthen the entire shed from the penetration of rats and other predators, and this is costly. I ask for advice. Yu.Kochnev, Ivanovo
I want to answer the question of Yuri Pavlovich Kochnev about the size of the chicken coop, without going into details of their constructive solution. It should be borne in mind that for the normal functioning of your layers, it should be borne in mind that for every 10 hens you will need one rooster. It is needed not only for fertilizing eggs, but also for maintaining order in the chicken coop. And who will sing to you in the morning, if not a cockerel - a golden comb. Although we all know that chickens lay eggs perfectly even without a commander.
In order for the hens not to be cramped in the room, they need to allocate one square meter of floor for 2-3 individuals. That is, for a family of ten chickens and a rooster, you will need at least four to five square meters.
For a dozen chickens, it is enough to make from two to three nests, however, if you decide that your chickens will hatch the chicks on their own, the number of nests should be increased by the number of simultaneously working hens.
In addition, you need to provide for walking. In this case, the area norm should be increased two to three times. That is, for the flock we are considering, another 10-15 meters of an outdoor enclosure will be needed.