Arrangement of a chicken coop with a closed walking area

To keep meat - egg breeds of chickens or broilers, it is necessary to equip a chicken coop. If you plan to keep chickens all year round, then it is better to make a closed walking area in the hen house. It is also advisable to make a quarantine zone. For chickens they build perches... To save electricity, automation is installed in the chicken coop that controls the switching on and off of the light. For heating chicken coop it is best to use infrared lamps as they generate the most heat.

Arrangement of a permanent containment area

The permanent containment area is where the chickens will be for most of the day. For its arrangement, you can use an old dry cargo container. It is placed on the site next to the fence and covered with a common polycarbonate roof. Such a roof lets sunlight into the future walking area, at the same time it protects chickens from wild birds and atmospheric precipitation, so the walking area will always be clean.

After the roof is ready, the floor must be concreted in the permanent containment area, otherwise the chickens will dig the ground and become dirty. In addition, there is a risk that rodents will start in a chicken coop with an earthen floor. The floor is poured with a thin layer of cement mortar, and so that the chickens are not cold, the concrete coating is covered with sawdust. The sawdust layer should be 20 cm.

The coop should be cleaned regularly. Most of the droppings accumulate under the perches, so the layer of sawdust there should be a little thicker.

Arrangement of perches and cages for chickens with a brood

Roosts are places where chickens sleep. As a rule, wooden perches are used as perches. A net is installed under the perches. All perches should be removable for easy cleaning.

For young stock and chickens with a brood, it is necessary to equip separate cages with feeders and drinkers. Most often, bunker feeders are used. In order to avoid scattering feed, the feeders are raised above the floor by 10-15 cm.

Use a tier system in the coop, place the cages with young animals above the main livestock. Two months after keeping the young in separate cages, they are transplanted to the main livestock. With this method of keeping, there will be no fights between the chickens.

The lower tier can be divided into zones using a grid, thus creating a quarantine zone and a brood zone. It is better to make small perches for brood.

The walking area in winter is covered with a tarpaulin around the perimeter, which provides additional thermal insulation.