How to quickly and easily build a chicken coop with your own hands?

Many owners of a country house dream of raising chickens. But ordering construction from specialists is quite expensive. You can keep the bird in an ordinary barn, but in this case it will be reluctant to rush, as the conditions for this are inappropriate. It is best to arrange a comfortable place on your own. There are many methods for building your own chicken coop. The main thing is to correctly determine the type of construction, material and other characteristics.

How to choose the right place for the chicken coop?

Before you build a chicken coop, you must correctly choose a place for it. Keep the following recommendations in mind:

• It is better to place the building on a small hill. So it will not flood with heavy rain or after snow melts.
• If you will build a house of great length, then it is better to place it from east to west. At the same time, the windows must be on the south side. So the maximum amount of sunlight will penetrate inside, which has a beneficial effect on the chicken.
• Try to place the house in the most quiet and secluded place of your site. A loud noise disturbs the bird, and it rushes reluctantly.
• Build a chicken coop so that there is free space around it. This will allow you to expand it in the future.

Correctly positioning the building, you will create comfortable conditions for the bird. Only in this way you can count on a large number of products.

We are building a small summer coop

It’s easier and faster to build a summer coop. In it you can contain a small number of chickens, which in the winter can be put on meat. This option is suitable for those who are not able to regularly visit their site in the summer.

The easiest way to build a chicken coop for 10 hens is to use sheets of plywood and a wooden beam. You do not need to invest a lot of money and spend a lot of time. Birds will feel comfortable, they will be protected from adverse weather conditions.

Necessary materials and tools

The frame of the building is erected from a wooden beam. When buying material, carefully inspect it. It should not show signs of rotting and damage by insects. The amount of material needed will depend on the size of the house. At the same time, adhere to the basic rule: for every two chickens there should be one square meter of area. To build the foundation, you will need bricks and mortar for their laying. You can close the window openings with a metal mesh.

Before you build a chicken coop in the country with your own hands, prepare the following tools and supplies:

• Self-tapping screws and nails.
• Jigsaw.
• Hammer and screwdriver.
• Building level.
• Hinges for canopy doors.
• Shovel.
• Ruberoid for waterproofing.

Having prepared all the materials and tools, you can proceed to the construction. Do not forget about personal protective equipment. When working with a jigsaw you will need protective glasses so that the chips do not get into your eyes.

Sequencing

In order to build a chicken coop for 10 hens with your own hands, you must adhere to the following sequence of actions:

1. Mark the corners of the future building. In each of them, dig out small recesses under the brick columns. The same recesses must be prepared along the entire perimeter. At the same time, a distance of one meter should be maintained between them.
2. From bricks and mortar, erect columns 40 cm wide. Above the surface of the earth they should rise by 20 cm. Make sure that all columns have the same height. Otherwise, the construction will be skewed. In order for the cement to fully harden, wait at least five days. Only then will it be possible to build a small chicken coop further.
3. From the bars, build a floor frame around the entire perimeter of the floor. Between the brick pillars and the timber, lay a substrate of roofing material. Connect the ends of the bars to half the thickness. Lay the floor logs. To do this, the beams are stacked with an edge and connected using the spike-groove method.
4. From the beam we erect the frame of the walls of the future small chicken coop. Fix the vertical beams every half meter.
5. Sheath the walls with sheets of plywood. Fasten it with self-tapping screws. Do not forget to leave openings for windows and doors. Make the windows large so that as much sunlight as possible penetrates.
6. Sheathe window openings with wire mesh.
7. It is best if your mini coop has a gable roof. For this, the bars are connected at an angle. Plywood sheets must be fixed in the transverse direction. Lay a layer of roofing material on top.

In such a simple way, you can build a chicken coop for 20 chickens or more. It is being built quite quickly. Even an inexperienced master can cope with such work. If desired, such a frame chicken coop can be remade in the winter with your own hands. To do this, the floors are insulated with mineral wool, the walls are polystyrene, and it is better to use rolled materials for the roof.

How to build a winter chicken coop from foam blocks?

In order to keep the bird year-round, a major building with good thermal insulation is needed. An excellent option would be to build a winter chicken coop from foam blocks. This material will allow you to create the perfect indoor climate for any number of birds, even for a hundred or more individuals. The price of such a structure will be much lower than in the case of using wood.

Foam blocks are completely safe material which does not emit any toxic substances in air. From it you can build a chicken coop for the winter for 100 chickens or a mini-option.

In the event that you want to build a chicken coop for broilers and raise them for sale, it is advisable to erect a two-story building. At the same time, the height of the ceilings on each floor should be at least 70 cm. Such a building will not take up much space, and many birds can be placed in it.

We prepare the necessary material

A chicken coop for 30 chickens and for 100 will require a different amount of material. Therefore, before you go to the construction market, make the appropriate calculations. It is better to purchase blocks with a small margin.

Foam blocks of density D 400 and higher are suitable for walling. They have standard sizes. The thickness of the walls should be chosen based on the climatic characteristics of the region. If winters are severe enough, it is better to make the walls in two blocks.

To equip the roof you will need wooden bars and good roofing material. In the latter case, it is better not to save money, since leaking chickens can be severely affected. To build a warm chicken coop is possible only with a reliable roof.

The foundation will need to be waterproofed. The simpler material is roofing material. It is relatively inexpensive and copes well with the task. The foundation itself is cast from concrete. In addition to the solution, you will need material for the manufacture of formwork.

Work sequence

The easiest way to build a chicken coop in the country with your own hands for 100 hens is to follow the following sequence of actions:

1. It is necessary to begin work with the foundation laying. To do this, a trench 20 cm wide and 20 cm deep is dug around the perimeter of a future building. Crushed stone mixed with sand is poured onto its bottom. The mixture must be carefully compacted. For best adhesion to concrete, spray with water. Mount the formwork for the concrete foundation. It should rise 20 cm above the surface of the earth. Lay across the frame from the connected reinforcement, the diameter of which is 6 cm. Pour the concrete mixture. For complete hardening of concrete, at least three days are required. After that, the formwork can be removed. Cover the concrete with roofing material.
2. It is better to start laying the walls of the winter chicken house with your own hands from the corners. Focusing on them, all the walls are being erected. The blocks are fixed using a special solution. To give extra strength, the masonry is reinforced. With the help of a grinder, a small groove is cut in the blocks. Armature with a diameter of 6 cm is laid in it. After this, the next row is laid. There is room for windows and a door.
3. After the mills have dried well, you can proceed to the installation of the roof. At the beginning, a base is prepared from wooden beams, and then the selected roofing material is laid.

Such a chicken coop for hens will last more than a dozen years. It will reliably protect the bird from the cold in winter.

Internal arrangement of the chicken coop

It is not enough to know how to properly build a chicken coop; you still need to correctly equip its interior decoration. This is the only way to create comfortable conditions for the bird. Mandatory attributes of the house are:

• Perches. Any structure you built should be equipped with perches. For their manufacture, you need a beam with a section of 30x40. Its lateral sides must be rounded so that it is more convenient for the bird to sit. Remove large burrs, sand. Identify a suitable place for perches in the chicken coop and secure the perches. Keep a distance of at least 30 cm between them. If you decide to build a mini-chicken coop for 20 hens, then you will need a minimum of 6 meters perches. Each bird should have at least 30 cm of timber.
• Jacks. In order for the hens to rush, they need nests. Closed models will be an ideal option, as in them the bird will feel safe. The size of one nest should be at least 30 by 40 cm. Make them of wood. For 20 birds 10 houses are enough. Lay a layer of sawdust and hay at the bottom of each nest. In the same way, it is necessary to line the floor throughout the chicken coop.
• Drinking bowls and feeders. They must be fixed on a small elevation above the floor. So they will not get trash.
• Lighting. Warm chicken coop in winter requires lighting. To do this, install a simple electric lamp. It must be closed with a lampshade.
• Heating. Any winter coop needs to be heated, especially in severe cold. To do this, you can use fan heaters or infrared heaters. When choosing a fan heater, give preference to programmable models. They are more expensive, but help save energy. Infrared heaters are installed above the perches and the free part of the chicken coop. They consume much less electricity than other types of heaters. Such devices will be ideal when arranging a chicken coop for do-it-yourselfers.

It’s easy to build a small house or an impressive chicken house with your own hands. With a little effort and a minimum of material, you will create comfortable conditions for the chickens. And they, in turn, will thank you with a large number of fresh domestic eggs.