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Household or cottage economy is a great help. Even a dozen hens will be provided with eggs and meat. The first thing to do is to build a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens. Construction can be quite inexpensive.
Optimal size
If we approach the issue of determining the size of the chicken coop scrupulously, then for each breed of bird there is a certain norm of “living space”. But in the country or in a private house they rarely keep a thoroughbred bird. Therefore, they start from the average.
We estimate the area and dimensions of the building
When building a chicken coop, they usually proceed from the planned number of birds. It is believed that 1-2 chickens can live on 4 square meter of area. If we are talking about broilers, you can take 3-4 pieces per square meter. They are inactive and this area is enough for them. If we talk about laying hens or meat and egg breeds, it is considered that the optimal number is 2-3 birds per square area. So, a chicken coop for 10 broiler hens can have an area of -2-3 squares, a poultry house for 10 hens – with laying hens or meat and egg breeds – requires 4-5 squares. If you decide to build a chicken coop for 20 chickens, for broilers the area will be 5-7 squares, for egg and meat – 8-10 squares.
But knowing the area of u20bu10bthe chicken coop for 3 chickens or 1,5 is not all. Still need to decide on the size. Most often they try to make a rectangular building: 4 * 10 m; 20* etc. In this case, you can clean the house without going inside – a rake, a scraper, a broom will reach even the far corners. Square ones are not so convenient in this regard, although a small chicken coop for XNUMX-XNUMX chickens will still not be large. So a square is fine.
What is the height of the chicken coop
When building a chicken coop, you also need to decide on the height of the building. For birds, a height of about 140-150 cm is enough. But we must remember that you will have to clean up in the house, collect eggs, and change the bedding. So when choosing the height of the house, they proceed from their own convenience. For this reason, the roof is made above the level of the head – so that you can walk upright.
Without overlap
When building a roof, there are two options. First: if the house is without overlap (ceiling), you can drive out the walls by about 140-150 cm, make the roof gable and raise the ridge by 180-200 cm (or a little higher, as you wish). In this case, it will be possible to move around the center of the room without problems, but we still rarely walk around the edges. There is usually a perch and nests, there may be a bedding. You will have to work carefully in this area, protecting your head.
The advantage of this option is that with such a device we save on the material of the walls. The downside is that it takes more to insulate the roof: it must be insulated over the entire area, which is much more than what is required when insulating the ceiling. But, in general, this option turns out to be less expensive, but also less convenient (you have to take care of your head).
with loft
The second option on how to mono build a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is to make a mini-copy of an ordinary house. In this case, the walls are driven to a height that is necessary for free movement inside. This is the height of a person, plus 10-20 cm. But keep in mind that part of the height will go to the ceiling, there will be another floor, a bedding on it. Each requires about 15 cm in height. So, if the height of the chicken coop owner is 180 cm, you will have to make walls with a minimum height of 220-230 cm.
As you can see, this option will require more materials for the walls, but only the ceiling (ceiling) can be insulated, and the attic can be left cold. The attic can also be used to store straw, bedding, etc. But do not forget about the rodents, who love such storage and can be a problem.
On poles
Another option: make a chicken coop for 10 chickens on poles. In this case, 4 beams are dug into the ground at the corners of the building, the floor is covered at a height of 50-80 cm from the ground level. The roof is made at a height of 180-200 cm. In general, this is a convenient version of a mini-chicken coop for a summer residence. Option, rather summer, but can be insulated. In order for the bird to enter and exit, they make an inclined ladder from boards with thin perches nailed about 10 cm apart – to make it easier for the bird to move.
In general, you choose the height and general construction plan at your own discretion.
Material for building a chicken coop
For the walls of the chicken coop, the material is chosen depending on the intended mode of use. Boards, plywood, OSB are suitable for a summer chicken coop. Such buildings are made according to the principle of frame housing construction: they assemble a frame from a bar, sheathe it with boards or sheet material. The task of such buildings is to protect from the sun, wind, rain, and they cope with it perfectly.
For a winter chicken coop, you can use the same materials as for a summer one, but the walls will have to be insulated. You can also use logs, timber, gas or foam concrete, adobe, cinder block, shell rock, sandstone, etc. In principle, any building materials. If there is material left from the construction of a house, a bathhouse, a barn, it can be put into action. Only part of the material in the construction of a winter chicken coop requires mandatory insulation, the other can do without (depending on the thickness of the wall, winter temperatures).
A chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is usually covered with inexpensive material. Most often it is roofing or slate, but any other material can be used. Only if you are planning a metal roof (from metal tiles, corrugated board), keep in mind that chickens do not like noise. During rain or hail, they may be frightened, which will affect the number of eggs or weight gain.
Insulation – mineral wool or polystyrene. Mineral wool is vapor-permeable, therefore normal humidity can be automatically maintained in the chicken coop (if the walls are also vapor-permeable). Styrofoam does not let moisture through, but it costs less and is used to build a budget poultry house. It is only worth remembering that mice love to settle in such a heater (polystyrene and mineral wool). And this is a disaster. To block their access to the inside of the wall, it is tightened on both sides with a fine metal mesh (cell size – the smaller the better).
There is also extruded polystyrene foam. It is much more expensive than the options listed above, but the plus is that fungi do not start in it, bacteria do not multiply, and insects and rodents do not like it. And yet – it has excellent thermal insulation characteristics and, for warming the chicken coop, a thickness of 2-3 cm is enough (foam plastic needs more than 5 cm), so in fact, the cost of insulation will not increase very much.
Drawings and projects
A summer chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is a small building, usually made of wood. A mini-house with a paddock, which will contain less than a dozen birds, has dimensions of 3 * 1,5 m. Moreover, this is with a paddock – a fenced area. The very same room where the chickens will spend the night and rush has a depth of 80-100 cm, a width of 140-160 cm, and its height is about 1 meter.
For maintenance – changing bedding, cleaning – there is a door in the back wall. There is a small shuttered window for light to enter. In general, an ideal option for giving for the seasonal maintenance of a small number of chickens.
A chicken coop for 10-15 chickens is already a more serious building. Dimensions are doubled: 1 * 2. The height can still be low – all service can pass through a door in the back wall. There is no need to go inside. Except as a last resort.
For even more birds, you need to make an even larger shed for chickens. This is really – a barn or change house. It is already possible to enter such a room.
Please note that even the smallest poultry house should have windows. No one will install metal-plastic, but glass must be mandatory. In a seasonal chicken coop, one glass is enough, in a winter one it is better to put two. Moreover, the second can be set only for cold weather. And one more thing: it is desirable to have shutters on the window. This will give you the ability to change the length of daylight hours.
There are projects of chicken coops of an unusual shape – in the form of a triangle or a wigwam. This type of building is optimal. When spending a minimum of funds for construction, we get a solid area.
This chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is built using frame technology. There are no walls as such, they are covered with soft roofing material. A very rational building. It is also suitable for snowy regions: with such a slope, little will linger.
Chicken coop for 10-20 chickens: choose and make a foundation
The type of foundation depends on the selected type of material. If this is a frame building or timber, logs will be used, the most optimal is a columnar foundation. The costs in terms of time and money are minimal, reliability is sufficient, and possible distortions of the columns are compensated by the strapping and elasticity of the material.
If the walls are built from blocks of any type, brick, shell rock and any similar material, a strip foundation is needed. It costs more, but it won’t work any other way. An even better option is a slab foundation, but the cost is even higher. But you can use the slab as a subfloor, and with such a foundation, any frosty heaving is not scary.
Site preparation for the foundation
To build a chicken coop for 10 chickens with your own hands, first clear the area. It is necessary to remove the entire fertile layer. Its thickness can be 20 cm or more, and maybe only 5. In any case, we remove everything, including stones, roots, etc. We level the site, we ram. For tamping, you can use a piece of large-diameter log with a handle bar nailed on top.
It is necessary to remove the soil because the animals and plant remains in it under the building begin to rot. So it is imperative to remove the fertile soil layer. We carry out further construction work on the cleared and leveled site.
Column foundation
Poles for the foundation under the house can be made of bricks, but the easiest way is to use concrete blocks 20 * 20 * 40 cm. They fit perfectly. If you are building a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens, it is unlikely that your building is larger. The longest side that can be is 4 meters. If the winter is snowy, three supports can be placed on this side: two at the edges and one in the middle. If the length of the chicken coop wall does not exceed 3 meters, we put only supports in the corners.
In the selected places we dig holes, which are slightly larger in size than future pillars. The depth of the holes is 25-30 cm. We pour crushed stone of the middle fraction on the bottom, we ram it well. The thickness of the layer in the compacted form is 15 cm. We pour sand onto the compacted gravel and also ram it well. Blocks can be placed on this base. They need to be put on the horizon. To do this, you can use pegs with a rope stretched along the level, or you can put even planks on the blocks, lay the building level on them and navigate along it.
After the blocks are aligned, you can start laying the strapping. This is either a bar (for frame or bar construction), or a log. The beam / log of the strapping must be treated with impregnation. Under them, on the columns, it is desirable to lay a piece of roofing material or hydroisol folded in two layers (a modern and improved analogue of roofing material). Actually everything, you can build a chicken coop further.
Strip foundation for a chicken coop
A strip foundation is usually made for a chicken coop for 20 chickens, which will be built from any building blocks, wood concrete, adobe, shell rock, brick, etc. To make a tape of concrete, you will have to dig a trench along the perimeter of the future building with a depth of at least 50 cm and a width of at least 35 cm. Try to make the walls of the trench even, and if the soil is loose, with a slight slope.
The bottom of the trench is cleared of stones, roots, leveled, rammed. Crushed stone of the middle fraction is poured at the bottom, leveled and rammed. Layer thickness – 15 cm (packed). Building sand is poured on top and rammed. The layer thickness is about 10 cm. Further, formwork is assembled from the boards in a trench for pouring concrete. Formwork panels should rise above the ground by at least 10-15 cm. In this case, the floor of the chicken coop will be slightly raised.
To increase resistance to soil movement during frost heaving, reinforcement is placed inside the strip foundation. In this case, two bars with a diameter of 10-12 mm (ribbed, not smooth) are sufficient, which are located at a distance of about 15 cm from each other. The distance from the bars to the formwork shield is at least 5 cm. The distance from the bottom should be the same or greater .
The last step in arranging a strip foundation for a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is pouring concrete. Concrete brand – M150, you should not do less. The proportions are standard: for 1 part of M400 cement we take three parts of crushed stone of the middle fraction and four parts of dry sand. Water – 0,7-0,8 parts. We mix everything and pour it into the formwork. Having aligned the upper edge, we close the foundation with a film and wait 1-3 weeks. If it is warm (+20°C and above), we wait a week, if from +17°C to +20°C – two, if less than +17°C – three. After that, you can remove the formwork and continue construction.
Remember that the concrete foundation, even for a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens, must be waterproofed. It can be covered twice with bituminous mastic, or you can lay two layers of rolled waterproofing. If the humidity in the area is high, it is better to use both.
Warming and vapor barrier
The walls in the chicken coop are built according to the chosen technology. There are no nuances here. In insulation, in fact, too, but it’s worth talking about insulation, since after all this building has its own characteristics.
Mineral (basalt or glass) wool
Warming with mineral wool is most often done if a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is built according to the principle of frame housing construction. The assembled frame is sheathed from the outside, laying a layer of waterproofing under the material (plywood, OSB, boards). At the same time, please note that a ventilation gap of 2-3 cm should remain between the insulation and the outer skin. It can be provided by strips stuffed between the uprights or stretched twine (fixed with staples from a stapler). The second option is less reliable, but faster and cheaper.
To insulate the chicken coop with mineral wool, it is best to take hard or semi-rigid mats. They are cut into pieces of the desired length and inserted into the spacer between the racks from the side of the room. It turns out that from the outside they rest against the planks or stretched twine. The thickness of the insulation is 5-10 cm (depending on the region) and the material of the outer skin, but in any case, when assembled, it should not protrude beyond the racks. If the width of the racks is not enough, and the insulation is needed thick, planks / boards are stuffed over the racks.
During construction, place racks with such a pitch that between them there is a distance of 3-5 cm less than the width of the insulation. Due to its greater width, the insulation will hold on (the elastic force works). Just be careful: measure the actual width of the roll, and do not use the number that is on the roll. There may be a difference of a couple of centimeters, the edges may bend, so as a result it will be difficult to install a heater, as it will fall out. When warming, try to keep the pieces adjacent to each other without gaps. If they do exist, fill in thin strips. The installed insulation can be fixed with ordinary twine and staples from a construction stapler.
A vapor barrier membrane is fixed over the mounted insulation. In the simplest version, this is a film with a density of 200 microns. But it is still better to take a membrane for vapor barrier. It is attached to the racks with wooden planks, using small nails or staples from a stapler. At the joints, one canvas should go in and the other by at least 15 cm. Double-sided tape is used to glue the canvases. It turns out a double seam, which provides a normal degree of protection against the penetration of steam. On top of the vapor barrier film, you can attach the material of the inner lining (plywood, OSB, GVL, GKL, boards).
So, when the chicken coop is insulated with mineral wool, the wall cake looks like this (from inside to outside):
- inner lining;
- vapor barrier;
- heater;
- ventilation gap;
- waterproofing;
- outer cladding.
The sequence of layers does not allow moisture to penetrate into the insulation from the inside. This task cannot be 100% completed – vapors still penetrate. Therefore, it is necessary to have a ventilation gap between the insulation and waterproofing. Due to this, the steam that has entered the heater comes out. It is this construction that guarantees that the insulation will work.
Styrofoam and expanded polystyrene
When insulating with polystyrene foam and polystyrene foam, everything is a little simpler. It is itself vapor-tight, so it is not necessary to protect it from the penetration of steam. If a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is built according to the frame principle, you can lay foam between the racks. It is cut with a saw with a fine tooth (for metal), fixed with low expansion foam. In order for the insulation to “not walk”, planks are stuffed along the racks on both sides. Styrofoam and polystyrene foam can be laid both from the street and from the side of the room. Sheathing can be done in any order. The only thing: from the side of the street under the sheathing, it is better, after all, to fix the waterproofing. Especially for polystyrene – it “blooms” from moisture in large quantities.
If a chicken coop for 10-20 chickens is made of a vapor-permeable material (foam and gas concrete, timber, logs), it must be insulated with foam from the outside. There should be a ventilation gap between the wall and the insulation, which will allow moisture to evaporate from the wall. To do this, a crate is stuffed onto the wall with a bar 20-30 mm thick. Then the counter-batten is stuffed in the opposite direction. The thickness of the bars is not less than the thickness of the insulation. Styrofoam / extruded polystyrene foam is fixed to the mounting foam between the planks of the counter-batten. Then, on top, you can mount the outer skin.
Ventilation
Chickens do well in normal humidity. With a decrease or increase, they begin to hurt (high humidity is more dangerous), so ventilation in the chicken coop should creep in even during the planning period. A hole is made in one of the walls for air flow. To do this, you can insert a piece of plastic pipe into the wall and pick up a cover for it.
The outflow of air from the chicken coop (hood) is a pipe drawn through the roof or the top of the wall. On the street, the pipe rises for some distance above the roof and ends with a fungus or a visor – to protect against precipitation and foliage. The inflow and exhaust are located in opposite corners so that the air passes the greatest distance. This type of ventilation is called natural, but it does not always work stably.
For stable operation, a fan with a cover is embedded in the upper part of the wall. Better if it has multiple speeds. The operation of this type of ventilation does not depend on the weather, but depends on the availability of electricity and requires human intervention. In principle, you can do both ways and use as needed.