What floor is needed in the chicken coop. The floors in the hen house are better to be made of. Creation of additional conditions

The construction of the poultry house is inevitably associated with the solution of the issue of arranging the floor covering. The correct flooring affects the health as well as the performance of the laying hens. In addition, the quality of the indoor air, the ease of cleaning the chicken coop, and the presence or absence of rodents in it depend on the floor. In this article, we will talk about how to lay the floor yourself and how to care for it.

Floor functions in the hen house

The main functions of flooring in a poultry house include:

protective(the flooring should protect birds from moisture and rats all year round, and also from dampness and frost in the winter months);
heat insulating(in winter, a positive temperature should be maintained in the barn, since this is the only way to maintain high egg production in layers);
supporting(supporting).

Did you know? Chickens are depicted on coins of 16 countries and are the absolute leaders among numismatic bird species.

Primary requirements

The flooring in a chicken dwelling must be laid taking into account certain requirements. Consider how it should be:

Safe. From the flooring, first of all, it concerns the wooden version, pointed parts (nails, fittings) that can injure birds should not protrude.
Long lasting and durable. The base of the chicken house should support multi-level nesting structures.
Eco-friendly. The use of polyvinyl chloride is unacceptable, as this material can become moldy. In addition, plastics release toxic substances into the atmosphere.
Must be water-repellent. Liquid bird droppings will systematically attack the deck surface. Therefore, the final stage in the manufacture of the floor should be covering it with moisture-resistant impregnations.
Must have low heat-conducting properties and a layer of insulation, in order to maintain a positive temperature in the house in winter and exclude the disease of chickens from hypothermia.

How to lay the floor with your own hands

Asking the question of what is better to equip the flooring in the poultry house, take into account the features of the entire structure, the climate of the area and your financial capabilities. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the most successful floor coverings to help you decide which option is best for your pets.

Earthen (unpaved)

This type is optimal for poultry houses without a foundation, when the walls are fixed on four load-bearing beams, dug into the ground at the corners.

So, for laying a soil surface you will need:

pieces of roofing material (can be replaced with linoleum or other waterproof material of your choice);
fine gravel;
shovel;
nails with a wide head;
hammer.

Important! When burying roofing material in the ground, make sure that it bends away from the house. 10–20 cm of cardboard should be placed on the wall.

The sequence of actions for laying the earth surface:

Outside (along the perimeter of the barn), dig a ditch with a depth of 0.3 to 0.5 meters. The ditch should be close to the walls.
Fix the pieces of roofing material against the walls from the outside so that the bottom of the cardboard is in the groove, and the top is on the wall. Fastening pieces of roofing material should be nails.
The next step is to fill the funnels with roofing material with earth.
Tamp and level the soil inside the house while removing debris and weeds.
Pour gravel on top, mixing it with the outer layer of soil.
Level the earthen surface again and tamp. It will not work to make the surface perfectly flat, but try to achieve maximum effect.
Add bedding.

Wood

It is advisable to lay a floor made of wood at the stage of erecting a barn. For such a surface, a columnar or strip foundation is required. To lay wood on the foundation, the builder needs to stock up on:

a bar of wood with a section of 200x200 mm;
a bar of wood with a section of 200x100 mm;
a board 20 mm thick and 10-30 mm wide;
hydrophobic solution (can be replaced with linseed oil or varnish);
insulation (mineral wool, foam or bundles of dried straw);
nails and a hammer;
steel mesh;
wire;
self-tapping screws and a screwdriver;
steel brackets.

Let's move on to consideration step by step instructions how to make a wooden base:

On the pillars of the foundation, install a support bar around the perimeter and fasten at the corners with brackets on the self-tapping screws.
Install a steel mesh base on the supporting bar, securing it around the perimeter with bent nails.
Along the perimeter, set a bar 200 by 100 with an edge and fasten it with brackets to the supporting beams so that part of the beams is shown inside the house (to fix the lags).
On the inside, lay a 200 x 100 bar with an edge on the net as lags every 0.5 meters.
Pin the lags to the support bar with long nails (120 mm), hammering them in at a slight angle.
Next, treat all wooden parts with a hydrophobic liquid and leave to dry.
In the area between the lags, lay a heater on the mesh and press it against the mesh with wire.
Firmly nail the boards of the top covering to the logs.
In addition, treat the base with a hydrophobic liquid, and after drying, treat with lime.

Video: how to make a wooden floor in a chicken coop

The wooden surface itself is warm, but if severe frosts are expected, this will not be enough. Therefore, in winter, wood is not the most reliable material.

Important! Care wooden surface consists in systematically checking the corners and joints with the wall for the presence of rodents (there should be no characteristic holes in the wood). Re-lime the floor every time the litter is changed.Do not allow the heat insulator to come into contact with the ground, as this is fraught with the appearance of rodents.

Concrete

Materials and tools required for work:

shovel;
crushed stone or gravel;
stoppers made of wooden planks;
drill;
for the preparation of concrete - one part of cement, four parts of sand or fine gravel;
wooden levelers.

The installation of the concrete pavement is carried out in the following way:

Concrete is guaranteed to protect the structure from rodents. The concrete surface is easy to keep clean and easy to sweep. During the summer season, the coating stays cool, which is a significant advantage. However, in the winter months, birds will feel cold. The rubber mat will insulate the concrete surface from the cold. An extra layer of bedding is required for chicks.

Did you know? The oldest chicken on Earth was 14 years old.

Mites do not enter the concrete surface, moisture or odors are not retained. If the birds develop any ailments, you can easily get rid of all the bedding, then dust the chicken coop and disinfect the floor and walls.

In recent years, a method of raising chickens on a mesh floor has been popular among farmers. Its construction begins with laying a dense, well-tamped surface. The base is made of concrete with a slight slope.

As for how to cover the concrete base, it can be sawdust, wood shavings or peat. The mesh surface itself is made of boards. The structure is a kind of frame on which a mesh is fixed on top. The most durable and stable is the galvanized mesh.

How to insulate the floor in a chicken coop

High-quality insulation of the flooring in the poultry house allows it to last much longer. Warming is carried out using deep and shallow bedding. Even in winter, the litter remains in the barn at a temperature of +16 ... + 18 ° C without the use of electric heaters. Most breeders provide their breeders with deep bedding.

It is made from raw materials of natural origin (dry sawdust, hay and straw, moss peat or dried grass). First sprinkle the floor with hydrated lime to disinfect, then cover with a layer of the chosen material approximately 15 cm thick.

The litter can be left unchanged throughout the year, but according to the degree of pollution, it is necessary to add new layers of insulation, eventually bringing the thickness to 25 cm. In addition, the litter must be periodically loosened. If it is very damp, then sprinkle it with superphosphate - 0.5 kg per 2 sq. m.

Video: how to insulate the floor in a chicken coop

Building a house is an important part of raising chickens. It protects them from adverse conditions. An equally important part of any poultry house is the floor - it is responsible for the room temperature and the sanitary condition of the room. Its correct construction will improve the condition of the chickens, so in this article we will talk about what is the best to make the floor in the chicken coop.

Which gender is better?

In arranging a chicken coop with your own hands, it is important not only to pay attention to the floor itself, but also to its materials. In practice, earthen, concrete and wood floors are used. These are three main options, which differ in the time spent on work and the cost of construction to make the flooring with your own hands.

A traditional dirt floor in a chicken coop is the simplest option that farmers have been using for a long time. But its temperature will drop rapidly during the cold season. Predators and various pests can also easily penetrate through it into the chicken coop. It will quickly turn to mud, mixing with water, feed and droppings. Better to make such a flooring with clay, which will strengthen the layer. Choosing which one in financial plan more accessible - this is the cheapest way.

Do-it-yourself concrete flooring in the chicken room is the most used, since it does not require much effort to erect. But this option, even if it does not let predators pass, is very cold. This floor needs a thick layer of bedding to keep it warm. It can be made from natural or synthetic materials.

In practice, pouring concrete with your own hands is convenient because this material is resistant to acids and water. It does not burn, which can play a decisive role. Such material is monolithic, and, accordingly, does not let pests through. It is also durable, and its service life, if properly manufactured, should be from 20 years, which is longer than any other material.

The use of wood flooring is considered the most the best option than any other. This material keeps temperature and is warm in itself. He needs a minimum of bedding. The tree is environmentally friendly, but it is subject to natural decay processes, which requires frequent maintenance. But it can be easily exposed to flames, which is dangerous in case of fires.

Such a floor covering, like the entire structure of the poultry house, is recommended to be treated with lime, which will protect the surface from the growth of microorganisms. Unlike other materials, boards can be replaced, supplemented or insulated. It is also convenient to set them at an angle to make it easier to clean a warm sloping structure. V winter period this flooring does not freeze. V summer time the layer of litter for wood flooring should be 7 cm, and in winter time- 10 cm.

We lay the floors

To make the floors in the chicken coop with your own hands, you need to start with the foundation. It is best to opt for wood floors as they have many benefits. There are several options for building a foundation: columnar and tape. What it should be - you decide!

We recommend using a columnar foundation because the deck will be elevated. This will extend the life of the wood, protect against flooding and material degradation, and maintain the optimum temperature.

Tools and materials

To make a warm wood floor with your own hands, you must have:

wooden boards 25 cm thick;
bars with a section of 100x100 mm;
cement;
brick;
hammer;
nails;
saw.

Step-by-step instruction

If the chicken coop does not have a foundation, then you need to make bricks 20 cm high every 50 cm. This is not required if you have already made a concrete floor.
To build a coating with your own hands, you need to lay logs from a bar strictly parallel to the built brick pedestals, on a foundation that has already been built, or directly on a frozen concrete floor in a step of 50 cm.The entire structure of the coating should have a slight slope to make it easier to clean the bird's dwelling ...
The space between the lags can be filled with some kind of insulation, for example, expanded clay, with your own hands. Or you can leave space for air circulation.
We lay the boards in a direction perpendicular to the logs. We cut them in such a way that the joint is in the middle of the log.
We nail the boards using two nails for each log. At the same time, make sure that they are directed towards each other at a slight angle.

A properly made wooden floor with your own hands will provide the bird with a comfortable stay. Taking proper care of the wood will extend its lifespan, so there is no need to replace boards. Choosing what kind of coating with your own hands should be, you need to focus on your capabilities. If finances and time costs allow, it is more efficient to use wooden ones, and land is suitable for budget chicken coops.

Video "Building a floor covering for a chicken shed"

In this video you will see what the floor should be in the poultry house.

Most landowners are thinking. It is unwise not to use the opportunity to independently provide your family with environmentally friendly and safe products. In doing so, you can save a significant amount of money. And the construction of a bird habitat cannot be called a complex event.

Proper construction: preparation

How to make a chicken coop? Where to start construction? First of all, you need to think over an action plan for the construction of a dwelling for chickens. It should include the following items:

Site selection for work

To understand how to do it, you need to think about where it will be placed. The right place is the key to success. What should you pay attention to first of all? The place where the hens live must be safe. The territory on which the house will be located must be fenced off with a fence or hedge. It is also important to keep the hens at rest. Accordingly, construction should be carried out in those areas that are relatively remote from walkways and places of active recreation.

The ideal option for placing this room will be a shaded area that can be planted with shrubs, which will help protect birds from the wind and sun. And if the vegetation is also interesting for the birds, for example, the available berries, this is an additional advantage. The building must be located on a low rise. This will make it possible to avoid flooding the structure during rains.

Drafting a project

Bird housing, which is an inconspicuous gray structure, is considered habitual. You shouldn't take this approach. For creating better conditions and improving the quality of life of birds, it is better to build a beautiful and spacious house. Use your imagination and the laying hen shelter will become an original element landscape design... Then the question of how to make a chicken coop with your own hands in the same way will be asked to you. Indeed, in any case, it will be in sight. Do not spoil the impression of admiring your lands due to a careless attitude towards construction.

Creating your unique project and thinking, for example, about how to do it, it should be borne in mind that for greater productivity of the case, the size of housing for birds must comply with the norms. The dimensions of the house should be designed so that there are no more than 2 layers per square meter.

Start of construction

After the dimensions, design and location of the house have been determined, you need to think about the required materials for construction. You may be attracted to trends modern world, gleaned from the Internet, or the stories of lovers of unconventional design solutions on how to make a chicken coop with their own hands. But it should be understood that the best material for construction in this case is wood. It is important that the beams are four-slope and have a thickness of 10 * 15 centimeters. This option is not too expensive, but reliable. Another advantage of wood is that it is environmentally friendly and easy to process.

In addition to beams for the construction of a capital chicken coop, you will also need concrete, insulation, brick, roofing felt, expanded clay, plywood sheets and fasteners.

Foundation selection

The foundation can be tape or rubble. It is also possible to install bird shelters on piles. In this case, it is important to determine how to make a chicken coop with your own hands is more profitable. The opinions of professionals in this matter converge most often on the installation of a columnar foundation. In addition to being more cost effective than other options, it is also easier to implement. All you need is cement in the amount of about two bags, sand and a trowel. The columnar type of foundation will prevent rodents from entering the chicken coop in the future, and will also contribute to better ventilation.

If this option is difficult, then you can limit yourself to the minimum method of installing housing for birds on the ground. To do this, it is enough to cover the lower part of the hen house with iron sheets.

Installation of a cement foundation

The area required for construction should be cleared of vegetation. Then you need to dig a hole, which should be flat and have a depth of at least 30 centimeters. At its bottom, it is necessary to lay a galvanized metal mesh. Further along the perimeter, you should build a formwork and dig another hole, stepping back 25 centimeters from the first. Now you need to pour the concrete solution and cover the foundation with sacking. You need to wait a few days. After the cement has completely dried, the boards should be removed, and in their place the soil remaining after digging the holes should be poured.

Floor laying

If you are faced with the question of what to make the floor in the chicken coop, then it is better to give preference classical technique... It is necessary to lay roofing material, which insulates the first crown of the beams (the main, horizontal row of the log house), their ends should be communicated. Then you should place the logs (cross beams) on the floor at a distance of 50 cm from each other. The gaps between them must be sealed with beams.

Installation of walls

The next crowns, from which the walls of the hen house are already being built, are connected by a thorn-groove fastening. Between the rows of wood, it is necessary to lay insulation, which has a flax-jute base.

Whenever a chicken coop is built from wood with natural moisture, it must be mounted on pins (special fastening nails). For them, you need to make holes at intervals of 1 meter. Wood dowels are driven in secretly to a depth of 7 centimeters. This method is a recommendation for those who do not know how to make a chicken coop with their own hands so that it does not warp in case of shrinkage.

The correct option for building bird housing has a wall height of at least 1.8 meters.

Roof formation

The best option for bird housing - The attic, which is formed during its construction, can be used to store equipment or food. To create such a roof, you need to install a supporting system consisting of rafter inclined legs and struts, vertical struts. The roof can now be installed. The ceiling inside the chicken coop must be insulated and covered with plywood.

How to roost in a chicken coop?

First of all, the roost for the chicken is to ensure its safety. When the bird sits on it, it can survey the surroundings and feel comfortable on the dais. It is advisable to place the roost near the windows of the hen house, in a sufficiently lit place. Behind the perch there should be nothing but a blank wall.

An important parameter for the perch is its height. For young animals this indicator is approximately 0.6 meters from the floor, for large chickens - 0.8, for ordinary layers - 1 meter. It is more reasonable to mount the roost on the walls at different levels. This will allow you to change the height of the perches as needed.

The roost is also necessary for the birds to be in good physical shape. After all, in order to climb it, they need to jump and take off. The total length of the available perches should be calculated based on the fact that one chicken requires 20-30 centimeters of space on them.

Creation of additional conditions

If the hen house is absent, it is necessary to create an artificial one. A 40 W light bulb is quite suitable for this. It is recommended to install trays under the roost to facilitate cleaning of the chicken coop. Feeders and drinkers are placed at a certain elevation. They should always be full and clean. For layers, a dark box should be installed in the corner of the coop. It is recommended to tear the floor with sawdust or straw. To make it convenient for the birds to get into their house, if it is on a dais, or if they enter it not through the door, but through the window, you can install a ladder or ladder. The same method will be useful in the case of finding perches in small rooms of chicken coops, so that when trying to take off on them, injuries do not occur.

If you are interested in other ways to make a chicken coop, the photo selection given in the article will help with this.

This article will talk about flooring in a chicken coop from various building materials... Which floor is best suited for such a structure and its characteristic features.

Different types of floors in the chicken coop and their installation

There are many materials for covering the floor surface. When choosing what type of floor is needed in a building for a bird, it is imperative to take into account its cost. The quality of the coating largely determines the dryness and cleanliness of the chicken room.

The most common material for these purposes is coniferous wood planks. This floor is very warm and comfortable when cleaning the room by the owner. And it can also be made of concrete and this material has strength and durability.

Sometimes, due to a lack of funds, the owner may have an earthen floor. To do this, the ground in the room is well leveled with a shovel and tamped. Straw mats or sawdust are placed on top of such a floor. The bird is quite fond of the earthen floor, because it picks up grains from the ground. The earthen floor allows the chickens to swim in it and this helps the bird to clean the feathers. Do not allow the earthen floor in the hen house to freeze, which can lead to the death of the bird.

When laying a concrete floor screed in a poultry house, the ground must first be leveled and carefully tamped. Be sure to lay a layer of gravel and lay the mesh on it. Pour the concrete mixture from above with a liquid solution. We carefully ram the concrete mixture, avoiding the formation of voids. The surface of such a floor must be kept for three days, gradually wetting the floor with water. It is advisable to darken the floor screed and constantly wet it, this helps to prevent cracks.

Wooden boards can be laid on the hardened floor. Such a panel floor is very convenient to use and clean the room where the bird is kept. On top of the shields, straw, sawdust or grass hay is laid. Thanks to this floor design, the bird in the hen house is clean and warm. This design of the panel floor allows you to disassemble and assemble it in a matter of hours. The concrete pavement can be rinsed regularly with water and dried thoroughly.

The advantage of a wooden floor over a concrete floor

The main aspect when choosing a flooring from wooden boards is its practicality and ease of cleaning this room. Wood flooring is able to withstand high levels of humidity or water spills from a bird drinker. Laying of such a floor is carried out with coniferous boards end-to-end without visible gaps. On such a floor covering, it is enough to sweep all the rubbish with a broom and the room is perfectly clean. If desired, you can lay a layer of hay or straw on top, especially in winter.

The main advantage of a concrete subfloor is its strength and it can withstand high loads. Almost any material from sawdust or straw can be laid on such a floor. In this floor, you can mount a sewer drain into a septic tank for its sludge. If cracks appear on the surface of the screed, they can be easily repaired with cement mortar and trowelled. But also such a base can be tiled with floor tiles for utility rooms, and the seams can be repaired with grout.

What are the criteria for choosing a floor for a chicken coop?

The founding of a ground floor surface has a number of positive aspects. In the first, it is the simplicity of such work and its low cost. And also naturalness is a coating that is beneficial, affects the health of chickens. An important factor is such a floor that does not rot and does not collapse. All you need to do is change the straw or sawdust bedding and the floor is clean. Many people believe that such a floor has a beneficial effect on the condition of the bird and promotes egg production.

A tiled floor is a good option for its execution, the surface should not be smooth. Such tiles are made for utility rooms and are resistant to abrasion. This material is not afraid of blows or scratches with various tools. Of course, it is not cheap, but its use will last quite a long time. Usually such a tile is placed on a special glue according to the level. After two days, you can safely walk on this surface. Such a floor can be regularly washed with a jet of water without fear of its destruction.

Wooden flooring has several advantages over other types of flooring. This floor is most common in the construction of a birdhouse. Such a floor has good heat capacity and heat retention in the room. First, we lay thick bars, this procedure is performed according to the level. It is imperative that the beams are laid flat and not wobbled, providing a solid foundation. On top of them we lay and nail boards, preferably larch or pine. We fasten the boards end-to-end without the formation of gaps for this, we use metal clamps.

To prevent the boards from splitting, we drill a hole with an electric drill and hammer in nails. The floor surface should not have distortions and protruding nails. If necessary, the floor can be treated with an antiseptic that prevents the destruction of the tree. This composition is applied in three layers with mandatory drying. An antiseptic is needed to protect wood from beetles and various bark beetles. The main danger of such a coating is dampness and wetting of the wood, therefore, it is imperative to ventilate.

Clean river sand can be used as a floor in the chicken room. Usually the surface of the earth is pre-prepared. The place is carefully leveled and tamped until a flat surface is formed. Sand is delivered by trucks or a tractor using a trolley. We sift this sand and dry it until it becomes free-flowing. We put a layer of sand on the floor surface and carefully compact it.

Such a floor is very practical and does not require constant cleaning of the room. The bird loves to peck at the sand because of the shells it contains. Seashells contained in river sand, are very useful for poultry and give them all trace elements and vitamins. If the sandy floor gets dirty, we simply replace it with a new and clean one. Sand is a material that absorbs well water spilled from drinking bowls. And also the bird kept on such a surface is always clean and healthy.

A high-quality floor in a chicken coop is a guarantee of the healthy state of birds. The egg production of birds, the quality of the eggs and the strength of the shell, depend on this. Each floor covering has its own advantage and characteristic features... Of course, ideal and most the right option execution of the floor in the hen house made of larch. Earthen-based flooring is the simplest and most logical. Cleaning bird feathers with earth prevents the spread of various chicken diseases.

The concrete floor does not need constant cleaning and leveling of its surface. And the use of wooden shields makes it easier for the owner to clean the chicken coop. The concrete base is sufficiently cold and damp, but the use of bedding in the form of wheat straw, cutting and sawdust... Such a coating is quite strong and durable and does not need constant cleaning of the floor.

The conclusion can be made as follows: the floors and litter for the chicken coop may be different, but its use is necessary to create a favorable microclimate in the room.

Video Sex in the chicken coop

Video HOW TO MAKE A HEATED FLOOR IN A HOUSE

To make a warm floor in a chicken coop with your own hands for a long or year-round stay, the choice of a suitable floor and bedding is important. Both health and productivity largely depend on the conditions of detention. poultry... Floor materials differ in the complexity of installation and cost, and affect the frequency of cleaning. Litter fillings and post-treatments are also interesting.

What should be a good floor in a chicken coop

A well-equipped floor in a hen house guarantees comfortable conditions for its inhabitants: warmth, dryness, protection from rodents and predators capable of undermining, and an acceptable state of the litter at the frequency of cleaning that can be achieved. The owner, on the other hand, does not receive any surprises from a correctly chosen floor during operation: it is worth thinking about the properties and limitations of different structures in advance.

Poultry requires a room temperature of at least + 10 ° C, only a frost-free bottom cover is permissible for such requirements.

Hypothermia will lead to lung disease, reduce productivity. In the worst case, the birds will freeze their paws.
The type of material will affect the lifespan of one underlay, before replacement, due to the difference in thickness and absorbency of the substrate. The filler must not be brought to a wet or compressed state for sanitary reasons. Easy cleaning with a slight incline and multiple drainage troughs.

Types of floors

Wood floors are often the sweet spot. It is laid on the joists, the level of the lower ceiling is raised above the ground. An easy-to-use device, even with your own hands, a well-protected option from the cold when filling voids with insulation.

As a top coating, boards or various panels made of wood materials, selected according to strength characteristics (DSP, OSB, etc.), are suitable. You will need treatment from fungus, mold. Such a choice will be more expensive than a concrete or earthen floor, but it will serve no worse than other options.

Separately, it should be said about the mesh floor. More precisely, this is an additional level 50–70 cm from the floor, with a mesh frame with a cell of 1.5–2 cm. The variety is a slatted floor, instead of a mesh, slats are laid. It is used in large farms, in poultry houses for hundreds and thousands of heads, which do not provide for free range.

With this design, it is easier to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of infection. The droppings are delivered to the pallets at the bottom. Sometimes referred to as inhuman housing because the birds are kept crowded. On the scale of a single estate, there is no need for an industrial solution. Such coverage will cost more than other floors - starting at 800 rubles. per sq. m.

Which gender to choose

The moisture content of the soil sometimes does not allow making an earthen floor. If the terrain allows you to choose this type, the soil floor will still get soaked and dirty, absorbing moisture from the flooring, but this is the easiest option and can be made quickly. Concrete protects the chicken coop from undermining, rats, predators; durable and reliable, but more expensive than others and will require insulation. The depth of groundwater is allowed no higher than 0.5 m.This is a justified choice if it is planned a long period keeping birds.

The wooden structure is the most environmentally friendly, it will provide a warm floor in the poultry house, by itself or with minimal insulation.

Thorough treatment of mold and mildew with poultry-safe products will be required. With waterlogged soils, the wood floor can be supported on piles or pillars, eliminating contact with the ground. For a chicken coop with a floor on the ground, it is undesirable to make the base of the walls from blocks, birds can dig a depression in the ground, the block will move.

Build yourself

It is quite possible to make a floor with your own hands in a chicken coop. If the base and walls have already been built, you need to determine which type of floor is suitable for your particular application. Having outlined the plan, recalculate the required materials, quantity and cost. Clarify what materials will be needed, think over and remember the procedure.

Necessary materials

To build a floor on the ground, you need to stock up on small gravel, waterproofing material (roofing material, roofing felt, bitumen), nails with a wide head, clay to seal the top layer. Tools: shovel, hammer, rammer or log with handles, level.

For a concrete floor, the same thing, except for clay, and also: wooden planks as formwork, if needed, film, ordinary nails, cement, sand, water. Insulation, mesh for reinforcement, expanded clay instead of crushed stone - optional. From the tools, a leveling rail, a reinforcement rod for concrete compaction is added. A concrete mixer can be replaced by a mixer attachment on a perforator, you will need a large bucket.

A thick base is required for wood flooring. If the chicken coop is already built and there are no beams in the lower part, you can make a "floating" floor, ie. independent of the main concrete block, on its own piles or posts. It is enough 4 piles-pillars along the perimeter of the building, if there is no more than two meters between them, to a depth of 0.8 m, with a diameter of 0.6 m.

Manufacturing algorithm

The earthen floor, on the ground, keeps it from being washed out from the outside by laying roofing material in ditches near the wall with a depth of 0.5 m, followed by backfilling. The upper edge of the roofing material 10–20 cm is fixed on the wall with nails, the lower one remains in the ditch away from the wall, the filling is tamped. Inside, the soil is removed to a depth of 20-30 cm, sieved, mixed with gravel.

The bottom of the pit is compacted, soil with gravel is laid, leveled and tamped. The top layer can be compacted with a layer of clay. The finished floor can be covered with flooring.

The concrete floor can be made both before and after the construction of the chicken coop. To do this, you need to remove 20–30 cm of soil, fill in a layer of 10–20 cm of crushed stone, and tamp it. At the next stage, it is advisable to lay waterproofing: roofing material with bituminous filling or other material for such purposes. If there are gaps at the junction with the walls, it is necessary to install formwork from boards. If there are no gaps anywhere, it is enough to lay the film between the wall and the future screed.

You should not count on a strong seam in this place even without a film, the joint between the wall and the floor will need to be waterproofed separately with elastic materials with good adhesion. The aggregate for the mixture can be selected with good thermal insulation properties. For example, take expanded clay instead of crushed stone, or prepare a composition from the "warm concrete" series. Strength characteristics for the "floating" floor of a farm building are not particularly important.

The mixture is poured in one pass, with compulsory sealing to eliminate voids (with a vibration power tool or manually, piercing the armature with a rod). When filling in separate areas, gaps between them may open. Work is carried out or above zero temperature.

The surface is leveled; in dry weather, drying concrete must be moistened with water. After 2-3 days, the formwork can be removed, the main strength gain occurs in 28 days. When installing a wooden floor, first, the piles are strapped with a bar of 200x200 mm along the perimeter, the bar is fastened with brackets at the corners.

At this stage, you can nail a metal mesh to the harness to make it easier to lay the insulation. Or skip this moment, and then hem the boards to the logs from below. The second tier of a bar 200x100 mm is installed on the strapping on the edge, so that inside on the lower wide bar there is room for supporting the floor lag of 7-10 cm, it is attached to the brackets.

Logs from a bar of 200x100 mm are stacked with a step of 50-59 cm, on the edge, and nailed to the bar. Insulation is laid between them, the floor is covered with boards or slabs. First, the coating must be treated with a water repellent, and after it dries, with lime.

Types of flooring

Flooring can be summer (light) and winter, increased thickness. The backfill layer also depends on the choice of the base - more is laid on concrete than on wood and earth. Fermentation bacterial litter will speed up the processing of manure into compost, it will need to be cleaned less often - such a litter is laid in a thick layer.

The processes in the lower pressed parts take place with the release of heat. The content of ammonia and hydrogen sulphide in the air decreases, and the suffocating odor goes away. Litter change and disinfection can be done once a year, at the end of summer.

Thick bedding - 50 cm, medium - 30 cm, summer - depending on how often it changes, it is only important to cover a solid base to protect the paws when digging. Shallow, medium-sized litters are cleaned 4–5 times a year. The litter is loosened and fresh material is added with the addition of superphosphate, 400 g per m2. Pallets can be installed under the perches.

Widely used for backfilling bedding:

sawdust;
shavings;
straw and hay;
river sand;
needles (spruce branches);
moss, moss peat;
sunflower husk (husk).

Wood shavings you should take not the smallest ones, otherwise the layer will quickly cake; when large ones are not available, you can mix them with other materials. Do not lay the shavings in their pure form - the hen can eat them, they will clog the goiter and will not survive without emergency help. Such a litter has many advantages: it absorbs moisture well and dries quickly (if the birds loosen them, you can add grains for this); easy to clean; when the birds are frolicking, the shavings help clean the plumage. A mixture with hay and straw is warmer than shavings.

Shavings. Coarse shavings will not absorb moisture well on their own and must be mixed with other fillers. Softwood shavings and large pine needles may have sharp edges.

Straw and hay are used in a mixture with other fillers to insulate the litter. Themselves, individually, can quickly turn sour. Instead of a bacterial preparation, when arranging a fermented litter, you can layer fresh grass mixed with straw in layers.

River sand of coarse fractions can be backfill and dry bath, birds will dig it and peck it. To keep the litter dust-free, you can mix it with hay.

Coniferous litter in a hen house, consisting of spruce branches, for example, is a controversial thing. Volatile substances that give the pine needles a pleasant aroma can be dangerous in high concentrations. As a vitamin supplement, needles have a limitation of 7 g per head, and are given in a chopped form so as not to injure the bird. How many needles a particular chicken will pick from the litter and what will happen to her goiter after that, you need to check. It is recommended to carefully prepare this material, until the coniferous-resinous aroma disappears, and the harvesting should be carried out from November to March.

Moss and peat will become soft, hygroscopic bedding with good thermal insulation properties.

Sunflower husk absorb moisture well, but the flooring must be made thicker, birds can burrow into the husk.

The effect of sex on chicken health

Reinforced floors are very important in winter. The process of decomposition of organic matter gives enough heat on wooden or soil bases, but on concrete, one, even a large, layer of litter may not be enough. In colder climates, additional insulation may be required. The floor must be properly laid and the flooring must be kept dry.

Disinfection of floors in a chicken coop

An effective method is wet full processing in the absence of birds. The disinfectant solution is applied to the surface by spraying or aerosol. In the presence of poultry, the surface treatment will be of lower quality due to the weaker concentration of drugs and agents. Otherwise, disinfection poses a danger to the chickens themselves.

It is recommended to treat the birds with veterinary drugs so as not to infect the chicken coop again. Dry methods: adding ash when installing an earthen floor and painting hidden wooden structures with slaked lime. Floor laying when sanitization completely changes. Moreover, both slaked lime and wood ash in small quantities are added to the diet of layers, that is, they are not dangerous, but only if they are properly prepared and aged for a long time.

Slaked lime is used to paint wooden structures to protect them from decay, mold and insects. Remember that quicklime is dangerous. Wood ash is a part of combined ash-sand or ash-sulfur dry baths to combat feather eating.

It is believed that fresh wood ash is a danger to livestock, and requires drying for at least three months. The danger lies in the high content of alkali and potash. The arguments of the opponents of raw ash are compelling, but the controversy continues. As with the admissibility of using coniferous shavings or spruce branches (needles). If drying is a sufficient guarantee of bird safety, it is worth taking the time to dry.

How much will it cost to make a floor

The cost of the floor will depend on the prices of building materials in the region, on the quality of these materials and on the area of the poultry house. The urgent need for waterproofing and drainage (drainage) of groundwater will increase the price. At the same time, the total cost may turn out to be small, even if we are talking about a concrete solution, the thickness of these floors is small compared to the floors in the house, the area of the chicken coop is also incomparable.

With self-arrangement of the floor, a lot can be taken from improvised means. Studying the characteristics of different floors and how they are made will help determine which option is more suitable. There are no significant differences in the complexity of the work; it is quite easy to equip your poultry house with a good floor.