Do-it-yourself pens for chickens. Coop inside: what is needed and how to do it. Artificial and natural lighting of the poultry house

My grandmother, who kept chickens all her life, told me that a fine mesh is not a reliable protection for them. And she was right. A dog, fox, or raccoon can rip through such a net rather quickly and break through a fence. Another danger is that the chicks squeeze through the holes.

The fine mesh is made from galvanized wire and is usually supplied with 1–2 in. (2.5–5.0 cm) hexagonal holes.

Fine mesh mesh should never be used on vents or vents, openings or windows. In addition, it is not suitable for corral if you leave chickens there all day when no one is at home.

The only thing a fine mesh net is good for is to cover the walking area to protect chickens from flying predators during the day. It will not stop a raccoon or a weasel from climbing the net or penetrating the wire (at least it will take them a while). So, if you are at home during the day and a corral is visible from there, such a fence can be used to protect chickens, but only during daylight hours, and birds should be locked up at night. And if hawks are your concern, fine mesh netting is an affordable material to cover your pen.

Also, a fine mesh net is good for dividing the pen into zones (if you are introducing new birds into the flock, for example), or for separating a brood hen and her chickens from the general flock in a hen house.

A fine mesh net is a suitable option for protecting the garden from rabbits, deer, cats and chickens. And although they can easily overcome obstacles with a height of 1.2–1.5 m, the instability of the net often keeps them from overcoming the obstacle, since the birds do not have a stable support at the top from which to jump down.

The fine mesh is great for protecting young plants until they get stronger. Mesh "cages" can be set up around them quickly and easily to protect plants from chickens, deer or rabbits.

Pros: a relatively inexpensive material that is easy to use, easy to cut, flexible, and great for garden fencing.

Minuses: unsuitable for protection from predators, rusts quickly enough.

Where is it better to use: for sheltering young plants, as a fence in the garden, vegetable garden, for covering the corral from above during daylight hours.

Plastic fine mesh

This material is similar to the previous fine mesh mesh, but it is made of plastic. The sizes of the cells can be different. Such an inexpensive net can also only be used as a fence around a chicken coop to protect birds, or around a garden or vegetable garden to protect the crop from wild birds, chickens, rabbits and deer. Being plastic, it is even less suitable for protection against predators than fine-mesh metal mesh. But at the same time, it is a lightweight and affordable material that can be used to cover your pen for the day.

Pros: the material is relatively inexpensive, easy to cut, easy to use, lightweight, flexible, strong enough.

Minuses: not suitable for protection from predators.

Where is it better to use: as a fence in the garden; to protect bushes, to shelter a corral.

½ "(1.27 cm) welded wire mesh

Welded (or reinforced) mesh is the most reliable option for protecting your chicken coop and pen. It will protect chickens from attack not only by such large predators as dogs, coyotes and foxes, but also smaller dangerous animals, including ferrets, snakes and mice. This mesh is perfect for windows and vents in a chicken coop. If you want even more security for your chickens, you can use a ¼ ”(0.6 cm) mesh, but note that it will take a very long time to cut.

I use ½ ”mesh on all openings in the coop - windows, vents, aisles, in addition, there are special fly screens on the windows of my coop.

I also use this mesh along the bottom of the pen as a 90 cm high fence that is firmly buried in the ground. The presence of smaller openings at the bottom of the pen is a good additional protection, as most predators try to enter the chicken coop in the lower part of it or dig a passage under the fence. This net will keep your chickens and ducks from attacking raccoons, snakes and field mice.

Pros: protects against all predators.

Minuses:

• the material is quite expensive;
• takes a long time to cut;
• rigid, therefore difficult to bend.

Where is it better to use: vents, ventilation openings, windows; the lower part of the corral; to protect the enclosure from predators at night.

1 '' (2.54 cm) welded wire mesh

I also use a mesh with this mesh size for an additional protective fence along the bottom of the pen - it will not allow predators such as raccoons or martens to climb the walls. It is also more affordable and easier to cut than ½ ”(1.27 cm) mesh.

Pros: protects from everyone, even the smallest predators; easier to cut than ½ ”mesh.

Minuses:

• the material is quite expensive;
• you have to spend a lot of time cutting;
• rather tough, therefore it bends poorly.

Where is it better to use: to protect the daytime pen.

1/2 '' x 1 '' (1.27 x 2.54 cm) welded wire mesh

Another type of welded (reinforcing) mesh. If you can find such a material, it will be an excellent choice - it combines the high protective properties of ½ "mesh and the ease of cutting a 1" mesh.

Pros: reliably protects against predators, is easier to cut, keeps its shape well.

Minuses:

• the material is quite expensive;
• rarely on sale;
• it takes time to cut;
• difficult to bend.

Where is it better to use: to protect the paddock during the day or at night.

Rabitz

Another suitable material for your chicken coop. If you have a pen from your old dog or some kind of chain-link fence, think about whether you can remake them for a chicken coop. You can provide better protection against predator attacks when you are not at home. To do this, you need to fence the corral with a net with more small size cells to a height of 60-90 cm. This will keep your birds from snakes, mice, ermines and raccoons. The sturdy netting is especially suitable for protecting the pen from larger and more powerful predators such as coyotes, lynxes, cougars and bears.

Pros: provides protection against the largest predators.

Minuses:

• does not keep small predators;
• difficult to reuse or resize.

Where is it better to use: to protect the enclosure from large predators during the day.

Electric fence

If you are often bothered by large predators, such as bears, cougars, or lynxes, your best bet is to get an electric fence. An electrified fence is installed around the pen fence - this double protection works reliably and provides even more safety for your chickens. Electric fencing can be used effectively when free-roaming chickens throughout the day or when changing places in which they roam.

While an electric fence will require a significant investment and ongoing health checks, it can provide a relatively large area for your chickens to safely roam.

Pros: reliably protects against large predators and provides more high level security.

Minuses:

• expensive equipment;
• repair costs;
• the need for customization;
• does not protect against predators.

Where is it better to use: in spacious free areas; to ensure safety around the paddock during the daytime.

Other protection methods

You can use the Nite Guard Solar Predator Lights to provide extra protection for your chicken coop, garden or vegetable garden at night. It automatically turns on in the dark and blinks at dawn, which significantly increases the safety level of your chicken coop and walking area, including protection from deer and raccoons that can get out of the corn thickets at night. In addition to additional protection measures, necessary condition is the presence of suitable barriers and constipation at night.

Whichever type of fence you choose, it must be buried at least 20 cm into the ground. In addition, it must be installed with a slight outward slope or in the shape of the letter J. All this is necessary to prevent predators from undermining. Also good idea- add stones, broken glass or ceramics, solid construction debris to the ditches when digging in fences.

Fencing is not something to skimp on because it is about the safety of your chickens. By choosing quality materials, you can avoid many problems and losses in the future.

Chicken coop with a fence - video

Breeding chickens is popular in agriculture... The birds produce eggs and meat, the sale of which brings a good, stable profit to the breeder. However, without a chicken coop and a walk for birds, farmers will not be able to control the movement of their numerous backyards.

In addition to the main food, birds are happy to peck grass and dig seeds from the ground. Therefore, birds need a fenced space.

To minimize costs, you can build a pen for chickens with your own hands. The process will take a lot of time, but the result will meet expectations.

Most often, walking, for walking chickens, is fenced off with a metal mesh. Its height is at least two meters. Otherwise, the bird will fly over the obstacle. The area set aside for the aviary can be sown with grass.

Preparation for construction

Before you build a paddock, you need to accurately calculate all costs, determine the location of the walk. Only after this stage can you start the construction process itself.

Choosing a place

Building a paddock begins with accurate measurements of the area. It is recommended to set up a walk, where the birds will be, as far from the house as possible. After all, it gives an unpleasant smell. And if you make a building at a decent distance from the house, it will not be felt.

Preparing the material

First you need to draw up a project for the premises. This will help you calculate the amount of materials needed for your house.

In the construction market, you need to purchase about ten meters of an iron chain-link mesh with a mesh size of about a square centimeter. You will also need wooden blocks from which you can make walls and. Their number depends on the desired length and width of the room.

In addition to materials for building a poultry house, additional tools will come in handy. You will need nails, a saw, an ax, and an iron mesh for the fence. If you have all the necessary materials and tools, you can build a wonderful walk for chickens.

Step-by-step instruction

The first step is the foundation. Building a premise starts from the foundation. To prevent the birds from staining their paws and plumage, a shallow layer of soil is removed around the perimeter of the future corral. Then the place for keeping chickens wakes up with lime, small stones or sand. Further, in the corners of the poultry house, it is necessary to make supports, burying wooden beams in the ground, the height of about two meters should be.

Step two - walls. Now you can lay out the walls of the chicken coop from wooden beams. It is important to build a spacious walk in which they will move freely. If the corral is being built for summer time, a chain-link will be enough. Along the perimeter of the floor, walls and ceiling, a mesh is attached to the supports using nails.

Step three - roost. Laying hens definitely need a roost in the pen. To do this, construct a wooden box of any size. Saw off three pieces of equal length from the board. They will serve as the base and longitudinal walls of the perch. Connect the boards to each other perpendicularly so that you get an inverted letter "P".

Now you need to fix the other two walls to the perch. Measure the required height of the boards, saw off, then attach perpendicular to the base. The walls are also fastened together with nails. Finally, cover the perch with straw.

Step four - the door. This is where the mesh comes in handy, which is attached to the wooden structure. The width of the door can be arbitrary, but its height should be equal to the size of the walls of the pen. In addition to the rectangle, which will serve as a frame, a transverse bar is needed. It is attached to longitudinal door boards and serves as an additional support for the mesh.

Step five - the roof. To protect the walk from external influences, an ordinary slate sheet is suitable, which covers the building. The design will allow the birds to hide from the weather or from the hot sun. The walk can be covered with a sheet of polycarbonate, screwing it with the most common self-tapping screws.

It is necessary to prepare perches where the birds will spend the night. It uses wooden beams that are attached to the walls of the pen parallel to the floor. Depending on the number of birds, feeders, drinkers and nest stands are installed. These are all the necessary elements that should be in any chicken coop.

If you are in doubt about your abilities, you can watch the training video. With its help, the technical side of the issue and the sequence of actions will become clear. After a while, your own laying pen will be ready.

How to make a portable pen?

If there are few hens in the yard, they can be placed in a portable pen. This structure can be moved to areas with fresh grass. Most often, the corral is used in the summer and for raising young animals. However, for chickens, a pen is made smaller than for adults.

To make a portable aviary, it is not necessary to prepare the foundation. It is enough to assemble the frame and cover it with a metal mesh. The ceiling of the structure will be slate, plywood or polycarbonate. Before starting construction, you can find and study a video with step-by-step instructions.

So, a portable pen is assembled from scrap materials. As a rule, wooden slats or plastic pipes and metal mesh are used for its construction. The construction of the corral begins with the joining of wooden planks to each other. As a result, a rectangle is obtained, exactly the same structure will be needed to fix the walls of the corral.

At the corners of the figure, as well as along the perimeter of the structure, slats of the same length are vertically attached. It is determined by the farmer depending on the desired building height. A second rectangle is attached to these pieces of wood. The frame for a portable walk is ready. Now you need to cover the structure with a mesh.

The villagers do not always make a pen for chickens. If the poultry is free-range and most of the day swarms on the village street near the house, then the fence can be omitted. If the birds do not have the opportunity to leave the territory of the site, in this case they make a corral for chickens. Otherwise, they will do you more harm than good: they will spoil all the paths, peck at ornamental plants and vegetables planted in the garden. Styrofoam or insulation that is not covered with siding will also suffer from them. Therefore, if your work spent in the garden or on the decorative decoration of the site is dear to you, you still need to make a corral for chickens.

The fencing is best placed near the chicken coop. So that the bird can leave the room in the morning and enter it to sleep, carry eggs or in case of worsening weather. B make a cutout for the size of the birds and do not close it.

On our site, we also decided to make a pen for chickens, with a canopy from the weather. Holders poultry know what kind of dirt is around the chicken coop after the rain. A big disadvantage is the fact that chickens stain their eggs after such walks. Therefore, it is important that there is a roof over the pen.In our case, it was built.

CHICKEN RANGE

But just a small shed, it is necessary to make a fence so that the chickens do not go beyond its borders. To do this, veins are installed between the pillars, a mesh is fixed on them. We made the canopy posts from a metal profile pipe, the veins will also be from a metal profile, 20 by 40 mm in size.

We will fasten the veins to the posts with a bolt and a nut. Cut the pipes to size.

Let's drill holes in them, insert a bolt and tighten a nut.

It turns out a reliable strong connection, installing veins in this way is faster than using welding. In addition, there is no need to waste time cleaning the poles from paint, and then re-painting. Drilled, twisted - it looks neat.

Next to the wall of the hen house, we will install a vertical bar, attaching it to the veins. We will subsequently fasten the mesh to it.

In the place where it is planned, we will fence the corral with a net with a fine mesh so that the chicks cannot crawl through it. For the sake of saving the budget, we will buy a net with a height of 30 cm, for these purposes this size is quite enough.

We use a large mesh as the main fence, it is cheaper and stronger.

We will screw the veins around the entire perimeter of the canopy.

Let's determine the place where the entrance will be. We made it with our own hands from wooden planks. Let's fix the gate to the canopy post by welding small garage hinges to it.

They are detachable and consist of two parts. Divide the hinges, screw the upper parts to the end of the wicket with self-tapping screws.

We insert the lower parts into them, with a pin, and twist them with a knitting wire so that they do not fall out.

Install the gate near the post and determine its position relative to the ground. We unfold the lower parts of the hinges, lean them against the rack and, after having drilled a hole, fix them with a self-tapping screw.

Now we remove the gate from the hinges, clean the pillars from the old paint with an emery stone attached to the grinder, and weld the lower part of the hinges using electric welding. Paint over the metal surface and hang the door in place.

Next to the opposite part of the gate, we will make a hole in the ground with a garden drill, about 1 m deep, and another metal post on which the valve will hang.

We will fix the veins between the posts as we did on the other side of the canopy.

We will also hang inside the chicken pen, where we have provided a small area for chickens.

And here we will install the crossbars.

We enclose the entire chicken house with a fine mesh net.

It remains a little, to enclose the pen completely with a coarse-mesh plastic mesh. It can be fixed on the crossbars with plastic clamps or ordinary soft wire.

Poultry keepers are very often annoyed by pigeons. Seeing the food, they flock to the corral in flocks and peck up all the grain that the chickens have not eaten. And each time there are more and more of them. It is not very convenient to feed chickens in a hen house, especially since they spend most of their time outside in summer. In addition, pigeons often spread the infection. You can fight them in different ways, but the most effective is to block access to grain. Therefore, we set the mesh from the bottom to the very roof.

Now, after the installation of the corral, the chickens walk even in rainy weather, it is always dry around, and the pigeons flew away in search of food to other yards.

VIDEO

It is not enough to build a good shed for chickens, you also need to equip it: fix the perches, make nests, put / hang drinkers, feeders. But this should be done so that it is convenient for you to maintain the poultry house. Chickens don't really care how beautiful their nests are. They will sit perfectly on the floor. It will be inconvenient for you to collect eggs from the floor, and they may even be pecked. Therefore, we make the arrangement of the chicken coop so that it is more convenient for you.

Perches

First of all, you need to equip the chicken coop inside with perches. This is a round or oval stick - a tree branch, a shovel handle, a rounded bar, etc., fixed at some height above the floor.

On average, they take about 20-25 cm of the length of the perch per chicken. They are fixed from the wall at a distance of 25-30 cm, one perch from another - at a distance of 35-40 cm. You can make multi-tiered, but there will be fights for the highest place. Please note that all dimensions are approximate only and are necessary to be able to navigate. Everything is selected more according to the place: both breeds are different and chicken coops, and their owners too.

To make it easier to clean, a shield made of some smooth material is installed at a distance of 20 cm below the perch. Dung accumulates on it, so choose a smooth surface: it will be easier to sweep.

The question remains: at what height to make a roost, and therefore a shield? The most convenient way to clean is in the cart. She should drive under the shield so that you can dump the droppings directly into the wheelbarrow with a hoe. In the flood, the height of the shield is determined by the height of your wheelbarrow, and there will already be roost bars above the shield. And again, you choose the height of the perch for chickens so that it is convenient to clean.

Nests

The second required element in arranging a chicken coop is a nest. They will rush on the floor, but the eggs will be dirty, and even peck at them. According to the norms, one nest is made for three chickens. But in fact, it turns out that how many of them do not do, they choose one or two, maximum - three and stand in line in them. The rest are exactly the same next to each other, empty. Periodically, their tastes change, they begin to rush to others ... From all this it follows that you can safely count 5-6 heads per nest, all the same half will be empty.

It is better to arrange the nests so that it is convenient for you to pick up eggs, i.e. hang on the wall. So that the bird could get there safely, they make traps - an inclined board with perches / sticks nailed across. The same ladders are made for perches. If nests are placed near the perches and at the same approximately level, they will go back and forth. It is quite convenient.

You can make such civilized nests

If possible, make sure that the back side of the nests goes out into the corridor, if any. A door is made from the back. Then, in order to pick up the eggs, you do not need to go into the corral - they opened the doors, collected them.

Chickens also love to lay in the dark, or at least in dim light. Therefore, the entrance is made small, and so that they do not sit inside for a long time, sleep and do not spoil, the roof is made with a strong slope (pictured).

You can simply arrange or hang boxes along the wall, but arrange blackout by placing a partition in front of the nests. In general, it is difficult to predict their behavior. It happens that the nests are simply ignored, rushing anywhere. Then a stencil or mock-up can help: cut an egg out of white paper and put it in a nest. It can help: they will rush there.

Several nests in different designs are shown in the photo below. These are all real chicken coops, you can use them.

Plastic is very practical: easy to clean, inexpensive, you can do a lot of things. Chickens are very fond of such plastic nests. They put more hay in them - they are rushing The place below can be taken under roosts or hung on the bottom of an IR lamp - make a solarium

In the nest, you always act with caution with your hands: you never know what chickens have carried there ... It is much more convenient and safer when the eggs roll into a special compartment - the egg receptacle. The main snag in this device: choose the angle of inclination of the floor and flexible material so that the egg pushes it away and stops without reaching the wall. To soften the “landing”, sawdust is poured onto the bottom.

Since the eggs roll down and the bird does not see them, they may refuse to lay in such nests. In this case, you can make a dummy egg - from dense foam in full size or cut a stencil from paper - and glue it to the bottom. This almost always works.

Cages for chickens

Sometimes the bird is kept in cages. But this is with industrial or semi-industrial content. With this method of cultivation, a large number of birds live in a small area. A drawing of a cage for chickens with dimensions is posted below.

Broiler cage drawing with dimensions

All sizes are according to the standards, and you don't need to invent anything. This is the minimum required for laying hens. And what can be obtained from such cells in the photo below.

How to make cages for broilers from wood, see the video. Everything is painted in great detail: what, why, what sizes, how to assemble and what is needed for this. Really helpful.

Drinking troughs

The arrangement of a chicken coop is unthinkable without drinking bowls and feeders. Moreover, they should also be. Feeders are periodic and bunker. Periodic - this is when you came, poured out the rate of feed and that's it. Until the next feeding, they are empty.

Climbing and digging is a favorite thing

Bunker - this is when there is a decent supply of feed, which is constantly poured into some kind of container. Both have drawbacks: periodic ones - each time you need to go to the chicken coop and pour grain, and the bird also crowds, fights for the best place, which sometimes leads to the fact that the feeder is turned over.

In the presence of a bunker feeder, you need to walk much less often, but there is an opportunity to overfeed the bird, which is a disaster for layers. Therefore, either laying hens are given a large walk or only broilers are fed in this way.

There are a lot of designs of periodic feeders, but not all of them allow you to use feed economically. The easiest way is to put the food in a bowl or container. But, if there is at least some opportunity, the chickens begin to rake the feed, pouring it out and then trample it. You have to throw it away. And such feeders allow not only digging in the feed, but also getting into the feeder with your feet. Therefore, they need to be improved. For this, wire separators are installed on the container. Feed consumption decreases dramatically: it is more difficult to remove it.

You can make, for example, another similar feeder (or drinker), which is conveniently attached or stands against the wall. It is probably easier to weld it from metal, although there are craftsmen who will make something similar from wood.

There are some interesting ideas. For example, an economical auto-feeder is assembled from an old disc for a car, a bowl of a suitable diameter and a plastic water bottle with a capacity of 5-10 liters.

Look for a disc of the type shown in the photo: with a large number of small holes along the outer edge. In its middle, cut a hole to fit the neck of the bottle. Cut out the bottom in the bottle cap, leaving only the threaded ring. The fodder mixture is poured into the bottle, a disk is put on it, pressed with a cut lid. Food is poured into the basin, a structure is installed on top.

In order not to disassemble the feeder every time, when it is necessary to pour it into the bottle of feed, you can cut the bottom, making a kind of lid out of it. Then the bottle itself can be secured more seriously: fixing with a thread from the lid is not very reliable. But such an improvement does not allow digging in the stern, and no one will get into the basin either.

You can make a feeder out of a piece of plastic sewer pipe. Holes with a diameter of about 7 cm are cut on both sides. They do not have to be made round at all - square or rectangular will also work. At the ends, a corner is installed at 90 ° with a socket upwards and along a small piece of pipe: you can pour food here.

A simple but roomy bunker feeder is a decent chest, in which a folding bar is attached at the bottom. In the open position, food is poured onto it.

Another option for an economical feeder is made of plastic sewer pipes. But this is already a bunker design: a decent stock. The design is simple and the consumption is reduced.

An even more interesting design of a chicken feeder in the video: with a lid. To open it, you need to jump on it.

Another option for a bunker feeder made of PVC pipes and a plastic bottle from under the water.

Homemade drinking bowls for chickens

Drinking bowls are almost the same story. Only here water is sprayed, which, when mixed with droppings, gives an exceptionally persistent odor, as well as dirt. All this does not contribute in any way to an easier and faster cleaning. Therefore, the choice of drinkers is no less important than the feeders.

The simplest option for a small number of birds - up to 15 pieces - are siphon drinkers. They are on legs, allow you to use water sparingly. If the legs are well designed, even a chicken that has flown to the top does not knock them over.

Siphon drinkers - factory and homemade from a plastic bottle

Factory drinkers, of course, look more attractive, but a home-made option is almost for nothing, and they work just as well. In the photo you see a simple home-made siphon drinker for chickens: a support was nailed in the corner - a piece of board with a cut-out hole for the neck. Above - a fastening system, and a load so as not to be knocked down. V former day a hole is cut into the bottle, into which water is poured. The whole trick here is to choose the distance at which to install the water container: so that there is not enough or too much of it.

Drinking bowls are convenient for growing in cages, as they are conveniently attached to the net. But no one bothers to hang a piece of mesh, say on a wall or come up with another mount.

They allow the birds to be watered without splashing. Water is fed into the cup, it tilts under the influence of gravity, shutting off the supply. We drank the water, the cup rose, the water flows again. A hose is connected to the side fitting, the second end of which is in a container with water, which should be above the level of the drinkers. Convenient and economical.

Nipple drinkers for chickens. These are small devices, a few centimeters in size. A cone-shaped stainless steel rod is inserted into the plastic case.

These nipples are screwed into plastic pipes into which water is supplied. A hole of the required diameter is drilled, a thread is cut and the nipple is screwed in. When you press the rod, a few drops of water appear. Chickens peck at the rod, drinking the drops that appear. The main disadvantage of this method is the drops that fall on the floor. To prevent this from happening, a special drop catcher is placed under each drinker. It just snaps onto the pipe.

For all their diminutiveness, these small drinkers cost a lot, especially if they are of high quality - read - imported. Ours, of course, are cheaper, but break down faster.

And the rest are different cups and basins, into which water is simply poured. Their disadvantage is that birds often turn them over, and the water in them quickly gets dirty.

Is there some more interesting ideas from homemade. For example, such a drinking bowl from a pipe is shown in the photo. In a piece of plastic pipe, the water level is controlled by a float mechanism from the toilet bowl. Three drinking bowls are attached to the pipes.

The video shows an auto-fill drinker.

If there is a desire to equip the chicken coop, it is possible so as to minimize the need for its maintenance. In this case, the bird will bring not only income, but also pleasure: it is always pleasant to look at hand-made objects, and keeping a bird in a chicken coop without "straight" hands is difficult and expensive.