The content of the article:
Increasingly, people for permanent or at least seasonal residence choose country houses. Therefore, the desire to provide themselves not only with the harvest from the beds, but also with fresh chicken eggs is not only understandable, but also quite feasible. And if the opportunity to build a monumental building under the chicken coop is not at all, then arrange a comfortable content for several layers of linens almost everyone can.
And there are many interesting options for country chicken coops, which will allow the chicken coop in the country to do not only functional economic construction, but also to turn it into an element of decor that sets the style of the entire household site.
To provide the family with environmentally friendly products and to keep chickens in the country, it is enough to have a hen house for birds. However, whatever the number of laying hens, to build a comfortable hen house is a real science, because this house should not only be durable and beautiful, the chickens should be comfortable and safe in it.
The location of the coop in the country house
It is better for a novice poultry farmer for quality supervision of pets to build a chicken coop in the country house near the dwelling, while not forgetting about the need to provide the chickens with the necessary conditions for life:
- The soil under the chicken coop must be necessarily dry, or even better if it is sandy.
- If the soil is clayey, marshy, or often excessively wet, measures should be taken to dehydrate it by means of moisture removal, channeling, pits, or sand piling. And the collected moisture can be redirected to a place reserved for bathing chickens.
- It is good, if the site under the hen house is tilted to the southeast, which contributes to the best light exposure.
- The coop in the dacha should be protected from drafts and piercing wind, for which you can use green fences or building structures.
- It is necessary to provide comfortable lawns for the paddock of the bird with obligatory shelters from the sun or bad weather.
- A shallow pond for bathing is also desirable.
If you do not follow these recommendations of keeping chickens in the country, the bird can become sluggish, laying hens will give less eggs, chicken diseases are not excluded. And equally negatively affects the bird and its overheating without sufficient shading from the sun, and increased humidity, crowding and cold.
Construction of a coop by own hands
When you are going to build a chicken coop in the country, you should consider all these features and try to provide all future conditions for comfort to the future tenants.
The ceiling should be a reliable protection not only from sunlight, but also overheating of the bird a house that can lead not only to bird lethargy, but also the development of colonies of depressing chickens parasites.
The floor in the henhouse should be warm and reliable, but at the same time breathing so that there is no excessive humidity, leading to the development of mold and fungus.
Therefore, a brick, asphalt or stone floor covering is not suitable for a house. On the cold floor, chickens will suffer from rheumatism and other leg diseases.
So, for the conditions of the middle band, the best option is a two-layer floor made of wood.
Arrangement of a chicken coop in the country
Layers for hens living in the henhouse are:
- In sufficient space, the bird is recommended to provide at least 50 square meters. cm area.
- There are available feeders and drinkers;
- In the altitudes located at different heights.
- In the equipped nests, where lay hens laying hens in the country.
- In good lighting and ventilation.
In places of feeding and in the nests make a litter of straw, which must be regularly cleaned and updated.
If the winter content of the bird is assumed, it is important to provide a special place for bathing and independent disposal of parasites, covered with ten centimeters mixed with ash and sulfur sand.
Poultry walking
The more birds accumulate in a limited area, the greater the risk of infections and other diseases in chickens. Therefore, it is important to provide chickens with a sufficient place for walking, which is to increase egg laying and fatness of meat breeds.
To this end, chickens, especially in the spring, divide between 10 and 12 birds, assigning them separate paddock areas.
Nasties for laying hen hens in the country
Having made a chicken house in the dacha with his own hands, the summer resident should pay attention to the arrangement of nests, where it will be convenient for hens to lay eggs.
A dozen chickens are satisfied with at least two or three nests, and in the summer it is recommended to arrange the roosts in the air, where the bird walks.
The distance between the perches should not be less than half a meter, while the nests located at least half a meter from the floor should not bend. Keep nests clean allows the device visors above them. And to fill the nests use regularly cleaned and replaced straw.
Use the same hay is not worth it, because it quickly begins to grow and becomes the cause of infection and pests.
Nests need to be slightly darkened, because hens in the dacha do not like to be carried in bright light. Well, if the roosts are removable, then they can be removed and cleaned twice a year.
Councils for the arrangement of a chicken coop in the country
The modest size of many household plots made the most diverse designs of chicken coops in demand, among which unusual, but very practical buildings.
This applies to portable mini-constructions. You can make a chicken house in the country house with your own hands just such that it will make it easy to move the structure, the hens they will always be in sight and will never spoil the cultural planting, which often happens with free walking.
In the design of such a miniature chicken coop, like any other, there should be three main areas:
- space for the tests;
- a place for poultry walking;
- nests for laying hens in the country
What is better to build a chicken house in the country?
Most often for the construction of a country henhouse use the following materials:
- A wooden block is used for the structure of the coop;
- Cladding of walls is more often performed from a wooden lining;
- It is necessary to provide a sliding tray under the roost so that cleaning can be carried out more quickly and efficiently. For this pallet, take a galvanized sheet;
- To guard the walk, take a metal mesh with a shallow mesh.
- If a chicken coop with a green roof is conceived, where decorative or green cultures will be planted, then the waterproofing of the roof is mandatory. For such insulation, any waterproofing material in rolls is ideally suited.
The green roof not only creates the original appearance of the coop, but also protects the bird from overheating inside the house on hot days.
Well, if building materials are not enough, then you can make a chicken coop in the dacha with your own hands and from improvised means, for example, you can find arched chicken coops made on the basis of plastic pipes, pallets or completely original solutions.
Having built a chicken coop in the country, all the wooden elements of the building, regardless of its size and design, it is important to cover with a special composition that protects wood from damage by pests and from atmospheric influences.
Chicken coop designs
Stationary houses for chickens of different capacities, intended for summer or all-season residence of a bird.
A beginning poultry farmer can recommend a simple construction of a chicken coop, which can be moved to a new location with the help of two boards, which act as portable handles. In this case, the chicken coop is similar to a one-story cottage with an attic.
One-story portable chicken coop in the country is even more compact than the previous one.
Portable hen house of arch construction.
Many gardeners today pay attention to mobile structures, and make such a mobile chicken coop with their own hands.
Movable chicken coop in the form of a wheelbarrow.
Such devices are mounted on a uniaxial frame with wheels. This scheme is good for very chicken coops, which makes it easy to move the bird across the lawn of the site or fenced grazing.
Mobile poultry house-trailer.
This is a biaxial trailer for the device of a large-sized and large capacity chicken coop, which has a large weight, which allows the bird to be transported to remote pastures.
Mobile summer cottages on rollers.
Mini-chicken coops on small rollers can be installed on a flat base and be moved within small areas.
