The basis for successful breeding of birds is their proper maintenance. To do this, it is important to properly equip the chicken enclosure. The main task of this structure is not only the safety of the livestock, but also an increase in productivity. Therefore, before making an enclosure with your own hands, study all the requirements for this building.

Summer aviary for chickens

Types of enclosures

All enclosure design options are divided according to several criteria:

• Mobility. This is how they distinguish between stationary, portable and mobile enclosures.
• Portable and mobile types of poultry houses are suitable for walking a small number of chickens. Such structures allow birds to have constant access to fresh grass. If the chickens have already plucked all the grass, the enclosure is moved to a new area with thick grass. A mobile enclosure is an improved version of a portable one, since the existing wheels provide greater mobility. Such structures are chosen by poultry farmers who prefer summer keeping of birds. If the farmer’s priority is year-round maintenance, then it is worth choosing a stationary aviary (chicken coop). Despite the fact that there is no such indicator as mobility, this poultry house has a number of other advantages: solid structure, the ability to accommodate more birds.
• Installation method. According to this criterion, suspended and ground structures are distinguished. The basis of the hanging enclosure are supports, which eliminates its contact with the ground and provides greater protection from predators. You can increase the safety of a ground-based enclosure with your own hands by using a concrete base.

Chicken in a ground aviary

Calculation of the size of the enclosure

Before starting to build the enclosure, determine its area with your own hands. Neglecting recommendations for calculating the area of ​​a poultry house causes a decrease in the productivity of laying hens and a decrease in growth meat breeds chickens, because Lack of free space leads to stress and possible crushing during feeding. When determining the area of ​​the enclosure, it should be taken into account that a structure with an area of ​​14 sq.m. (7x2 m) will provide comfortable maintenance for 10 adults.

Choosing a location for an aviary

To walk chickens in the fresh air, you should pay attention to the choice of the place where you plan to build an aviary. Lack of sunlight provokes the development of rickets, but scorching rays also harm chickens. Mobile enclosures can always be moved depending on the degree of lighting.

It is advisable to build a stationary enclosure on the eastern side, because The morning sun will provide the vitamin D the birds need without being too hot.

You should not place poultry houses in places where people often pass (along a fence, country paths, etc.). The stress that chickens experience will certainly affect their productivity. Therefore, the quietest and most secluded place on the site is ideal for the enclosure.

A mandatory requirement for comfortable walking of chickens is the presence of constantly growing grass. Therefore, it is worth either choosing the most green areas, or sowing the yard with grass with your own hands after construction. But too dense vegetation, which will block the chickens’ access to the necessary sunlight, is undesirable.

Chickens need access to the sun

In case of heavy rainfall, mobile enclosures are moved to a dry place. With a stationary chicken coop this is not possible, so you should take care in advance to find a dry place for the house. The best option is to locate the chicken coop on a hill. If this option is not possible, then you need to create a small “mound” yourself from brick, gravel or stone. Experienced farmers create drainage around the building - to do this, they dig a small trench for drainage.

Material selection

Depending on the type of structure chosen, the necessary materials are determined.

To make a mobile aviary it is enough to purchase:

• rolls of galvanized mesh;
• metal corners;
• wooden boards;
• fasteners;
• connection material (wire or special ties).

For a stationary chicken coop, additional material will be required for the foundation, main walls and roof. Iron sheets, slate, roofing felt, etc. are used as roofing materials. You will need to purchase insulation or a heater.

Metal mesh aviary

Installation of an aviary

The method of its installation directly depends on the type of structure chosen. For a portable enclosure, it is enough to make a metal frame from corners and a mesh covering. It is necessary to stretch the mesh from above, making a 20-centimeter allowance. To prevent the occurrence of cracks and gaps, the mesh sheets are overlapped together. To make it easier to move the enclosure, handles are attached to the frame.

To upgrade a portable enclosure into a mobile one with your own hands, just attach wheels to the existing structure. Mobile enclosures should be equipped with canopies under which chickens can hide from precipitation or from the scorching sun.

The construction of a stationary poultry house will require more time and money. First of all, the foundation is poured and the walls are erected. The strength of the walls is achieved through the use of brick or cinder block. But it is worth considering that these materials have high heat transfer, so during the cold season the chicken coop will require additional heating. The most comfortable room for birds in terms of microclimate is built from clay, into which straw is mixed. A poultry house built from adobe will remain pleasantly cool in the summer and will be quite warm in the winter.

After installing the foundation and walls, you need to make a roof. To avoid roof leaks, it is necessary to cover the roof with a layer of waterproofing material. It is recommended to make the roof gable - this design prevents the accumulation of precipitation, so the pressure on the roof will be less. Then the floor is poured. Concrete pouring or adobe flooring is allowed as a covering. Some farmers make a wooden floor: they cover the floor with stones or bricks, and cover it with wooden boards pre-treated with tar. An earthen floor is also allowed. Regardless of the type of floor, it is necessary to cover it with bedding. The most common bedding option is sawdust. You can arrange a bedding of sand or chopped straw.

Ventilation of the enclosure is necessary both in winter and summer

To ensure ventilation, windows with vents and ventilation holes are required. The windows should be located on the south side, which will ensure maximum penetration of sunlight. In the summer, the windows of the chicken coop are constantly in open state, therefore, to prevent predators from getting into the chicken coop, it is necessary to equip the window openings with fine mesh.

Setting up a chicken coop

Often, a do-it-yourself pen made of mesh is attached to a stationary chicken coop to provide the chickens with the opportunity to walk in the fresh air. The construction of a chicken coop with a mesh aviary attached to it allows you to keep chickens all year round: indoors the birds will be able to hide from the cold and bad weather, and in warm weather they can walk in the fresh air.

When equipping a stationary chicken coop with a mesh pen, you should definitely take into account the chickens’ love of digging. Therefore, to prevent birds from escaping from the chicken coop, the mesh is dug into the ground to a depth of about 20 centimeters when installing the aviary.

The chicken coop must be equipped with places for the birds to rest. Perches should be located 50 cm from the floor level. It is undesirable to equip poultry houses with multi-tiered perches, because chickens located on the upper roost will dirty their relatives. It is also possible that conflict situations between birds, because each individual will strive to occupy a higher position. To prevent chickens from injuring their paws, the perches are processed with a plane. Experienced farmers arrange removable perches. During the hot season, additional perches are provided so that the chickens are placed at a distance from each other and can spread their wings. In winter, when the chickens are cold, they press tightly against each other, so excess roosts are removed.

When breeding laying hens, a mandatory element of the chicken coop is the nests in which the birds will lay and hatch eggs. To preserve the eggs, the bottom is lined with a layer of sawdust or straw. The nests are placed in a dark place. The number of nests depends on the number of chickens being bred. One nest is provided for no more than three laying hens.

Chickens need nests

In the autumn-winter period, when there is little sunlight, chickens do not have enough natural light. Optimal daylight hours for poultry– about 16 hours. Therefore, stationary chicken coops are equipped with additional light sources. One 60-watt lamp is enough to illuminate 10 sq.m. floor. It is unacceptable to place open lamps: when flying, chickens can touch them and get hurt. The lamps are placed in thick glass shades. The use of more powerful lighting or longer daylight hours causes stress in chickens, which reduces their productivity.

Often, at the entrance to the enclosure, a “vestibule” is set up. To prevent birds from flying out when entering the enclosure, the vestibule is made of boards.

Any of the selected structures must be equipped with drinking bowls and feeders.

When installing enclosures, it is necessary to firmly fix all its elements, and also to prevent the presence of protruding ends of the mesh, wire or ties, and fasteners. Protruding sharp parts can injure the bird.

After completing the installation work, it is worth starting the finishing work: the walls of the stationary chicken coop are covered with lime mortar on the inside, and oil paint on the outside. It is not recommended to use paints containing lead to coat the mesh.

Reliability of the design is the key to safety

Poultry house care

The easiest to care for are mesh structures. To ensure proper maintenance of chickens, it is enough to move them to another place in time, as well as eliminate any defects that have arisen.

When caring for the chicken coop, it is important to keep the floor clean and prevent moisture from accumulating. To do this, you need to regularly clean the floor surface from droppings and food debris and make a flooring of sawdust.

If there is a large assortment of ready-to-sell chicken enclosures, it’s still worth making it yourself. This will allow you to obtain a design that fully meets all the farmer’s requirements, suitable for the chosen type of poultry keeping, and will also save costs.

It’s not enough to build a good barn for chickens; you also need to equip it: secure perches, make nests, install/hang drinking bowls and feeders. But you need to do this in such a way that it is convenient for you to maintain the poultry house. Chickens don't really care how beautiful their nests are. They will fit perfectly on the floor. It will be inconvenient for you to collect eggs from the floor, and they might even get pecked. Therefore, we arrange the chicken coop in such a way as to make it more convenient for you.

Perches

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

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

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

The question remains: at what height should the perch, and therefore the shield, be made? It is most convenient to clean it in a cart. It should fit under the shield so that you can dump the droppings directly into the wheelbarrow with a hoe. For the flood, the height of the shield is determined by the height of your car, and above the shield there will already be perch slats. And again, choose the height of the chicken perch so that cleaning is convenient.

Nests

The second required element in arranging a chicken coop is nests. They will lay on the floor, but the eggs will be dirty, and they may even peck. According to the norms, one nest is made for three hens. But in fact, it turns out that no matter how many of them you do, they choose one or two, maximum three, and stand in line. The rest are exactly the same, standing empty next to each other. From time to time their tastes change, they begin to rush to others... From all this it follows that you can safely count 5-6 heads per nest, half will still be empty.

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

You can make such civil nests

If possible, make sure that the back side of the nests faces the corridor, if there is one. A door is made on the back side. Then to pick up the eggs you don’t need to go into the pen - open the doors and collect them.

Chickens also love to rush in the dark, or at least in dim light. That’s why the entrance is made small, and so that they don’t sit inside for a long time, sleep and shit, the roof is made with a strong slope (in the photo).

You can simply arrange or hang the boxes along the wall, but organize the darkening by placing a partition in front of the nests. In general, it is difficult to predict their behavior. Sometimes the nests are simply ignored and are carried anywhere. Then a stencil or mock-up can help: cut out an egg from white paper and place it in the nest. It might help: they will start rushing 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: it’s easy to wash, it’s inexpensive, you can do a lot of things, and chickens really love these plastic nests. Place more hay in them and they will fly. The space below can be used for perches or an IR lamp can be hung on the bottom to make a solarium.

In the nest you always use your hands with caution: you never know what the chickens laid there... It is much more convenient and safer when the eggs are rolled into a special compartment - the egg receptacle. The main catch in this device is to choose the angle of the floor and the flexible material so that the egg moves it away and stops before it reaches the wall. To soften the “landing”, sawdust is poured onto the bottom.

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

Chicken cages

Sometimes the birds are kept in cages. But this is for industrial or semi-industrial maintenance. With this method of cultivation, a small area is inhabited by a large number of birds. 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 there is no need to invent anything. This is the minimum that laying hens need. And what can come out of such cells is in the photo below.

Watch the video to see how to make broiler cages from wood. Everything is described in great detail: what, for what, what sizes, how to assemble and what is needed for this. Really useful.

Drinkers and feeders

Setting up a chicken coop is unthinkable without drinking bowls and feeders. Moreover, they should be there too. There are periodic and bunker feeders. Periodic - this is when you came, poured out the amount of food and that’s it. Until the next feeding they stand empty.

Climbing in and digging around is a favorite thing

Bunker feeding is when there is a decent supply of feed, which is constantly poured into some container. Both have their drawbacks: periodic ones require you to go to the chicken coop every time and add grain, and the birds crowd around and fight for the best place, which sometimes leads to the feeder being overturned.

If you have a bunker feeder, you need to go much less often, but it is possible to overfeed the bird, which is a disaster for laying hens. Therefore, either the laying hens are given a large walk or only broilers are fed in this way.

There are many designs of periodic feeders, but not all of them allow you to use feed economically. The easiest way is to pour the food into a bowl or container. But, if there is at least some opportunity, the chickens begin to rake up the food, spilling it out and then trampling it down. I have to throw it away. And such feeders allow you not only to dig into the food, but also to climb into the feeder with your feet. Therefore they need to be improved. To do this, install wire dividers on the container. Feed consumption decreases sharply: it is more difficult to rake it out.

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

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

Look for a disk of the type shown in the photo: with a large number of small holes along the outer edge. In the middle, cut a hole the size of the neck of the bottle. Cut out the bottom of the bottle cap, leaving only the threaded ring. The feed mixture is poured into the bottle, a disk is put on it, and the cut-off lid is pressed against it. Feed is poured into a basin and a structure is installed on top.

In order not to disassemble the feeder every time when you need to add food to the bottle, you can cut the bottom, making it like a lid. Then the bottle itself can be secured more seriously: fixation with the thread from the cap is not very reliable. But such an improvement does not allow anyone to rummage through the food, and no one can get into the basin.

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

A simple but spacious bunker feeder is a decent chest with a folding bar attached at the bottom. IN open position food is poured onto it.

Another option for an economical feeder is made from plastic sewer pipes. But this is already a bunker structure: there is a decent supply. The design is simple, and consumption is reduced.

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

Another option is a bunker feeder made of PVC pipes and a plastic water bottle.

Homemade drinking bowls for chickens

It's almost the same story with drinking bowls. Only here is water splashed, which, when mixed with droppings, gives an exceptionally persistent odor, as well as dirt. All this does not contribute to 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 - is siphon drinkers. They have legs and allow you to save water. If the legs are designed well, even a chicken flying onto the top will not knock them over.

Siphon drinkers - factory-made and homemade from a plastic bottle

Factory drinking bowls, of course, look more attractive, but a homemade version is almost free, and they work no worse. In the photo you see a simple homemade siphon waterer for chickens: a support was nailed in the corner - a piece of board with a hole cut out for the neck. On top there is a fastening system and a load so that it does not get knocked down. A hole is cut into the former bottom of the bottle into which water is poured. The trick here is to choose the distance at which to install the water container: so that there is not too little or too much of it.

Cup drinkers are convenient when grown in cages, as they are conveniently attached to the mesh. But no one bothers you to hang a piece of mesh, say, on a wall or come up with another mount.

They allow you to water the birds without splashing. Water is supplied to the cup, it tilts under the influence of gravity, cutting off the supply. They 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 of 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. The chickens peck at the rod, drinking the drops that appear. Main disadvantage this method - drops that fall on the floor. To prevent this from happening, a special drip catcher is placed under each drinker. It simply snaps onto the pipe.

Despite their miniature size, these small drinking bowls cost a lot, especially if they are high-quality - read - imported. Ours are, of course, cheaper, but they break 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 ones. For example, such a pipe drinking bowl is shown in the photo. In a piece of plastic pipe, the water level is controlled by a float mechanism from the toilet cistern. Three drinking bowls are attached to the pipes.

The video demonstrates a drinking bowl with auto-filling.

If you want to arrange the chicken coop, you can arrange it in such a way 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 objects made with your own hands, but keeping a bird in a chicken coop without “direct” hands is difficult and expensive.

Chicken farming is popular in agriculture. Birds provide eggs and meat, the sale of which brings good, stable profits to the breeder. However, without a chicken coop and a run for birds, farmers will not be able to control the movement of their large farmstead.

In addition to the main food, birds happily peck grass and dig seeds out of the ground. Therefore, a fenced space is necessary for birds.

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 live up to expectations.

Most often, the chicken run is fenced with a metal mesh. Its height is at least two meters. Otherwise, the bird will fly over the obstacle. The space allocated for the enclosure can be sown with grass.

Preparation for construction

Before building a pen, you need to accurately calculate all costs and decide on the location of the paddock. Only after this stage can the construction process itself begin.

Choosing a place

Creating a pen begins with accurate measurements of the area. It is recommended to install a walk where the birds will be located, as far as possible from the house. It gives off an unpleasant smell. And if you build a building at a decent distance from the house, this will not be felt.

Preparing the material

First you need to draw up a room design. This will help calculate the required amount of materials for the poultry house.

On the construction market you need to purchase approximately ten meters of iron chain-link mesh with a cell 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 also come in handy. You will need nails, a saw, an ax, and an iron mesh for fencing. If you have all the necessary materials and tools, you can build a wonderful run for chickens.

Step-by-step instruction

Step one is the foundation. The construction of a room begins with the foundation. To prevent birds from getting their paws and feathers dirty, a shallow layer of soil is removed along the perimeter of the future pen. Then the place for keeping chickens is sprinkled with lime, small stones or sand. Next, you need to make supports in the corners of the poultry house by burying wooden beams in the ground; the height should be about two meters.

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 pen is being built for summer time, a chain link will be sufficient. Along the perimeter of the floor, walls and ceiling, a mesh is attached to supports using nails.

Step three - roost. Laying hens definitely need a roost in the pen. To do this, build a wooden box of any size. Cut three pieces of equal length from the board. They will serve as the basis and longitudinal walls of the perch. Connect the boards together perpendicularly so that you get an inverted letter “P”.

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

Step four - the door. This is where a mesh that is attached to a wooden structure comes in handy. 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 required. It is attached to the longitudinal door boards and serves as additional support for the mesh.

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

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

If you doubt your abilities, you can watch a training video. With its help, the technical side of the issue and the sequence of actions will become clear. After some time, the pen for laying hens, made independently, will be ready.

How to make a portable pen?

If there are few laying 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 pen is used in the summer and for raising young animals. However, a smaller pen is made for chickens than for adults.

To make a portable enclosure, it is not necessary to prepare the foundation. It is enough to assemble the frame and cover it with 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 pen begins by connecting wooden boards together. The result is a rectangle; exactly the same design will be needed to fix the walls of the pen.

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

How to make your chickens grow quickly and lay eggs well? You need to build them with your own hands a comfortable, cozy, and well-made pen and run. And how exactly to do this and what materials you will need, we will now tell you and show you clearly in the video.

In order for your chickens to lay eggs well, you need to create ideal conditions for them. Before the process, you need to take care of additional lighting and heating. If it is not possible to provide heating, then at least you need to make good insulation. Your reliable and is the key to healthy birds and an increase in the number of eggs.

When designing, it is important not to forget about ventilation of the structure, so there must be vents. The absence of shutters can lead to the fact that the living creatures will be hot, and this will affect productivity. In addition to the chicken coop itself, it is necessary to build a run, that is, a fence with mesh. This structure will also be an aviary for birds and protection from rodents or predators that could attack the chickens.

We build it ourselves

The chicken coop itself must be built away from living quarters, because chickens leave droppings, and this is an unpleasant smell, so the further away the better. An old, unused barn would also work well as a new chicken coop. If you don’t have a shed, then you need to build the structure from scratch with your own hands, and the most important thing is to first determine the dimensions. They depend on the number of chickens. According to reviews from poultry farmers, for 20 chickens, for example, you need a chicken coop of 15 square meters, and an aviary of at least 3x3 meters. If the area allows, it is better to make the paddock larger.

Tools and materials

The main thing in building a chicken coop is to correctly draw a sketch for yourself and decide what type of structure will be built. This will help you save money and not spend extra money. In our version, there will be a standard insulated chicken coop.

For this we need:

• Building tools;
• glass wool for insulation;
• brick;
• Chipboard for the ceiling or wall cladding as desired;
• sawdust for ;
• slate for the roof;
• forest, quantity depends on your layout;
• nails;
• polyurethane foam;
• screws.

Step-by-step instruction

Our construction first begins with pouring the foundation and leveling the floor for the future chicken coop. The foundation depends on what type of chicken coop it will be, either summer or winter.

If you have decided on the size and placement of the future paddock, you can begin construction, following the instructions with your own hands:

1. It is necessary to mark the area for pouring the foundation and installing supports.
2. We pour a regular strip foundation made of cement mixed with sand, and reinforce it with unnecessary metal that you have at your dacha.
3. We are waiting for the foundation to dry and settle.
4. The design is quite simple, similar to a barn or garage. We start laying bricks, the height should be 2 meters, then we choose the dimensions ourselves.
5. When you have built several rows of bricks, stop working and let the mortar set, then continue working the next day.
6. When the walls have already been built, it is necessary to make a foundation for the roof.
7. We take slats, put them on top, pad them with chipboard, then cover it all with glass wool.
8. Then cover with slate. Everything is very simple and standard for any building of this type.
9. Upon completion, you need to install windows and doors in the places you pre-selected.
10. And upon completion of construction, we need to make a complete and effective sealing; polyurethane foam will help us with this.
11. Wait until the foam dries, cut off any excess pieces, then fill all the uneven areas.

What should the walk be like?

Before building an enclosure with our own hands, we need to determine its dimensions. According to experienced poultry farmers, one chicken should have 2 square meters. It is better not to skimp on the size of the paddock, as this may later lead to the birds feeling uncomfortable and cramped and this will affect egg production.

There should not be a lot of grass growing near the enclosure. It blocks the sunlight, thanks to which the birds warm themselves and receive the vitamin D they need. It is advisable to have grass growing in the middle of the pen; if there is none, you can plant it. It is recommended to attach the enclosure to the chicken coop so that the chickens can graze during the day and come in to warm themselves at night.

We make the design ourselves

So, we have decided on the location of the chicken run. When the exact dimensions are known, we need to select the required number of wooden beams that will serve as our frame. We will also need a pre-measured amount of chain-link mesh; this is the most versatile material for fencing. Now let's start building a walkway with our own hands.

Tools and materials

• hammer or screwdriver;
• nails or screws as needed;
• a drill to make holes for posts;
• wooden boards for the frame;
• Rabitz;
• wire.

Step-by-step instruction

1. We begin to knock down our frame from wooden boards using nails. It is important to remember that the nails should be short so as not to injure living creatures with protruding tips.
2. Most often we nail boards to one side of the frame to the back. They will help protect your chickens from the wind and possible pests.
3. We cover the whole thing with a metal mesh around the perimeter, and firmly attach it with nails and wire, as you can see in the video below.
4. We cover the upper part with a light roof that protects from heavy rainfall.
5. It is necessary to build a small vestibule in front of the entrance so that the farmer can enter without letting the birds out.

Also, using this principle, you can make a portable pen with your own hands, for example for chickens, as in the photo above. Our chicken run is ready. Now your reliable pen is suitable for both large chickens and chicks who cannot get out through the fine mesh. And a solid foundation inside will protect the birds from unwanted rodent guests.

As winter approaches, it's important to insulate your coop by laying down a thick layer of fresh straw, covering the windows with clear plastic, keeping the area well ventilated, placing bales of straw along the interior walls for insulation, and draping nesting areas with curtains to prevent eggs from freezing. However, it is equally important to prepare the chicken pen for winter.

Kuram all year round fresh air and physical activity are needed, so you can safely lure them out of the coop at any time, except in very windy weather. Birds will be much healthier and more resilient if they spend plenty of time outdoors instead of huddled in the coop.

There are times when chickens have to be transported from a warm climate zone to a colder one. At the same time, they may experience a real shock. But if you do everything right and prepare the chicken coop and pen well for winter, the birds will feel great.

Wrapping the pen in clear plastic

It is known that chickens are quite frost-resistant birds. But I noticed that strong winds cause them particular concern. The protective plastic will block wind and also prevent snow from entering. If you have a small pen, you can wrap it completely (except for the top - you don't want your pen to collapse under the weight of the snow cap!). If the pen is large, wrap it on only one side - preferably the one from which the wind blows most often.

Since my pen is quite spacious, I only wrapped it on the northeast side and in the corners. The result is a U-shaped wind protection. I also wrapped plastic around the part of the pen next to the coop exit that is covered with a sturdy roof. This creates an excellent protected area right a few steps away from the coop.

You can also use plywood, pallets, tarps, and even hay or straw bales for wind protection, but I still prefer clear plastic.

It transmits the sun's rays well, so the chickens in the pen are bright and happy. In addition, it traps heat inside, creating a greenhouse effect. Use only very strong transparent plastic to wrap the pen, as thin plastic will most likely tear in strong gusts of wind.

The advantage of tarpaulin is the presence of eyelets. You can screw large hooks into the fence posts and use snap hooks or large rings to secure the tarp to the sides of the pen and then simply remove it when spring comes. In addition, in calm weather, you can roll up the tarp and secure it to the top hooks, and then lower it down again when inclement weather sets in.

Covered areas

Since the top of your pen is likely open, provide the chickens with areas under cover. A dog house or just a small area under the roof is a great option. Chickens really like to nap in the hutch on a warm bed of straw during the daytime.

Straw paths

Chickens don't particularly like walking in the snow. Straw-lined paths will encourage them to move around the paddock more on sunny winter days, and will also keep their paws from freezing during walks. After raking out the old straw from the coop, I spread it around the pen and form it into paths.

Stumps and logs in the paddock

Once the chickens come out of the coop and into the pen, they will appreciate stumps, logs, or just tree branches prepared for them - this way they won’t have to stand with their paws on the cold ground.

If you lean spruce branches against the fence of the pen, the chickens will use them not only as a roost, but also as a shelter with a canopy where they can shelter from gusts of wind.

Dust baths

Fill the bath with a mixture of sand, dry soil and wood ash.

Then install it either in the coop or in the pen if there is an area under a strong cover.

Nutritious treat to lure birds out of the coop

So, your pen is protected from wind and snow by plastic or tarpaulin; the paths are lined with straw; there are several logs on which chickens can sit comfortably; Their favorite dust bath has been installed, and now there is only one thing left to do - lure the birds out of the coop. Sunflower seeds or mealworms work best!

I hope my simple tips will help your chickens spend more time outdoors in the pen this winter - this will not only have a beneficial effect on their health, but will also help you keep your chicken coop clean longer!

Warm beautiful chicken coop - video

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