Choosing to design and build your own chicken coop can be an exciting and rewarding experience that offer many benefits . When you work up your own chicken coop , you have the opportunity to custom-make the design to your specific needs and can spend as much or as little as you wish to spend on the undertaking .
There is no single elbow room to correctly build a chicken coop . A circle of what you design and build really count on how you desire to resurrect your flock and what eccentric of add - ons you want to look at , such as automatic doors , solar panels for extra light for place hen and so on .
For this column , we will focus on the intention and building of a idle mobile coop where the chicken spend the majority of the day roaming a fenced field of eatage or grass and spend their nights fasten in the cage . The coop can be easily go thereby allowing the owner to move the flock depending on where available dope is .
Getting Started
The first affair to view is how many hens you project to house . The cosmopolitan guideline is to have at least 3 square foot of space and 6 to 12 inches of analogue perch space inside the cage available for each single biddy . remark : The useable space does n’t include the nest boxes .
If you plan to take on your flock as solar day - old chick , it ’s also important to note whether or not you need your henhouse to replicate as a brooder . If so , you ’ll need to build something well - insulate and open of being entirely enclosed to thin draught and predators . In accession , you will require access to a power source for heating lamps .
To watch more about using your coop as a brooder approach , visit the innovations section of the UC Davis Pastured Poultry Farm internet site ( https://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/files/236853.pdf ) . When taking care of your dame in a incubator , always think about the grown three : provender , weewee and heat .
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Material Questions
That enquiry of grammatical construction material ties into your budget . However , you should also think about how long you desire your coop to last and your area ’s weather condition .
For instance , while plastic is easy to work with , it can get very spicy , and in direct sun , it can degrade quickly . woodwind is more attractive , but it ’s wakeless and can be difficult to clean house and disinfect . sealant can be used , but with the health of your flock and the mesa eggs they produce in mind , you involve to conceive potential toxicity if the bird peck at the wood .
For our most recent cage design at the UC Davis Pastured Poultry Farm , we used an Al frame , mesh topology telegram and painted wooden control panel to build our roving chicken coop . While other cloth , include forest , can be used to progress the entire frame , we ultimately find out 1⁄2 - inch EMT aluminum tubing to be the full option in combination with wood accompaniment beams . Aluminum tubing is light , durable and can easy be absquatulate together , hence easier to take apart , if necessary . It ’s also wanton to clean and disinfect , which is an important thoughtfulness to boil down disease transmission system . If you use wood , treat the wood with rubber-base paint - based paints or other similar products . This will allow you to right clean and disinfect the wood and avoid weewee from penetrate the wood , which can make further microbic increment . UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
In orderliness to keep the cage light and allow proper ventilation , we hide the hencoop using 1⁄2 - by-1⁄2 - inch fencing , which allows adequate protection against predator . The fencing extends to the bottom of the coop , forming the floor , and is prosperous to seize to itself at dissimilar angles . To keep the birds ironic during the rainy time of year and warm in the winter , it ’s essential to apply fencing as a frame to secure heavy - responsibility tarps ( waterproof but prone to Dominicus damage ) or shade cloth ( longer live but less waterproof ) , depend on the weather condition experimental condition in your environment . UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
The final weight of our 10 - by-10 - foot aluminum frame coop was approximately 120 pounds . The physical body can easily be scaled up or down count on the estimated number of birds you expect to household . wheel were also add to make channelize the structure even simpler . We used 13 - in wheels ; however , different eccentric of wheel should be think depending on the terrain . UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Nest Boxes
If you have lay hen , then your coop needs nest box — unless you want to have an escapade every sunup take care for where the eggs are . Nest boxes render your hen a good , designate patch to set their eggs . You should have at least one nest box for every four hens . UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Nest boxes may be as bare as a modified plastic box or a homemade wooden crate . For our coop design , we used nest boxes that are made of two charge card bins and a wooden slant deal by artificial turf . The wooden slant allows eggs to roll to the back of the nest box , where they can be easily collected via a door while stomach outside of the hencoop . There is a small flap at heart of each nest box , construct of the part of the bank identification number that was cut out , that prevents the hens from pecking at their ballock . Our nest box are 20 by 14 column inch .
Enrichments
Roosting or light is an important behavior for Bronx cheer . Among other welfare , the birds ’ bone denseness is greater when they are allow to perch . Roosting opportunities should be offered by the quaternary hebdomad of life .
you may make perch space in your coop by installing a simple series of wooden bars . Roosting bar should be approximately20 in off the ground for hens and set aside all the Bronx cheer to have some 10 inch of perch length . Designing the roosting bar to be removable will allow the bars and the cage in world-wide to be cleaned more easily .
Automatic doorsallow chickens access to the outdoors first thing in the dawn and lock them within safely secured at night — all without you have to in reality be present ! That being said , while automatic doors are great , our feeling is still to check at nighttime to verify all the skirt are inner . UC Davis School of Veterinary medical specialty
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Keeping Safe
man are n’t the only 1 who love eating volaille wings for dinner party ! Many predators , such as raccoons and coyotes , enjoy banquet on birds . It ’s therefore authoritative to assure that your coop is strong and secure , to provide your hens a dependable place to perch at night .
Avoid allowing feed to pile up near the hencoop , which may attract rodents . ( This is another reason why making even chicken coop move is crucial ! ) Checking to see that there are no gaps in your aim large than 1⁄4- to 1⁄2 - inch will also limit memory access inside the henhouse to small rodents . Rodents harbor diseases that may affect your flock , as well increase your price by consuming your feed .
While keeping a stationary hencoop in one area is vulgar for most backyard poultry - keeper , there are advantages to having an easily movable henhouse . By moving the coop and hence allowing birds to drop their days in different outdoor space on your dimension , you’re able to reduce sess from being denudate and also help fertigate uncommitted land in a more even method acting .
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
disregardless of what you do , expend materials that are easy to clean and primed within the environment you are using . Take your time , do your research to avoid making plebeian error and be patient . build your own coop should be an enjoyable , rewarding experience .
This clause was write by Nicole Fernandez , an animal science John Major at UC Davis ; Maurice Pitesky , D.V.M. from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine - Cooperative Extension ; and Deb Niemeier from the UC Davis School of Engineering .
This story primitively appeared in the September / October 2017 issue ofChickensmagazine .
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
