Chickens, like humans, need a house with certain specifications in order to live happily, productively, and away from diseases and dangers.
A properly designed chicken coop suitable for chicken life is the first step to the success of your project in raising chickens. Despite the simplicity of chicken coop structures, they are often sold at high prices.
You can save your budget and make them yourself or with the help of a carpenter in your area. It is simple and inexpensive, all that is needed is to take into account the required considerations regarding the living conditions of chickens.
There a wide variety of shapes and styles of chicken coop designs available online. However, in this article, we have collected for you the most important and accurate details that help you know how to build a chicken coop step by step that are good for 10 chickens.
We’ve also answered some of the most common questions that usually come to your mind, regarding dimensions, sizes and insurance tools.
How To Build A Chicken Coop For 10 Chickens?
When thinking about building a chicken coop for 10 chickens, there are some essential considerations that must be taken into account, including protecting chickens from predators, diseases, humidity, frost, excessive heat, escape, and others. You also need to pay special consideration to the size. Let’s learn how to cover these aspects as we discuss the steps to build a chicken coop:
1. The Size Of The Coop
There are 2 main factors to take into account when deciding which size you will use for your chicken coop:
- Chicken number.
- Wandering space.
The Number Of Chickens
The first thing is to determine the number of chickens that you will raise in the coop, and let us talk here about 10 chickens. Let’s calculate it simply:
According to studies and research. Most chicken breeds need an area to accommodate at least 3 square feet of perch for each chicken in the event that there is an outside space for the chickens to roam.
If you have 10 chickens, you will need an area of 3 x 10 = 30 square feet. If you are going to raise chickens of large breeds, it is better to provide an area of 4 square feet for each chicken.
This space is not a luxury, but it is very necessary to avoid the problems that result from overcrowding. Crowding of chickens in tight spaces increases chicken fighting. the birds at the bottom of the pecking order will be oppressed and harassed by the decisive chickens to prevent them from reaching food and water.
Unfortunately, they may suffer health problems as a result of poor feeding and injuries caused by pecking at their bodies. Overcrowding of chickens in the barn leads to the accumulation of large amounts of feces and bacteria, which increases the chances of parasites and bacteria growing and birds getting sick.
Outdoor Wandering Space
The best design for a chicken coop is to contain an external running space in addition to the internal coop. It is very necessary as it allows chickens to practice their innate behaviors of foraging, scratching, and running.
This increases their activity and vitality and thus increases their food intake, thus obtaining high-quality meat better than chicken Stacked chickens in cramped cages. It also improves egg production.
So there should be at least 4 square feet of outdoor running space for each chicken. In the event that it is not possible to design an external space, then the area of each chicken inside the inner barn must be increased to reach 8 and 10.
2. Coop Building Materials
Building Materials
There are many options for building coop material, including regular, unfinished plywood. Generally
Pressure-treated lumber is the common material used in the construction of barn legs and the rest of the barn is unfinished lumber. Unfinished Plywood is a good choice because it is durable, relatively cheap, and easy to shape and cut.
But its disadvantage is that the wood can rot and be a home for months, but this is overcome by installing a tarpaulin wrapped over the wood so that it can be cleaned easily.
Latches
The latches must be secured. predators deceive and do everything to get to the chickens. The raccoon is very sly and can twist knobs, and keep fumbling around to untie knots, loosen bungee cords, and lift latches!
Therefore, latches must be secure. Spring-loaded eye hooks are a good and effective option. For latches, latches secured by carabiners or locks are effective.
Coop Door
You can design a simple barn door such as a piece of plywood on a 1 x 2 frame. The important thing is to make it large enough for people to get in and out easily to collect the eggs.
Nesting Boxes
Suitable and sufficient nesting boxes must be designed for the number of chickens. It is usually recommended to place one nest box for every three chickens, or about 3 to 4 boxes if there are 10 chicks.
It is also recommended that the nest boxes be about 1 square foot. Cover the nesting boxes with straw or sawdust to protect the eggs from breaking.
Electricity
Hens need light to keep warm and lay eggs, so consider designing places to install bulbs.
3. Convenient Location
The location of the chicken coop is one of the important things that must be taken into account when building a chicken coop. The coop must be built in a well-ventilated place that is exposed to sunlight.
Sunlight is of great importance in promoting chicken health and stimulating egg production. However, the coop must be protected from direct sun in hot weather. [1]
Another important factor is building the coop on high ground to avoid the problems of mud, water accumulation, humidity, and rain. If high land is not available, a highly designed coop must be built.
4. Coop Insurance
Protecting the herd from predators is one of the most important factors that must be taken into account. Chickens are threatened by many animals such as raccoons, wolves, cats, and snakes. Some types of snakes try to slip between the walls of the barn to eat the young chicks.
Raising the coop from the ground about 8 to 12 inches helps protect chickens from predators sneaking into it. it makes it higher than rodents and snakes that love to live under the floors. Raising the coop has an important added advantage as well as it helps keep the wood from rotting.
5. Perching Areas
Hens need areas to perch at night, each chicken needs about 8 inches of space to perch. Perching bars should be at least two feet off the ground to keep out moisture, especially in the winter and wet months.
6. Ventilation
Ventilation and coop airflow is necessary to change the air and the odor produced by expelling chickens to avoid disease. Your coop needs windows in the walls near the ceiling for air circulation, but above the perches.
But these openings must be secured so that they do not allow predators to enter. Cover all openings with about 1/2-inch metal wire mesh that is securely fastened.
