How to Set up a Traditional Chicken House

When you think of raising chickens, raising them in a traditional backyard chicken house is what you typically think as the way chickens are raised. This article will show you how you can raise chickens the old fashioned way.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• a suitable building
• dowels for roosts
• chicken feeders
• chicken waterers
• chicken wire
• fence posts
• hay, straw or sawdust for bedding

1. The first thing you need is a suitable building. Make sure you have one with a rodent-proof floor. If there are any rat holes in the floor nail metal over them. Check to be sure that roof has no leaks and if it does fix as needed. Sweep out the dirt. If the building has been used to house birds in the last 3 years, give it a good cleaning before you move your birds in. In a cold climate it should not be drafty. In a hot climate make sure you have plenty of good ventilation in the summer and is out of the direct sun. The chickens will be warmer in the winter if you insulate and if the roof is low enough to keep the warm air near the chickens who make quite a bit of heat themselves. The best way to insulate a chicken house is to put insulation board on the outside of the house and then put on a simple siding like T1-11. Don't spend a fortune on a chicken house unless you have to. You'll find electric lights useful if you life where winter nights are long and you want to push your chickens to lay the maximum number of eggs but lights aren't necessary. In your building uou'll need a door for people from the outside into the chicken yard and one into the chicken house. You'll want separate doors for your chickens that are about a foot square that shut easily from the outside. This way in cold weather you can leave the door for people closed and keep the chicken doors open so they can continue to have access to the outside.

2. The floor can be dirt, wood or concrete. Cover the floor with a foot of litter or build up litter by starting with 2-3 inches then gradually adding more throughout the year, layer upon layer. This litter is very important. It gives the chickens something to scratch and prevents their droppings form adhering to the chicken-house floor and dilutes the strength of the chicken manure. This litter benefits the chickens both in winter and in summer by insulating them from extremes in temperatures.

3. The next consideration for the chicken house is the nests for the hens to lay their eggs. A nest is a box approximately 10 inches square with a top and sides but open at one side for the hen to enter. Hens like dark private places to lay their eggs. Put in hay, chopped straw or wood shavings or even shredded newspaper in the nest and change nest litter occasionally when it gets dirty. Supply one nest for each four layers.

4. When chickens were still wild animals, they roosted in trees at night. Most breeds today still like to roost so you'll want roosts in your chicken house. An easy to build roost is a 2-3 inch rough dowel about 12 foot long nailed across one or more corners of the chicken house. Don't put roosts on top of each other because the chickens drop feces at night and would soil the bird below them.

5. A chicken yard is made up of 5 foot high chicken wire fencing stretched and stapled between posts set in the ground in each corner of the chicken house and a post about every five feet around the pen. This yard allows the chickens to have access to the outside put gives them protection from predators.

6. Now all that's left is to set waterers and feeders for your adult or adolescent chickens. You can buy feeders or waterers or you can make your own. Keep food and water in front of them at all times for optimum egg production. Unless you're an expert on feeding chickens stick to commercial feeds for their main source of feed but chickens relish a daily treat of your kitchen table scraps.

[johnrapp]

on 5/19/2009 you know, I've never really known the right way to do this... you know, how to set up a traditional chicken house. 5 stars!

[heatherinks]

on 4/25/2009 Great article on setting up a chicken coop or house. We built one about a decade ago that our neighbors called "the chicken hotel." God bless. 5* and a rec.

[local8b0y8]

on 4/20/2009 Excellent detailed article on setting up a traditional chicken house, very informative 5*