Chicken coop with run

The house

A timber frame with board cladding, an OSB floor with a pull-out droppings tray and a mono-pitch roof of bitumen shingles or steel sheet. Insulation of 30 or 50 mm is optional.

The house is raised on timber legs (leaving a gap under the floor) or stands on concrete blocks. A pop door with a ramp at the front, a service door at the back, vent grilles in the walls.

Nests and perches by the number of hens

Enter the number of hens and the system works out the number of nests (1 per 7 hens) and the perch length (15 cm per hen). These figures come from Directive 1999/74/EC. It is mandatory only for farms of 350+ hens, so it is used here as guidance.

If there are too many hens for the floor area (more than 9 hens per m²), the system warns you.

The run

The run is attached to the front of the house and has the same width. It is built from timber posts every 1.5 m, rails and welded mesh. The top can be open, covered with mesh or with a steel sheet roof.

A strip of mesh is buried at the bottom against predators. A coop without a run is also possible — set the run length to 0.

Regulations and permits

- For a small coop the index K = S × H³ is calculated (STR 1.01.03:2017 point 30): if K < 10, it is not a structure.

- A larger coop is an auxiliary farm building; up to 50 m² and 5 m it is group I (STR 1.01.03:2017 Annex 5 Table 1).

- The run is a barrier: up to 2 m high it is group I, higher — group II.

- Rules on keeping poultry and distances to neighbours are set by the municipality — the system reminds you to check them.