The hen house, step by step

1. What it must have

A good hen house doesn't have to be pretty or expensive, but it must be dry, airy and shut tight against mink, foxes and rats.

1. Room per hen — At least 0.3 m² (about 3 sq ft) of floor per hen inside and about 10 m² per hen including the run. Less means pecking, dirty eggs and disease.
2. Floor off the ground — Floor raised 30–40 cm (12–16 in) or concreted, so rats can't live under it. You can see underneath whether rats are burrowing.
3. Air without draughts — A 10–15 cm gap under the eaves, covered with mesh, removes damp and ammonia. A window facing south, roughly a tenth of the floor area.
4. Shut against predators — 13 mm welded mesh (½ in hardware cloth) on every opening: mink, weasels and rats get through gaps bigger than 2.5 cm (1 in). A bolt with a safety catch, and shut in every evening, no exceptions.

Why: Most disease, feather pecking and losses in small flocks start in the hen house: damp bedding, stuffy air, too little room or a gap a predator slips through at night. Damp is worse than cold.

• Build for 30 % more hens than you plan: an extra square metre of floor is cheap while you build and expensive when you extend.
• Before building, ask your council or county whether you need a permit and what the minimum distance is from the boundary, the neighbour's house, a well and the road.

2. Building it, 2 × 1.5 m

A mono-pitch hen house for 10 hens: floor 2 × 1.5 m, 1.8 m high at the front, 1.5 m at the back.

1. Six pads — Four corners and two in the middle of the long side, of concrete blocks or poured concrete, on a layer of gravel. The tops must be level: check with a spirit level.
2. Timber floor — A frame of 75 × 100 mm (3 × 4 in) timber, joists every 50 cm. Cover with 25 mm boards or 18 mm exterior-grade OSB.
3. Walls without cavities — Corner posts of 75 × 75 mm, studs of 50 × 75 mm between them. No cavities between the cladding and the frame, because red mite hides there.
4. Roof and overhang — Pitch roughly 15–20°, 30 cm overhang. Boards and roofing felt under the metal sheet: not hot in summer, and no condensation dripping in winter.

Why: Adapt the sizes to your materials, but keep to the rules in the first chapter. Cavities in the walls and bare metal sheet right above the hens cause the most trouble: red mite, heat and condensation.

• On the roof and with power tools: gloves, safety glasses and a steady ladder. Don't work at height alone.
• No old railway sleepers, creosote, waste oil, old paint or asbestos-cement sheets. Lime wash is enough inside.

3. Layout inside · Locked

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4. Deep litter · Locked

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5. Run and fence · Locked

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6. Mobile hen house · Locked

Buy the Hen house module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.