We have designed and built our own housing for our hens. All of our houses are wooden and have some sort of run attached. We confine our hens to runs rather than let them run free due to the tendency of the hens to go and roost in our neighbouring forest. The presence of an almost entirely mad Red Setter also has a bearing on this decision.

The First House

The oldest house is built of floorboards on a framework of 2 x 1.5 inch timber. The house is sturdy enough, but could possibly benefit from a slightly more rigid frame. It has vertical walls and a non-apex slanted roof. This house could adequately house about a dozen hens and cockerel but we only have six Barnevelders there for the moment. This house has two pop-hatches which allows us to move the run without moving the house.

This house was built by first constructing the frame and then laying the timber onto the frame. This is a very fast way to put a wooden structure together but does not allow the house to be easily disassembled if it ever needs to be moved. As this was the first house, I also made the mistake of using steel corner brackets which were largely useless and had to be cross-braced afterwards.

After the basic construction was completed, I attached the door, installed a perch and installed the pop-hatches. Due to simplicity of its construction, this house was built in a single (long) day - about 10 hours' work. The roof is felt-covered for water-proofing and appearance.

The method of moving this house involves some stone-age technology. We use round fencing posts underneath it as rollers and just move it along over the rollers. This house now has a single standard-sized run attached which allows us to leave the hens a whole week without it being absolutely necessary to move them.

I recently added an external nest-box to this house and did a few repairs. The house has stuck up well over the last two years, but I did make the mistake of attaching the boards using a single screw in the centres. This had the effect of causing the boards to "cup", so I had to add more screws.

Runs

Due to the forest behind the house and a mad Red Setter dog, it has not proven possible to let the hens roam freely around the garden. We tried this for a time and while the dog largely left them alone, the hens started to roost in the forest. This would eventually have been the end of them, so we decided to construct a run for them.

We have constructed all of the runs on a modular basis so that any run can be combined with any other to give more flexibility. We have three of these full-sized runs and two half-sized ones which are used to either extend standard runs or to provide a small run for an isolated bird.

The runs are constructed on a rigid frame of 2 x 1.5 inch timber with corner bracing providing extra rigidity. We have used two inch mesh chicken wire as this is a lot stronger than 1 inch mesh at the same price. The mesh covers the sides and tops of the runs. All of the runs are 3 feet high to suit the width of the wire netting, and the standard width is 6 foot. The standard length is 15 feet.

All of the runs have a feeding hatch and the half-sized runs have various mating adaptors for joining together and to the various houses. For example, the ark house needs a triangular adapter to allow it to securely adapt to a rectangular run.

The Ark

This house was again built of floor boards but the framework is constructed of heavier 3 x 2 inch timber. This time, I discovered that my local builders' merchants stocked pre-treated timber which removed some of the work. The heavier framework was required because the house and a small run are of an integral construction. The entire unit is approximately 14 feet long as these were the longest 3 x 2 inch timbers available.

There are three main supports running the length of the house and the framework is completed using cross-members at each end and at two points along its length. The shelter is constructed between one end and the first central cross-member which allows the house to take up one third of the entire structure.

The house was then built up using floor boards. Almost an entire side opens to allow easy access for cleaning. A single floor-board is fixed on this side to allow the open door to rest without having to flip over the other side. Both sloped sides are covered with felt for waterproofing, but it would have been nice to find a more aesthetically pleasing waterproofing mechanism.

On the fixed side of the house, I have attached a nest box to allow external access to the eggs. The house has a hinged hatch that is locked at night using a length of 2 x 1.5 timber. This is considerably more secure than a traditional sliding pop-hatch but is a little more difficult to open. There is a natural branch perch inside. There is a hinged section in the run and carrying handles at each end.

The whole structure is reasonably light and can carried by two people with a little difficulty. I have since made a house of similar design for somebody else using marine plywood for the cladding which was bigger but still was considerably lighter. This is probably a better option for this kind of house as marine ply only needs felt over the apex and so looks a lot better.

Although this house has an integral run, we decided that this wasn't big enough and so constructed another run that attaches onto the feeding hatch on the integral run.

The All-Singing, All-Dancing House

Our next hen house was made for the Mabel Pearman Burford Browns. For this house, I modified a design from a most excellent book which worked quite well. This house has a lot of "special features". It has two pop-hatches, a full-width externally accessible nest  box, removable droppings board and perches and a hinged section on the double-pitched roof. The chosen cladding material was plywood, but I left the floor with floorboards for greater rotting resistance. The entire structure was built on a solid framework that raised it about a foot off the ground to prevent rats from living under it.

Because I had a set of plans to go on, I was able to construct this house in a more methodical manner which probably reduced the overall build time - even if it took considerably longer than either of the other houses due to the number of "special features". Essentially, I was able to cut and drill all of the wood before I started to assemble the house. In addition, I was able to assemble panels complete with their framework members before screwing the framework together. This allows the house to be collapsible which is not of any use to me but would be useful if I were constructing the house for somebody else. It would allow me (after the first one) to make all of the panels, transport it and do the final assembly at the house's final resting place.

Even with the greater efficiencies of this construction method, it still took me about 18 hours to build this house. This was largely due to the amount of fiddly little bits of construction. For example, the external nest box took me two or three hours to construct.

The house is roofed with felt. To prevent the felt over the hinged section from wearing, the apex is covered with damp-proof course which should last considerably longer. The nest box roof is hinged for relatively easy access, but this is probably the least successful aspect of the house.

This has turned out to be the most successful house I have built. The droppings board beneath the perch allows us to leave this house for twice the length of time between cleaning the others. This is a feature that I shall be adding to all future houses, and I can probably retrofit one into the first house.

The Isolation Unit

This started life as a kennel for Sally but as she never used it, I attached a pop hatch and drilled some extra ventilation holes and it now serves as an isolation unit for one or two birds. We normally use this to take the pressure off when we end up with extra cockerels that we are raising for meat or sale.

The Mark II Ark

I built this house for my Dad who was rather taken with it. It is even bigger than ours with a total length approaching 17 feet.  I also built this one higher as he wanted his hens perched higher than ours and he didn't fancy the hinged door which requires less height than a slanted sliding door.

The other major difference was that construction was in marine plywood to lower weight. This turned out to be more expensive than pine floorboards but is probably a better option as it provides more structural strength and doesn't require felt.

After this house I went off Arks as they are not a hugely efficient use of timber. A rectangular house will provide twice as much perch length for approximately 30% more timber. So while Arks look good, they are not hugely cost-effective. The main advantage (I am told) is that they are less comfortable for sheep or cattle to sit on and hence do not end up squashed if you have other animals in the field.

The Fold Unit

This is a small house that I build for my mother as a birthday present to house a pair of Buff Orpingtons. My labour was the present - the wood was my Dad's. This was another house from the book and I left the design largely unchanged except for adding a couple of feet of extra length.

This is another feature-laden house with a complete sliding roof, nesting area, double perches, retractable carrying handles and a feeding shelter at the opposite end of the house. The house is quite small and would be just big enough for a trio of Buff Orpingtons or about 5 smaller hens. In addition the integral run is quite small and it requires moving every couple of days. Fortunately, the whole unit is very light and is easily enough moved by one person.

This house was a complete nightmare to build. There were a large number of fiddly bits and I couldn't get the structural timber in the size specified by the design. I then ended up misinterpreting one figure and had to reduce the width of every panel and cross-member by half an inch to correct the mistake.  However, the end result is an extremely practical house that also looks really well. This is an ideal way to show off a pair or trio of ornamental hens.

My partner was very much taken with this house as an isolation unit or a unit for a few broilers but was less enthusiastic about having me spend 16 hours building another and spending the guts of two hundred euro on materials when the same money and time would build a less handsome house that would take three times the number of hens.

Hatchery Unit

This is just a simple wooden box with a rat-proof lid of aviary mesh which allows us to keep newly-hatched chicks in the shed. No particularly interesting features. The side walls are about 0.5 metres high and the lid is hinged.