- Jun 6, 2011
- 38
- 16
- 99
Hi,
I was a previous member here when I had backyard chickens a few years back. I got rid of them when I moved to another city, but now that I'm presumably settled for good, I thought it was time to get some more hens. This time, I didn't want to sink several hundred dollars into a poorly made kit coop, and I don't have a lot of experience with carpentry or anything that requires skilled use of power tools. I also don't have the budget that I once had. I'm a single woman in my 50's who is putting kids through college and saving for retirement.
I do have a circular saw, a power drill, some other basic tools, and a fair amount of common sense and determination. I plan to have 4-6 hens (I've settled on six, and a friend is currently raising them until they are old enough to go outside...they are a week old). I also plan to fence in an area of my yard since I now have a dog that can't be trusted, and also live in a historic district with neighbors on all sides and about 1/4 acre lot. Several neighbors have chickens and there is not a big predator problem here.
I set to work looking for materials that I could cobble a coop together with. I came up with: four pallets, seven old wood shutters, four cement blocks, a pile of scrap wood I picked up on the side of the road, and a piece of green metal roofing. I bought a box of screws and went to work putting stuff together. This took me about three days over two weekends and is rock-solid. I remarked that it looked like it was built by the Clampetts, which sparked the idea for the "sign" ( a vinyl sticker made by a friend).
I'm super excited and just wanted to show it off. I made it myself! LOL
I'm in coastal NC where we don't have very cold winters, and the shutters will provide a lot of ventilation. I still need to add two nesting boxes, and I'll probably continue to tweak it, and may eventually paint it. I have less than $40 in it, for the screws and door hardware. It's about 4' x 4'.
Thanks for reading!
I was a previous member here when I had backyard chickens a few years back. I got rid of them when I moved to another city, but now that I'm presumably settled for good, I thought it was time to get some more hens. This time, I didn't want to sink several hundred dollars into a poorly made kit coop, and I don't have a lot of experience with carpentry or anything that requires skilled use of power tools. I also don't have the budget that I once had. I'm a single woman in my 50's who is putting kids through college and saving for retirement.
I do have a circular saw, a power drill, some other basic tools, and a fair amount of common sense and determination. I plan to have 4-6 hens (I've settled on six, and a friend is currently raising them until they are old enough to go outside...they are a week old). I also plan to fence in an area of my yard since I now have a dog that can't be trusted, and also live in a historic district with neighbors on all sides and about 1/4 acre lot. Several neighbors have chickens and there is not a big predator problem here.
I set to work looking for materials that I could cobble a coop together with. I came up with: four pallets, seven old wood shutters, four cement blocks, a pile of scrap wood I picked up on the side of the road, and a piece of green metal roofing. I bought a box of screws and went to work putting stuff together. This took me about three days over two weekends and is rock-solid. I remarked that it looked like it was built by the Clampetts, which sparked the idea for the "sign" ( a vinyl sticker made by a friend).
I'm super excited and just wanted to show it off. I made it myself! LOL
I'm in coastal NC where we don't have very cold winters, and the shutters will provide a lot of ventilation. I still need to add two nesting boxes, and I'll probably continue to tweak it, and may eventually paint it. I have less than $40 in it, for the screws and door hardware. It's about 4' x 4'.
Thanks for reading!
That's great!
