Hello. I finished my chicken coop this past summer. This forum was a huge help to me during my design and planning process and I hope someone will find this post helpful. My goal was to use as much free salvage material as possible. There was some material I was unable to find so I had to buy it - in total I spent about $200. I did not have plans or a blueprint but I had a general idea in my mind and went off of that.
Here are some photos of some of the material I got for free.
The first step was to set up the footings and sub floor. I dug holes about 3 feet deep, filled them with gravel and placed some old concrete deck footings on top of the gravel. I then use a couple of pallets I found at a wholesale plumbing supplier to set up the floor. These pallets pretty much dictated the dimensions of the coop.
I laid down plywood on top of the frame and then started building the walls. For the walls I used standard pallets, I think they are about 44" x 40".
Next was the trusses - built from pieces of the large pallets that the floor was built from. They measure about 1" x 5" and the wood is hard as steel.
For the exterior walls I cut 14" sections of the privacy fence I got off Craigslist. Someone offered it for free if I removed it. It took about 2 hours to remove and was a major score - not only the fence sections but the posts as well. The 14" pieces were attached to the pallets like cedar shingles and I am very happy with how they look. In this photo you can see where I have the roosting boxes framed out. On the left side of the photo, you can see shingles ready to be installed. I cut 100's of them.
In this photo you can see the roof with the overhang for the porch.
I added a window to the east facing wall for sunlight and ventilation. It was a closeout from 84 Lumber and it cost me $15.00.
Once the roof was complete, I lined the inside ceiling with more sections of the fence.
And finally, here are some photos of the nearly completed project. Have a few odds and ends to complete but it's good enough and the chickens seem to love it. I still have some painting to do and I would like to line the ceiling of the porch with some nice looking wood. The cover of the run is an old trampoline mat. The deck boards are the same pallet material that the trusses are made of. I think it has a nice rustic look. And the gate hardware is from the fence gate I removed from the donor's yard. The door is handmade from old 2x4's and more sections of the fence. You can see the additional window up on the eaves of the roof - just a open area covered in hardware cloth.
I forgot to mention that the singles came off an old house that was going to be torn down and they were free - just an hour labor to remove them and bring them home.This was a great project. I probably could have saved some time and aggravation if I had had a plan ahead of time but figuring everything out on the go was part of the fun. The coop measures about 4' x 6' and the porch is 2' deep. The run is about 10' x 10'.
