A question about construction...

[ducks4you]

Ditto with the others, BUT, if you read instructions or anybody's plans and they SEEM hard for you to do, they WILL be hard to do. (I have 10 of the former copied and saved on THIS computer!!)
Keep checking out the BYC webpages, until you find a few that you think you can handle. DH and I (currently working/travelling to work together, 1 hr/day) have spent hours discussing our building plans. He believes that the coop(s) should be built light, I believe that they should be built heavy. We BOTH agreed on the run.

You might want to check out the "cheap coops" posts and the "Ugliest Coop" post. Good buildings that don't look custom-built.

 

[Novice in New York]

I would agree with the posts that suggest doing a search for some free plans on the web. I did both, purchase plans and searched for free ones. The ones I purchased were no better than the free ones so save your money. What I ended up doing is developing my own plans after looking at many many pictures from DIY posts. I went with the Amish design 4x6. I have done numerous construction projects so I had all the tools and experience. Good luck, if you get stuck, folks on this site are very helpful.
Mark

 

[cmjust0]

Driving home from work the other day, I happened to look over at a roof trussing company's lot. I'd never noticed before, but they had a truss that was in the shape of a shed, and a sign on it that said something like "Storage Building Special!"..

I called.. The width was 9'6", with a 4:12 pitch on the roof truss and a treated 2"x6" on the bottom so they could be set pretty much right on the ground.. Cost -- $30/ea.

If a person bought 5 and set them 24" on center, they'd have a complete frame for a 9'6" x 8' (76sqft, or about 20 chicken) coop for $150. It would take somewhere on the order of maybe 10 sheets of plywood, totalling less than probably $80-$100, to box it up.. Even with nails, paint, shingles, 2nd hand windows and doors, etc., I'd say it could be finished out for $350 or less.

That's pretty good value, but the real value would come from the amount of time the trusses would save -- especially for someone with little framing experience!

If I were you, I'd call a truss company...see if any in your area have "storage building specials" like that. They may not, but even if they don't, they can probably make you some simple trusses like those for not a whole lot of $$$..

If I had to do it again, that's how I'd go...and I'm no stranger to framing. I'd just do it because it would be SO MUCH FASTER AND EASIER...

Frankly, I wish I'd seen those trusses sooner..

EDITED TO ADD:

I just checked Lowe's website, and they have an 8'x10' **DIY** shed for $1,400. Yes, DIY, as in a kit that you still have to put together yourself!!!!

That should give you some idea as to the potential value of $30 shed trusses.

 

[RendonRoo]

Home Depot and Lowes have storage bldgs for sale. They aren't real cheap but are quick. You can also go look at them and copy the framing. Just take some measurements and pics then go duplicate it. The storage bldgs also go on clearance if you have time to wait them out. Good Luck

 

[CloggingChicken]

Google and research on BYC is the only way to go. I searched through pics and designs for hours and days and ended up with a compilation of ideas that I had to sketch out on graph paper so that I had an easy scale. I went with a shed roof for ease of design and it is basically 8' on one side and 6' on the other. Maybe one day I can get pics uploaded.
Some of the design page links that I used were:
http://www.shedsandstoragebuildings.com/shed.html
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/poultryplans.htm
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/1275876.html
http://www.freechickencoopplans.com/

These sites have some pretty good starting points/ideas. You will want to add ventilation to any of the standard shed plans as typically they are for storage and not living things. We did this using recycled old windows and placing hinges on the bottom so that it provided draft free openings. One word of advice is build the coop bigger than you think as it seems that the darn things multiply and are hard to part with.

Good luck with whatever route you choose!
Bill