a quickie, pre-fabricated insulated coop (dog house)

[vermontgal]

OK, folks, here's the scenario. I have a great coop on the 2nd floor of my barn (see video in signature line). It looks like I might be relocating out of state for a job, leaving my elderly dad with the chickens. I don't want him to have to climb up the rickety and steep stairs of the barn to the coop.

I have lots to do before I leave, and building a new chicken coop from scratch is ideally not on the list. Any suggestions for an insulated pre-fab coop at reasonable price? I have 4 heavy breed chickens. They will have access to a covered run such that I am really looking for this coop to be a roosting and nest area. It could be smaller than 4 sq ft per bird.

Or, tips for building an insulated coop from scratch QUICKLY?

Thanks!!

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Try looking on Craigslist, there are always sheds and playskool houses that people will give away if you haul them away.

Good luck!

 

[Chicken Fruit]

You only have four hens, I'd just make a small chicken tractor for them. You can put hay or straw bales around it for added warmth, but a small tractor is plenty enough insulation for four heavy breed birds just on its own. Iam just across the boarder from you in way upstate NY. We dont insulate our coop, we just have extra boxes for them to sit in and fluff up to be extra warm.

I can build a tractor myself in a day or two for all of 40 bucks. Use a subfloor ply/press wood panel (10 bucks) for the walls and floor, build a shelf on one side and separate it in two for nesting boxes, and halfway up inside tack a pole across for roosting. Pick up a plastic roofing sheet from Home depot for 19 bucks and cut it in pieces to fit the slanted roof. 3x4ft by 33 to 36 inches high is usually how I build them. Thats plenty big enough for a coop if they have the run during the day. A couple hinges and an old cabinet door, or just a spare piece of ply hood make a nice front door.

I use hook and eyes to hold the roof. Because the plastic sheet is corrigated it allows for ventilation.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

You will need an XXL dog house for 4 heavys. An igloo style really wont do because it's hard to access nestboxes (I've tried, they wanted to lay were there was no box and I had to craw inside to get eggs, bleah!)

I'm working on using a little tikes playhouse. That may work for your birds too.

 

[mlm1965]

I have a 4x4 dog house and put the nest box on the side of it and cut two holes for nest access. That way I did not have to go into the run to gather eggs.