AKA - coop building when you have NO idea what you are doing and are cheapskates!! None of these will win any prizes, but I think they will work.
Coop #1 - started building before the chicks got here out of an old playhouse. Lots of stuff wrong with it, but it's VERY sturdy! The ramp is too steep but the chickens seem to make it ok. We have a giant 5 foot long external eggbox painted the same color that we will attach soon. Some may have seen this one already.. but keep reading, there's MORE!!
From this:
to this!
Then there's coop/brooder #2 - hubby intends this to eventually be a guinea coop, as it's an 8 foot trailer that we can tow out to our boonies where all our ticks reside. Right now it's going to be an intermediate brooder for the 24 chicks I have in the house right now. It's in the 80's here so with a light I can put them out in a week or two. Not quite done but it's getting there - there's a pop door in the back and that bucket is a nipple waterer. I've got hardware cloth windows for ventilation - I need to put some sort of hinged covers on those, I guess - just in case. Plus it's going to need some form of roost bars.
THEN there's coop #3! We built this one with a $50 shed kit off Amazon.com and assorted wood. Lots of it is OSB, but we'll replace that when we need to. The weird paint colors are due to using OOPS paint! We just added part of the run today, not pictured yet. Still need to come up with something more attractive to keep rain from coming in through the top vent - that mishmash up there is just temporary. Two windows and two vents elsewhere as well.
This one is 8x7. And this one is in a much better location - way in the back of the garden where i just might be able to sneak a rooster in as it's far enough from the neighbors (several acres, at least).
The floor is really heavy duty industrial vinyl tiles (the glue down kind not the sticky kind) that I got at Job Lots.
Comments? suggestions? Keep in mind these are coops built by people (us) who 'winged it' - the third one is the best, weird color notwithstanding. We're going to add more decoration to coop #3, as well as one other vent and some sort of rain protection and of course nest boxes when needed.
There you have it. Coops built by newbies. Lots of coops built by newbies.
Coop #1 - started building before the chicks got here out of an old playhouse. Lots of stuff wrong with it, but it's VERY sturdy! The ramp is too steep but the chickens seem to make it ok. We have a giant 5 foot long external eggbox painted the same color that we will attach soon. Some may have seen this one already.. but keep reading, there's MORE!!
From this:
to this!
Then there's coop/brooder #2 - hubby intends this to eventually be a guinea coop, as it's an 8 foot trailer that we can tow out to our boonies where all our ticks reside. Right now it's going to be an intermediate brooder for the 24 chicks I have in the house right now. It's in the 80's here so with a light I can put them out in a week or two. Not quite done but it's getting there - there's a pop door in the back and that bucket is a nipple waterer. I've got hardware cloth windows for ventilation - I need to put some sort of hinged covers on those, I guess - just in case. Plus it's going to need some form of roost bars.
THEN there's coop #3! We built this one with a $50 shed kit off Amazon.com and assorted wood. Lots of it is OSB, but we'll replace that when we need to. The weird paint colors are due to using OOPS paint! We just added part of the run today, not pictured yet. Still need to come up with something more attractive to keep rain from coming in through the top vent - that mishmash up there is just temporary. Two windows and two vents elsewhere as well.
This one is 8x7. And this one is in a much better location - way in the back of the garden where i just might be able to sneak a rooster in as it's far enough from the neighbors (several acres, at least).
Comments? suggestions? Keep in mind these are coops built by people (us) who 'winged it' - the third one is the best, weird color notwithstanding. We're going to add more decoration to coop #3, as well as one other vent and some sort of rain protection and of course nest boxes when needed.
There you have it. Coops built by newbies. Lots of coops built by newbies.
