Building coop with salvage lumber is .....

[columbiacritter]

Like putting together a giant wooden model where none of the pieces match

like making a quilt out of mismatched wood

Hideously frustrating

very rewarding, eventually.

 

[Huskeriowa]

Think of it as though you were giving each piece of lumber another opportunity to be useful again.

 

[hennyannie]

My coop is completely reused materials. Tin from a torn down shed, Plywood from the fire dept remodel, Nest box I cleaned and repainted etc. I thought that my family would get bored with the chicken thing and alot of money would be wasted. I had grown up with chickens, they had not. I never thought that I myself would fall off the wagon and become a chicken addict again, but I did.

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
I'm still working on finding used lumber...I would love to be "making a quilt out of mismatched wood" right about now!

 

[wolfandfinch]

Quote:
try building your house from it. Well, renovating your victorian house with it. It's hellish, isn't it? but so good. I will be doing the same for my coop, feel your pain!

 

[gottadance]

Yes, sounds frustrating - I also have been saving scraps, etc. but have a feeling I'll end up having to go and buy a bunch of stuff anyway.

 

[classicsredone]

I think we'll be building a rabbit run (for exercise, she's normally an indoors rabbit) and a serama coop out of old fencing this summer. Our fence fell down, so why not make use of what we can?

 

[Paraclete]

I made a little brooder box from what was left of an old rabbit cage my sister had, took it apart, pulled nails and tacks then went about putting it all back together. Lol nothing wanted to match up because of the warping in the wood, thought it was going to look all wacky shack like. But in the end I found a nice straight and flat piece of plywood that like pulled it all together in the end. Looks rather nice as long as you don't stare at it too long, then you notice nothing really lines up properly.

 

[TN_BIRD]

Quote:
I'm still working on finding used lumber...I would love to be "making a quilt out of mismatched wood" right about now!

You can find shipping pallets all over the place (go with the heat treated). It takes a bit of work to pull them apart, but that's the price of "free" stuff. FWIW, I'd probably just cut the pallets rather than trying to pull the nails out.

Another place to get cheap wood is at HD & Lowe's near the lumber in the back of their stores. Folks will often buy wood and have them cut it and the stores will sell the scraps. And of course, do some dumpster diving. Folks put all sorts of stuff on the curb and in/near dumpsters (like I said..."free" comes at a price).

 

[schellie69]

My coop is built using old pallets my son's pulled the nails and my DH built the coop with the boards. It looks okay not a mansion but the chickens like it.