Can't afford hardware cloth!! What do we do?

[Mtn Margie]

Honestly, if you are using tarps for a roof, you will be feeding the wildlife and wasting all of your time and money. You really do need at least a secure coop for them at night. Chicken wire just keeps chickens in and racoons, dogs, etc barely pause on their way through it. There has to be something around- junk cars, old sheds, trees?

 

[Wisher1000]

Okay, I'm going to try to help you here. First, try to decide what you want your chicken facilities to look like "one day." I hate to have to re-build anything. Next, figure out which part you can build and use, first. I think if you build a nice, secure run, it will serve as your coop until you can get a building put up. Like you said, you can tarp part of it and use it that way temporarily.

You said your two areas are 5x4 and 5x10 so I assume the footprint will be 5x14, correct? I propose you make it 8x16. Now, before you say no, we can't afford that, think about it. Standard lumber is 8' long. If you make it 5' deep, you have to cut lumber to 5 feet and you have a 3' scrap. Make it 8' and there is less waste and the 16' width is 2 standard boards.

Now, lets talk about the supports. These are the bones of your structure. I see you planned on PT 2x4s but you will have to sandwich them on the corners to make sure they don't warp or you will have to use more of them closer together to make it strong enough to support a roof. Four PT 4x4s on the corners (or, ideally, 6 so you could have one in the middle of each long wall) would be stronger and likely cheaper than 8 2x4s. Check your area for a sawmill or lumber yard that might be less expensive than your local big box hardware store. Depending on where you live, and how deep you need to sink them (at least 2' in the ground is best,) you can get 8' ones and get 6' of head room inside. If you can, go ahead and get them 10' (so one day, you can add a tin roof, higher on one side. You will need stringers (boards running between the posts) on the top and at the ground, and you will have to have at least one support in the middle of the long walls. I used 2x6s for this, but you could get away with 2x4s if you had to. 2x6s on the bottom and 2x4s on the top would be a good compromise. With this plan, you can improve on the structure in the future and even wall it in and add a huge run later.

I agree with Chickadoodles on the 2"x4" dog wire, but that can come later if necessary, it is sold in a 100' roll and is pricey. I found that 7/16" OSB is about the cheapest thing you can use on a coop. You could make the back wall and both side walls solid up 4' with 4 sheets of OSB and paint it with cheap "oops" paint. The last time I bought it, I paid less than $8 a sheet for it. Then from the OSB up, you can use the dog wire or the chicken wire you have, but I strongly recommend that you double that chicken wire for security AND that you also cover the roof with it if you have enough. Plan to replace that chicken wire as soon as you can afford to, it's not going to keep the preds out for long.

Now, on the front, I would make one walk-in door, The easiest way is to find an old door and hang it on the 4x4 on the hinge side and put a 2x4 on the knob side for it to close against. You could run a rope through the knob hole and around the board to secure it! Inside, you can temporarily partition off an end, or build a cage for the two birds until you can integrate the groups. You could even put 2 pieces of OSB on the bottom of the front wall, you would have a scrap 4x(width of door) to use on nest boxes or a pop door!

As for hardware cloth, I bought a 2x100 roll online and paid less than $45 including shipping. Shop around.

Materials - all wood is PT, prices are from Lowe's online.
4 - 4x4x8 @ 7.17 = 28.68 (corners only, for another 14.34, you could use them in the center of the long walls)
6 - 2x6x8 @ 8.27 = 49.62 (bottom stringers)
16 - 2x4x8 @ 3.77 = 60.32 (7 top stringers, 2 ceiling supports, 5 long wall supports, 2 door frame)
4 - 4x8 7/16 OSB @ 7.17 = 28.68
4 - #50 bags of Quikrete for setting posts @ 2.42 = 9.68


This is a total of 176.98, but you would have a solid structure to which you could add a strong roof, or even a floor and use it as a shop or storage building if you ever get out of chickens. I know there are still things you will need (screws, tarp, wire, etc.) but if you have to scrounge and make do on those things, they can be replaced or reinforced later as you can afford it, and the whole thing will only get better.

Many people build something "junky" for their first coop (I did) and end up spending much more to do it right the second time. I wish (there I go again) that I had saved the money I spent on the first one and just built the second, nice one, to begin with.

 

[Sarevan]

To save on lumber, ask at a lumber yard, lowes, home depot, or anywhere that has lumber for Seconds or even 3rd grades. It will have a lot of knots not straight but you don't exactly need prime lumber for a coop. Also ask for damaged goods can be at a very low price. You may need to do some straightening of wire but worth it. Check for habitat for humanity resale stores in your area sell everything you can think of at reasonable prices. Pallets ask at businesses some are more than happy to get rid of the pile. Restaurants for food buckets containers free or low cost. Construction sites find foremen may point you toward the scrap pile or bin for you to pick through. Always ask permission before removing anything may be in garbage but they still own it and could be jerks about taking stuff. Good luck!

 

[TXchickmum]

I agree with the poster above. -wouldn't use tarps for a covering at all. They need a sturdy structure for protection especially if you have a number of predators. We constructed our first coops (had a small bantam flock and a small standard flock) of torn down fence pickets. We ripped down the panels (which we received for free), removing all of the old nails. We then calculated basic dimensions and cut the pickets to needed lengths. The structure frame was made using the old posts and cross posts on the gate section. Our cost was minimal: corrugated metal sheet for the roof, two sets of hardware latches, and wire/hardware cloth. (My husband already had basic tools with which to work) Our cost was about $125. We built a chicken wire run off of the coop, and again, used some old fence posts (doubled) to frame the covered run. Chicken wire works well for a run (to keep the birds in and protected from aerial predators). I wouldn't leave them out after dusk in one, though, in lieu of nocturnal predators as the chicken wire won't deter much.

There are a number of creative ways to build an inexpensive coop. -pallets, fence panels, old sheds.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You should send a link of your local Craigslist. I bet I could find all you need for far less than $200.

Welded wire is less than half the cost of hardware cloth for me 4x50 roll is $38 where 1/2" wire cloth 3x25 is $50. If you can get it for the same price that's amazing.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbrande...lvanized-Steel-Welded-Wire-308302HD/204322262
Two rows of this for a tall fence is only $76. A staple gun won't put it on you need staple nails for $1.50 a package http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbrande...lvanized-Steel-Welded-Wire-308302HD/204322262 and I'd use pressure treated 4x4X8 for the posts which are $8 each. With those 2ft in ground you have a 6ft fence leaving 2ft of welded wire for apron to keep out digging predators. Pressure treated 2x4 to connect between posts top and near bottom for fence stability and something to staple nail the fence to.

How big of a run are you looking to make? a 12x12 run would be 8 4x4, 3 boxes staples, 18 2x4, 2 rolls weld wire totaling $200. That's enough 2x4 to make a door also so it's only a few hinges and a latch you need, about $15 more not sure what is costing you $35 on that.

Anywho, for roughly just over $200 you can have a swanky run you build. I use a 10x10X6ft high dog kennel. Quick to install and you can find them on Craigslist for less. For a temp coop and what I use for my grow out pen coop you can use a plastic playhouse. Screw it together securely, add roosts and floor then cover windows in hardwire cloth using screws and large washer.

 

[FDaniels]

Thank you guys so much!!!!! I'm going to see if I can sort of combine everything you guys said. Here is the link for our local CL: http://bham.craigslist.org/

I called Marvins and asked about scrap material and they said all they had were a bunch of 1x's and that was it. Now we do have a good size shed right next to our house but it's surrounded by trees and the ground isn't level at all & the shed needs a good bit of work done to it: new roof, new floor, new door. And it's an area covered in briars although we may be able to cut those away. But I still wouldn't know how to work the roof around all those trees and it's not around any windows so we couldn't keep an eye on them unless we bought baby monitors but I don't know how expensive those would be & what their range is. Where they would be is about 60 feet or so away. Ideas? I think the building, if I remember right, is about 200 to 300 sq ft maybe so it's a very decent size. You think it might be worth fixing it up and then just attaching a small run to the outside of it? The floor of it is raised off the ground a foot or two but what if when we removed the bad floor we attached some wire to the joists and then laid osb over the wire & sandwiched it in? Would chicken wire work for the since if the coons tore through it there would still be an actual floor in their way? or would we even need to sandwich any wire? I actually think all the joists and roof rafters are ok & that's it's just the plywood that's messed up but the people who built it used waferboard. What do you guys think? With this big of a building, what size run could we get away with building or would we even need a run?

 

[FDaniels]

Something like this maybe? http://thecitychicken.com/newhenhouse2.jpg Our shed isn't exactly like this one but it's one that just uses a shed & no run.
or this? http://www.motherearthnews.com/~/me...ver Shed-to-Coop Conversion/backyard coop.jpg

 

[FDaniels]

And ours isn't open on the front & sides like these. It's completely walled in and just has a standard size door on it.

 

[nikkers390]

For the skirt, we used chicken wire attached to the 2x4 welded wire and laid flat on the ground. We then covered the skirt with concrete roof tiles (free from CL) Nothing has dug under that. We used the same method when we had the greatest escape artists in the world; a couple of Siberian huskies. They gave up on digging through that. From sad experience we have found that if a predator wants to get in, it will get in one way or the other. Best to make the run as predator proof as possible. If they can chew through it, rip it, pry it, dig under it, climb over it, push it down or put their paws through it, trust me, sooner or later they will. It is heartbreaking not to mention loss of time and money to keep replacing chickens that have gone to feed the local wild life. Think raccoons and bobcats. They will outsmart you if you are not vigilant.

 

[Tomtommom]

I bought hardware cloth on Amazon of all places. The 48 inch wide stuff had free shipping! I did not bury any wire under the coop. I have dogs in a chain link yard, they would bark like crazy if something tried to dig under, so we didn't bother. We're also in the 'city' so we don't really get predators except for hawks.

My run is the large welded wire, 6 foot tall, I think the holes are 2x4 inches. Just to keep the girls from getting out during the day.