My hubby and I have pretty much no building experience. Also, he's out of town every week and just here on the weekends. We want to build a coop that will house 6-8 hens, which thankfully are not here yet
..
We have an extra 4x8 cargo trailer that we aren't using which we could cannibalize, but not sure if that will work as it sits rather high off the ground. Been looking at the coops here on the site, but quite a few are not idiot proof enough for us..
We need 'insert tab here' kind of instructions.
I saw one person that made a coop out of a swingset - we also have one of those. There's an open ended shed as well, but it's on the edge of our property and too far away for us to keep a good eye on the birdies. I am going to investigate anyways to see if it could possibly be moved as it might be good for something.. Maybe we could rip it apart and re-use the wood. Hmm.
We have TONS of room (25+ acres). The coop would have to be good in cold weather as we are in upstate NY. If it's a moveable coop (either is ok), we do have a barn we could move it into for the winter, but I am open to any suggestions.. Hubby does not want to use the barn for the full time coop and it's not well placed near grass.
There's also an open area that is between the two barns that has a roof and a straw floor which we could also use but it's not ideally situated for a run. I'd like them to be able to go out in the sun!. We are looking for:
1. Cheap (sub $500 for all, if possible even lower)
2. Easy with step by step dummy instructions and a list of supplies. There's a TSC, a Home Depot and a Lowes close by. Supplies would need to fit in a 4x8 trailer as that's what I have for transport. Willing to buy the plans if anyone has a suggestion for a 'for sale' set of plans that turned out well and are good for dummies.
3. Cold-resistant
4. predator resistant as possible - we have coyotes, raccoons and foxes that go through our forest!
We are newish around here, so don't know anyone to get old supplies from and craigslist has a bunch of people looking for the same thing <grin>.
All help appreciated - just need somewhere to get started. I know hubby would LIKE to build one of the cool coops shown on this site, but without marked boards and an included hex screwdriver (kidding!!) we might get lost..
Still perusing through everyone's wonderful designs
We have an extra 4x8 cargo trailer that we aren't using which we could cannibalize, but not sure if that will work as it sits rather high off the ground. Been looking at the coops here on the site, but quite a few are not idiot proof enough for us..
We have TONS of room (25+ acres). The coop would have to be good in cold weather as we are in upstate NY. If it's a moveable coop (either is ok), we do have a barn we could move it into for the winter, but I am open to any suggestions.. Hubby does not want to use the barn for the full time coop and it's not well placed near grass.
There's also an open area that is between the two barns that has a roof and a straw floor which we could also use but it's not ideally situated for a run. I'd like them to be able to go out in the sun!. We are looking for:
1. Cheap (sub $500 for all, if possible even lower)
2. Easy with step by step dummy instructions and a list of supplies. There's a TSC, a Home Depot and a Lowes close by. Supplies would need to fit in a 4x8 trailer as that's what I have for transport. Willing to buy the plans if anyone has a suggestion for a 'for sale' set of plans that turned out well and are good for dummies.
3. Cold-resistant
4. predator resistant as possible - we have coyotes, raccoons and foxes that go through our forest!
We are newish around here, so don't know anyone to get old supplies from and craigslist has a bunch of people looking for the same thing <grin>.
All help appreciated - just need somewhere to get started. I know hubby would LIKE to build one of the cool coops shown on this site, but without marked boards and an included hex screwdriver (kidding!!) we might get lost..
Still perusing through everyone's wonderful designs
