Cheap coop ideas

[Osocrazymom]

I was told by a relative that I could have a few of his coops because he's no longer keeping chickens, well it fell through and I need some ideas for my 6 12 week old pullets. Right now they spend most of the day under my porch and I have big cages in a shed that they sleep in. None of them are laying yet.

 

[salt and pepper]

Pallets!! It's awesome wood, and you can usually get them for free. I spent a total of ten dollars on mine. Warning though, make sure the wood is in good shape, and that your tools are in good shape. The wood is HARD! And sometimes can harbor bugs you don't want.

 

[danib]

What kind of glue did you use to keep the PVC pipe together for your automatic waterers or feeders?

 

[Megaputz]

Salt and Pepper said it. "Pallets!" Along with steel roofing or an old truck cap and some chicken wire. Stand 'em up, nail 'em together and pop the truck cap or roof on and run some wire around for chicken run. Takes less then 30 minutes to build a coop with run. 50' of chicken or welded wire is about $35.
Depends on what you have laying around. The birds won't care... they just want protection from the elements and predators.

My first winter the girls spent in just the truck cap with plywood to block the door. The next spring I put pallets under the cap to bring it off the ground. Old trailer skirting to keep the wind out and make it look somewhat better.
Last year I framed up a 6'x6' coop wth old 2"x4" lumber from work. Girls still preferred the truck cap They would roost and lay their eggs in there. Took weeks before I could get them to roost and lay in the new coop.
My hens are free range. There is a fence but they roam free all day and come back to coop to lay eggs and at dusk to roost. I just open the door and they decide.
If they have picked a safe place to roost it can be hard to break them of it. May have to coral them into the coop around dusk or catch them and place them there a few times before they get the idea. A 40w florecent light in the coop can help guid them to where to go.

Best waterers for duck and chickens are plastic 4 and 5 quart ice cream buckets. Simple and cost nothing. Easy to clean and fill....

 

[wildsam]

Have to agree to. Pallets is the way to go if you want to build a coop as cheap as possible. Some manufacturing companies even give pallets away for free, so all you need to do is pick up how ever many you want and build to your hearts content! You can get real creative and all our pheasant pens are build of nothing but pallets and welded wire to contain them and help against predators. Looks pretty good though and cost next to nothing for a total of 4 huge pens, a safe walking area and a storage/feed shed. On our way now to build real chicken coops and a duck coop too, since we just got young chicks and ducklings too... oh my, the poultry we have...lol.
So call around, look in the papers or on craigslist for free pallets and start building! Enjoy!

 

[Megaputz]

At 4:11 mark you can se the chicks/ducks running around.
All I did was grab 2 pallets and nail the corners together and put it against my existing coop. After that I wrapped chicken wire around the coop and made a 2'x4' run. Slapped 2 pieces of steel roofing on top of the chicken wire and pallet to keep out wind. A 2"x4" and two more pieces of sheet metal for the roof. 5/8" plywood to block entrance at night.

less than 30 minutes and cost nothing