Chicken Coop Construction for the Poor and Unhandy

[Lobzi]

Youre so very welcome. You should know that it has evolved. Her home started out as just a run then I built the coop without windows and a flat top of plywood. I wanted lighten inside so I added windows and the white plexi pitched roof. Im still not quite done...now I want to make the coop water-tight.

So my advice, start small and go from there. Let your confidence build...it will as you see your creation unfold!

 

[Yanna]

Quote:
The climate in the Bay Area is an enviable one (I know that it does get chilly, though).

We have a pretty constant onslaught of heavy winds/rains/snow through the year in Chicago, so I will have to figure out how to build with this in mind.

I like your idea of roofing that lets the light through.

 

[okiemommy]

It is possible to build a fairly "polished" looking coop with little or no carpentry skills and all free, scrounged material. That's what we're doing at the moment. It just a little more planning to , and more time to scrounge the right materials. Good luck with it, and enjoy it no matter what it ends up looking like!

 

[chicknhawaii]

I'm in the city not 5 minutes out of Waikiki with a small lot, fence, no $ to spend on materials, and NO carpentry experience!

I'm the one you were talking about!

Great post, I will certainly refer back to this one often.

 

[Parahocon]

My first chicken shelter was unplanned when they were turned into a shelter where I was volunteering.

I used an xlarge dog crate with a plastic tray bottom. I used the crate's plastic tray for a roof when the girls were in the backyard and put in back in the bottom when I had to bring them in the house or on the porch. I used a tarp for the rain and moved the crate twice a week until I found decent plywood for the top and sides.

Next, I used everything I could find. Pallets are great. They offer ventilation, but put some distance between the elements and the chickens. Hawk the dumpsters at development sites. My girls have a marble and pergo pen that's downright trendy. I even use an electric hotplate with a strong cord topped with bricks during the coldest weather for some heat. My girls would rather be outside. Inside, they don't like the constant intrusion from people and other pets or the noise at night.

My nest boses are cardboard and plastic milk crates. Chickens don't know they are slumming, they are having a good life.

Boyd

 

[Oblio13]

I've been scrounging materials for our next coop for a while. It'll be nice looking, but low cost.

Lowe's had cedar boards on sale for half price. I bought all they had, and they're stacked in our garage.

There were big, very heavy-duty stainless steel hinges at our dump's scrap metal pile. They came off the doors of armored trucks.

A French glass door came from a house that was torn down.

There's drip-edge left over from building our house.

I have lots of exterior plywood scraps from dumpster-diving construction sites to use as gussets for roof trusses.

Biggest score: 4' x 4' Anderson awning windows from the town dump - still new in the boxes.

The floor will be dirt.

The roof will be sod. I've never done one before, and I'm looking forward to the experiment. I plan to put waterproof membrane over 2" tongue-and-groove, then 8" of soil. No shingles to buy, easy repairs if necessary, evaporative cooling in the summer and insulation in the winter.

The only things I have left to buy/scrounge are 4"x4"'s for the frame, lumber for the roof trusses and sheathing, the waterproof membrane, screws and some sort of finish, probably a clear preservative.

 

[freshegg]

some people also take a old truck cap, one guy showed his pics used under his trailer house, I thought of letting mine under my deck by putting lattice all around or cheap wire fence. but I lucked out hubby helped me put stockade fence up to section off part of fenced in yard. and i put large doghouse in, and covered the cellar stairs with wood for flooring so they have 8x5 coop.they choose dog house

. got an old camper or van? heres a pic of my homemade dog house (son made when he was about 10 hes 19 now.)

 

[SewingDiva]

Well first let me say that while I'm one of those people who like a "pretty" coop, I have to also admit that it's just my choice and a pretty coop is just pretty - it's not a virtue!

One of the most ingenius coops I've seen here on BYC was made from a large dog house that someone found on Craigslist for almost nothing. The roof came off for cleaning, so they just had to add the roost, a door, nest boxes and the run.

I think they spent less than $50. Does anyone else recall that post?

~Phyllis

 

[freshegg]

no I dont recall but I am suppose to get a beautiful playhouse coop tommorow window, nice door, rain gutter, siding, and electicity nice looks like a real home. so I will have one junky (nobody can see it from the road) pic of junky up post before yours. and one fancy pretty one. Hubby keeps trying to talk me out of it cause its going to be 5 guys going out of there way to get it for me. he wants me to turn huge nice wooden trailer into one instead but Im thinking why not both more chickens

 

[joebryant]

I just want to say that I had no construction experience. I am now finishing up a coop that's costing me a LOT of money. It has no nails, just screws because I cannot drive a nail straight. I had no idea what it would cost to build; otherwise, I would never have begun the massive, super-expensive project. All this for what will be probably five hens from ten what are now five-week-old chicks.
STICK TO YOUR PLAN OF BUILDING SMALL/CHEAP!