Chicken Coop Construction for the Poor and Unhandy

[lildevil77]

What a neat idea using the trampoline!! How cool Thanks for all the tips!

 

[3 sisters farm]

Used dog houses, and wire kennels as well as chain link kennels can be had for not much. I always wrap 2 ft chicken wire and wire it to the chainlink...some use 3 ft and bury a foot to stop other critters from digging in...much of this is avilable even free on craiglist or freecycle. I'm building a real coop now....scored several boards of plywood for free.....had to take out the nails. I used a 1$ saw black and decker skill saw....had to put a plug on...instruction right in the plug...that cost about $2.

 

[columbiacritter]

Our city has two used places with really really cheap lumber, windows, doors, etc. One's the Rebuilding Center and the other is the Habitat for Humanity store. We got most of our lumber as salvaged scrap from a housing complex, amazing what they toss, but the windows, doors and other fixtures came from the Rebuilding center. A lot of the nails that went into assembling it were salvaged from building our own house.

The gates to the run are actually heavy duty steel mesh doors from a high voltage utility vault. No durn coon will get through them!

My portable coop was torn up 2x4's I got for $1 a piece off a lumberyards salvage pile. The second level is a dogloo my husband found in a garbage strewn lot. We call it the penthouse.

Paint is always ultra cheap mismixes, that's why my main coop is purple.

I admit to dropped $100 on the current coop I'm building. But it's going to be visible from the street so I want something that looks real nice. That doesn't mean there's not salvage involved. It will have 4 wonderful old windows I pulled out of a dumpster. Broke my hear to see the wonderful french doors they'd already thrown concrete on and smashed. The roof is being waterproofed with pieces of pondliner left over from putting our pond in a few years ago.

See, lots of salvage out there if you keep your eyes open.

 

[Teresaann24]

My coop was real cheap...

My run is 5x10 Chicken wire was $12 for 50 feet and 4ft tall. I bought only had to use one roll. 10 feet on each side5 at each end 10 for the roof and 10 for the floor. I bought 2 50lb bags of sand for $3 forgot to add I had some wire left off that I bought earlier to make a temp pen for 5 chicks i picked up. used that extra wire to put a split in the middle to make it a 2 sided run. I bought a old rabbit hutch double sided from a friend of my brothers for $15 I got the durable plastic used for building houses to insulate free from my cousin I just can go to his house and get all that I need. The metal wrapping secure lines i get from securing the run and the run to the coop I get from My uncle who used to work for a scrap metal junk yard sort of thing and he had lots of it that he has since gave to me. Nails where 2lbs for $1.19 The 2 tarps I have one I bought for $2 off the guy who lives down the road from me who was tearing down his old swimming pool and the other My older brother gave to me.

Now inside the old rabbit hutch I added the plastic insulation on the inside and out I had my landlord come bring his saw and cut me out a hole on each side to add regular home vents that he sold to me for $4 a peice. So far I dont have any nests on the inside. Or any places to open to collect eggs. This i will do in spring I only have my rooster on one side my 3 teenage chicks on the other side.

The ramps where old boards I found around the house from where are storage building was built I just hammered out the nails one I used I had to wrap chicken wire around it because it was slick so I did this for it to be easy for them to walk up and down. My rooster sleeps on the inside ramp (The one wrapped in chicken wire) I didn't have a floor so as of now the floor is just earth. Before winter gets here im going to add hay inside.

I don't have any pics yet but ill take some tomorrow its not fancy not colorful but my chickens love it and it will keep them warm this winter.

 

[FrChuckW]

I am just getting started in building a coop in my backyard. I live in the city of Louisville, KY where I understand that we can keep 1 crowing bird and 4 non crowers. I have used salvaged/scrap materials for years in building various structures around the yards. I built a racing pigeon loft from scrap materials. I see that there have been some really great ideas on where to get additional supplies from, dumpster diving, fencing stores, packing crates, etc. One of the things I have done with my lofts and will also do with my coop is place them on cinder blocks to raise them up off the ground so that vermin can't get in from underneath.

Another thing I did over the flight/runs is to get one of the 10' X10' canopies from the Family Dollar store and using concrete cinder blocks with holes in them and use them to tie the canopy down against the winds.

They cost about $20.00.

It provides plenty of shade over the runs, is pretty sturdy and allows for ventilation through the sides of the runs. If your runs are not that wide then they also help to keep the rain away from the runs unless it is a sideways rain. Another place to look for items for your coops is Thrift stores, and yard sales. Alot of times you can find that odd object (like jars for feeders and waterers) at them as well.

I am new to this group, I have enjoyed reading all the posts so far, they have given me some great ideas for my coop.

Thanks Everybody,

Fr. Chuck Wolff,
Louisville, KY

 

[eeiko321]

Quote:
lol the frankenstein of coops
j/k

 

[AimsChickies]

Thanks for all the cool ideas!