Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[HallFamilyFarm]

We are still leasing a small farm. Everything we build is 8' or less wide. Its the legal limit in Arkansas and not need a permit on the highways. Our barn is 8'W x 10'L with 3 stalls. Our coops are all either 4'x8' or 5'x8'. We did build a recycled lawn mower crate coop. It is now painted. We found a discount lumber supply with 5 gallon paint buckets for $15. We can paint 3 coops with each bucket of paint. If and when we move, everything can slide on a trailer and relocate with us.

Nicole's Buff Orp Bantam (BOB) coop.

Our recycled lawn mower crate w/political campaign signs.
We have replaced the feed sack roof with recycled aluminum siding.

Just one of our Duplex coops.

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[Beekissed]

It makes it tough when you are renting....I'm fortunate that most of the places I've rented already have coops or buildings that are suitable for coops. But if it doesn't, everything you build has to be portable or easy to remove when you leave.

The place I'm at now isn't mine either, thus the cattle panel coop comes into play. If this place were mine I'd be building a log cabin coop from trees on this land.

 

[stonykill]

It makes it tough when you are renting....I'm fortunate that most of the places I've rented already have coops or buildings that are suitable for coops. But if it doesn't, everything you build has to be portable or easy to remove when you leave.

The place I'm at now isn't mine either, thus the cattle panel coop comes into play. If this place were mine I'd be building a log cabin coop from trees on this land.

now why didn't I think of a log cabin coop? We own 30 acres and about 20 of it wooded and much of that pine. I wish I had more time. This darn having to make a living thing getting in my way of farming....

 

[stonykill]

Hall family I like the lawn mower crate coop. I have a lawn mower crate here awaiting to be transformed into a coop.

 

[Beekissed]

now why didn't I think of a log cabin coop? We own 30 acres and about 20 of it wooded and much of that pine. I wish I had more time. This darn having to make a living thing getting in my way of farming....

For a coop one doesn't have to have the best logs nor do you have to peel them, cure them, etc. They could cut them whenever they got the chance and just start adding to the walls. Pine works great for cabins! Eventually you'd have a rustic, sturdy, and functional coop on the place.

 

[stonykill]

For a coop one doesn't have to have the best logs nor do they have to peel them, cure them, etc. They could cut them whenever they got the chance and just start adding to the walls. Pine works great for cabins! Eventually you'd have a rustic, sturdy, and functional coop on the place.

I'll have to put that on my to do list. That would look really good in the back yard. And not much less wood for the outdoor wood boiler which is where all the pine goes now.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Hall family I like the lawn mower crate coop. I have a lawn mower crate here awaiting to be transformed into a coop.

The fencing was left over from other coops. The gate was from Sears (a freezer pallet). Was surprised that the feed bag roof lasted a year. The roost also was from Sears. The feeder was recycled from some old rabbit hutches. The waterer was a 5 gallon oil jug. The gate locks are just wood with a screw in the middle. The only new was the hinges. I now have a bucket of recycled hinges for our "new" coops. The only change would be to paint the entire crate before I add the fencing. Also to add another gate in the front. It is difficult for this "fat farmer"* to get inside it.

* One of my father's nicknames was "The Fat Farmer".

I am my father's son!

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I'll have to put that on my to do list. That would look really good in the back yard. And not much less wood for the outdoor wood boiler which is where all the pine goes now.

I use cedar trees from our property on our runs for the frame. With a tree trunk, you don't have to worry about it warping or becoming all catty-wampus as my mom would say. It's free and looks better than cut slabs. The only hard part is finding cedar trees the right size with no bends and then getting them out of the woods. I prefer cedar over pine. I've had cedar posts on my runs for 7 years now and they are still in great shape. I've used pine before and it doesn't seem to last as well. When I walk through the woods, there are lots of decaying pine trees. They seem to decay pretty darn quick to a point where you can crumble them in your hand. Cedar trees not so much.

 

[Beekissed]

You have to remember that your cedar posts are out in the weather and cedar does well with that. When you construct a log structure out of pine it has a roof over it and it's not out in the weather, so to speak. I've lived in log cabins for a good portion of my life...helped build all three of them. The first one was entirely made of just junk, green pine with the bark on it, it was built 36 years ago and it took 3 wks for us to build it, so you can say that it wasn't done with any eye towards permanency or resilience...it was just a temporary dwelling. The back wall sits right on the ground and water runs off a hill right into that wood.

It is standing strong today and looks exactly the same as it did then, only weathered into a pretty burnished gold color. You put a good roof with a decent overhang on it and you can build your cabin with just about any wood and get it to last as long as you will ever need it.

Not many people have cedar trees of the appropriate size and number to finish out a good sized log structure or everyone would build log cabins from it...pine is cheap, it's readily available, it's soft enough to work with, it's round and tall, grows straight on one trunk, has few branches to trim. It has enough resin that it doesn't form large cracks as it dries out and it has a pleasant odor.

 

[stonykill]

I use cedar trees from our property on our runs for the frame. With a tree trunk, you don't have to worry about it warping or becoming all catty-wampus as my mom would say. It's free and looks better than cut slabs. The only hard part is finding cedar trees the right size with no bends and then getting them out of the woods. I prefer cedar over pine. I've had cedar posts on my runs for 7 years now and they are still in great shape. I've used pine before and it doesn't seem to last as well. When I walk through the woods, there are lots of decaying pine trees. They seem to decay pretty darn quick to a point where you can crumble them in your hand. Cedar trees not so much.

I don't have cedar trees. I work with wood for a living. I'm aware of pines unprotected downfalls. However as Bee stated, roof etc protecting the pine.

Honestly I probably have more appropriately sized small straight hardwood that would go to a coop.