I have 12 5-week old leghorns that are in a temporary outside wire run (12'x6') with plastic sheeting on half of it for protection from the weather. We're trying to come up with a coop and run design that will also have space to put a riding lawn mower - we don't want to build 2 buildings on our property. We have a 16x18 garden fenced with chicken wire. We'd like to have a coop on one side of the garden and build 2 runs around the other sides and alternate access to the runs for the chickens to reduce the wear and tear on the ground. The runs are almost built and each one is about 18x8 (we did use hardware cloth for the bottom 2'). We want 48 square feet for the coop, plus another 48 square feet for storage. The problem is, we had originally designed the nesting boxes to have outside access on the outside of the garden. The front of the coop facing the garden was going to have a covered porch and the door to the coop. The second problem, we need to do this for very little money. We've been trying to scavenge for materials, but have had very little success. Has anyone else done this? What works, what doesn't? By the way, we're in southwest Missouri, if that matters. I look forward to any suggestions! Katie Wife to a wonderful dreamer, homeschooling mom to 3 boys-17, 15, and 8 6 brown leghorns, 5 white leghorns, 1 California white
Try checking your phone book for a local semi trailer repair shop. I get scrap plywood and fiberglass roofing from the one near me. I also get pallets of odd sizes that they cant sell. This kind of stuff usually is broken up for the dumpster. The only downside is I had to agree to take all the scrap lumber , to get what I wanted. So I have several piles of kindling for the wood stove.
For ideas on a coop combined with a shed, look in the coop designs section. I know there are at least a couple on there. Here is one that I think looks great. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=4234 Here is another one. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=16313-jon-adams As far as building inexpensively just keep you eyes open for pallets and lumber for free. In our area you can find quite a bit. There are some nice pallet coops in the coop section as well. I hope that helps a little. Welcome to BYC as well.
