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
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