COOP builders

[Veatch81]

Anyone know where a good place to buy a coop is? Preferably close to Indiana. I can't believe the price of coops. Ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[3riverschick]

Check Craigslist for a used shed. Use a panel system to make the run and fit it to the shed.

 

[3riverschick]

Make chicken wire covered panels that are five ft. Wide and six ft. Tall.2x4s. put in a horizontal crossbar half way up the panel. Use eight ft. Lengths and miter the cut offs to insert in All four corners of each panel as stabilizers. Use 4x4s at corners. Screw panels to each other with 3 1/2 inch coated deck screws. Use carriage bolts at corners. Make a smaller panel to fit inside one of The larger panels. Add latches and hinges for gate. Put 2x4s across the roof and chicken wire. I got a tarp and added grommets. Draped over top
Get bungees with red Ball at Wal-Mart. Insert screws part way down uprights. Loop bungees around tarp and screw.works great. Bungees have enough give the tarp doesn't rip in wind. Install chicken wire "apron"in ground a ft. Deep around edges of shed and run to prevent digging varmints. Best, Karen.
Don't​ know where the double post came from.

 

[3riverschick]

Best thing about this system is it's moduler and can be added onto easily. Make the end panel 6x6. That way each section is 30sq. Ft. , Enough for three adult large fowl. Easy chicken math

 

[mandelyn]

The expense of a new shed style coop is the reason most of us build ourselves! It's expensive because of material and time. The time is the real cost. Unless skilled builders should undervalue their work? The ones I like are $800-$2600. Husband and I built a 6x8 human height coop on a trailer frame so that it could move to our farm from where we built it at. Materials ran about $450. Trailer frame was free. Took 4 solid days for two people, since we're "unskilled" let's say $10 an hour each, so $320. Typically though, you take your material cost and double it for labor.

The little pre-made coops you can buy online for $150-$400 usually require alterations or improvements for security.

Each hen, of a layer variety, is going to make roughly $80 worth of eggs a year, at market value of $4 dozen. Spending her yearly take a single time to build her abode, not too bad. 5 hens, $400. Consider how many chickens you want to have, then multiply that by 4 and that's the square footage coop you need for inside space. Times chicken quantity by 10 and that's how much outside space they need.

But a handy individual can certainly slap something together on a budget, and it can be easy. At the big box stores they have a saw, with good measurements you can take lumber home that's pre cut. From there you only need screws, a drill bit, a drill, a staple gun, stables, hardware cloth (sturdier than chicken wire), and a roofing material. Corrugated roofing is easy to cut with tin snips and there is a specialty screw with a rubber washer to screw it on with.

You can also scavenge off craigslist for material, once you have a pile and a plan you can hire someone to build something. We've hired people off of craigslist, you just have to explain things well and be picky with who you select. When we needed our wheeled coop moved it had some distance to cover, and it had a cruising speed of 18 mph, so we hired someone with a trailer to move it. I paid them $180 and they did the job well, with minimal joking about this giant purple coop they had to drag down the interstate. Hahaha!

Unfortunately though, this is one of those things where you either need to spend to get what you want, or be resourceful and pull something together.

 

[Veatch81]

Thanks for all the info! Just seems to me like most of those places are taking advantage of the popularity chickens are getting to make a lot of money. $1000-$2000 for a chicken coop is a little rediculous. I put a wooden fence around my yard at my old house for half the price ($500). And it wasn't just an easy slap together. Shadow boxed, scalloped with specific measurements from the HOA. Anyway thank you and I'll probably finish my build unless something reasonable comes about. Do y'all not worry about diseases from Craigslist coops?

 

[aart]

Thanks for all the info! Just seems to me like most of those places are taking advantage of the popularity chickens are getting to make a lot of money. $1000-$2000 for a chicken coop is a little rediculous. I put a wooden fence around my yard at my old house for half the price ($500). And it wasn't just an easy slap together. Shadow boxed, scalloped with specific measurements from the HOA. Anyway thank you and I'll probably finish my build unless something reasonable comes about. Do y'all not worry about diseases from Craigslist coops?

I'd worry more about mites living in them.

Building a coop will get you more bang for your buck, and possibly a much better design.
But as you build, keep track of every expense...all materials, tools, gas to go get them.
And keep close honest track of the hours you spend building, then 'pay' yourself $10-20 per hour.
I bet it'll be close....but you'll still probably be better off DIYing.