Coop for 30 free range chickens

[shsesc]

How would you go about building a coop for 30 chickens that will free range during the day in CT, that costs less than $300. I tried to find a shed on craigslist, and I had no luck. I just need a secure night-time home for them. I have about 2 months to find one or build one. TIA for any assistance or insights.

 

[Ljc01]

We bought a 6x10 dog kennel for $100. We used 5 gallon plant buckets for nesting boxes. We bought closet rods for roosting bars. We had to buy some heavy duty tarps to put on top because the kennel had no roof. I would think we spent no more the $300.
We were lucky to find a dog kennel so cheap.
Good luck.

 

[Rob Tof]

How would you go about building a coop for 30 chickens that will free range during the day in CT, that costs less than $300. I tried to find a shed on craigslist, and I had no luck. I just need a secure night-time home for them. I have about 2 months to find one or build one. TIA for any assistance or insights.

I WOULD ALSO LOOK UNDER KIDS PLAY HOUSES

 

[Frazzemrat1]

We recently built our coop inside a dog run... You could always hit a TSC, get cattle panels and chicken wire or hardware cloth and at least build a secure run with a tarp over one end. It will at least keep them out of the weather until you can build a more permanent structure for our winters.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are in Connecticut so you do need a solid coop, or at least a place for them to get out of direct wind, especially when roosting. And for 30 chickens it needs to be fairly large since you'll get a lot of snow and they will be stuck inside it. Or find some way to keep an area clear of snow for them.

For $300 you'll have to scrounge for a lot of materials. On craigslist don't just look for sheds, look for lumber, roofing, hardware (hardware can get expensive), doors, windows, plywood, paneling, whatever you think you can use. You probably have a habitat re-use store around, check them out. Check out construction sites, they often use a lot of materials for construction aides or for forming concrete and have to dispose of it. A lot of stuff gets moved on pallets, then the pallets are excess. I'm not sure where you'd find them but a lot of people use pallets for raw material when building a coop.

$300 is a challenge, good luck!

 

[Rob Tof]

How would you go about building a coop for 30 chickens that will free range during the day in CT, that costs less than $300. I tried to find a shed on craigslist, and I had no luck. I just need a secure night-time home for them. I have about 2 months to find one or build one. TIA for any assistance or insights.

Did you do your home work when thinking about costs. I have done my as much of my coop and run on reclaimed materials and I only have 8 chickens. I'm close to 600$ all in. Fence alone (hardware cloth) was 100$ per rollx2

 

[Percheron chick]

Are you planning on processing them all before winter or do you have other plans for them once free ranging is no longer possible? If you only follow the 4 sq ft per bird rule you will need 120 sq ft or an 8x16 or similar coop. Start with free lumber on CL or dumpster diving at construction sites. You can get discounted lumber at your ReStore, HD, Lowes...(miscuts, warped or used). You can make nesting boxes out of free 5 G buckets from the bakery dept.
With a $300 budget you can almost buy new materials for an 8x16 hoop coop. You would need 5 16' x54" panels ($120) . I can find them for free to $20 each on CL farm section. 2 16' 2x6, 2 8' 2x6 scrap 2x4 to make a door. Minimum of one 50' roll of hardware cloth ($50-100). Heavy duty tarp to cover what isn't enclosed by the HW cloth. 8' saplings or 2x4 for roosts (3 minimum and about 5 buckets for nesting boxes. $40 for nails, fencing staples, zipties and miscellaneous.

 

[jjchickmom]

Maybe you can see if you have a Habitat for Humanity RESTORE near you. Cheap way to buy leftover building supplies for your project. Sometimes they get used sheds as well.

 

[Ljc01]

Being in Calif, none of these problems ever occurred to me. We free range all year long, never have to worry about snow!

 

[shsesc]

$300 is to appease the wife and only factors in the shelter, if I need to I will spend more. You've all given me lots to think about.

I will be keeping at least half of them year round.

I have a source of pallets I can get plenty.

I'll look into re-store.

I have lots of miscellaneous hardware and scrap wood and plenty of saplings on my property to make roosting perches.

I'm currently considering all the options and I'll post back to let you know what I did and what I learned.