Coop on a budget for 5 chickens

[lizzy14]

I am working on creating a plan for our coop, which will need to be built by September on a limited budget. I know many of you are super-savvy at repurposing and saving $$, so tell me, what can we use that will be inexpensive, but also look good? I've heard of using concrete block caps for the floor, but does anyone know how to find those? We have some roofing material and some milk crates we could use for nest boxes. I'd love to hear more about building an automatic pop-door.
FYI: I am not going to be the primary builder, but I want to learn! I will bring all my ideas to my handy dad and semi-handy hubby and we'll see how that goes...

 

[KristenRae]

I am also interested in the replies to your post... We are in the process of building our backyard coop, and are trying to gather materials while staying within a very small budget. So far, I found a new package of 30 year roofing shingles for $5, wheels for my coop to render it movable for $1, and a huge package of non-porous laminate tiles for the interior floor and walls and added insulation also for $5 (we live in NE Wisconsin, and winters can be brutal) all at our local thrift store. Yes, you can find building materials at thrift stores, and/or check if you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore near you. Lots of materials awaiting your creative re-purposing can be found there! We have three huge sheets of OSB and a stack of lumber that was present in our house when we bought it last year... now we just need to sketch up a plan and acquire some hardware cloth. Our coop/tractor is going to follow a typical design using average materials... we just found cheap and unique ways to collect the materials

 

[6ChicksandaDog]

Have you tried craigs list under free, materials, household? Also I got most of my materials from co-workers they had left over shingles, plywood we had left over laminate flooring. We only had to buy the fencing and the 2x12 for the run. Good Luck!!

 

[ECBW]

Recycle material is the challenge and fun part of building your coop. However, it could be a chicken-or-egg situation. When using scrap, full size materials are rare to come by. So, while having certain dimensions in mind, I had to change the size to suit the material on hand.

I initially planned for half dozen birds and built a 4L x 3W x 3H coop. It turned out to be adequate for 4 birds because they need to be kept indoor in extreme weather.

I then gathered material to build a larger coop. I scored a laminate counter top for flooring (super easy to clean), some aluminum siding for roofing (much lighter than shingles) and decent anoumt of boards. The larger coop is 6L x 3W x 3.5H.

I found a lot of my material from dumpster diving at construction and home renovation sites.

 

[latebloomer]

i would suggest craigs list too

and you may be able to get really cheap sheet vinyl remnants from your local flooring place, it doesn't hurt to ask

 

[KristenRae]

I would never have thought of using laminate counter top as flooring... great idea! I know our local home-supply store sells laminate counter top remnants for a $1. Maybe your locale has a free-cycle group you could join? Can get a lot of odds and ends that way!

 

[latebloomer]

i did well at the local lumber yard taking advantec sheets that the t+g was messed up on

 

[smirch9]

Craigslist works great. I've built one coop out of wooden fence material and a metal roof for free. I've also built another coop out of metal material for free and built a third using wooden pallets. Now working on my fourth.

 

[grandwake]

We built our coop on a very limited budget as well. We were lucky though to have an old wooden play house from my younger years that was kind of rotting out back and holding old firewood. We took that and re-purposed it into an awesome little coop on a fairly low budget. The hardware cloth and chicken wire were the biggest expense by far, that and the paint. If you can get your hands on a little structure you can work with and convert I would recommended that as a good start. Browsing Craigslist is a great idea.
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[Jerseycoop]

Quote:
That was awesome! Great job