Cost of a Coop

[wsdareme]

Our coop was just under $1,000, and that included a big-ticket item that I'd buy all over again: an automatic pop door.

Here is our coop story: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=50766-the-chicken-experience. There is a breakdown of our costs included.

The coop is 12'x15', which is a great size, and we have a 10'x20' partially covered run. We used a lot of recycled wood and other items. We, too, went to a Habitat For Humanity Restore where we found slider windows with screens for $5 each.

I think it turned out well for as much recycling as we did. And the girls sure do love it!

Here is a picture:

 

[BrattishTaz]

I've spent under $20 so far for the brooder (4x4 w/ peaked roof and hinged side), a refurbished playhouse coop (built when my kids were little), homemade incubator, and a not yet complete 8x16 coup duplex (I still need 12 sheets of plywood and some roofing materials). Use freecycle.org, Craigslist, and visit construction/demolition sites to get materials. I got most of my materials from construction sites (plywood, commercial fencing, blocks, bricks, 2x4s, 4x4...etc)

 

[WallTenters]

I think it totally depends on what you use.

You can get OSB plywood for $5-$8 per 4x8 sheet at Home Depot. Get some 2x4s, new or from restore or other source, and some mis-tinted paint from HD, Lowe's, Walmart, anywhere that sells paint! Usually you can get mistinted paint for somewhere around $5/gallon. The paint will help everything last longer.

 

[Supernatural]

We scrounged too, and probably only spent $100-200 on materials - paint, insulation, shingles, hinges, latches, chickenwire, and a couple of 2x6 boards that we bought. Everything else was scrounged/ recycled. I'll post pics, but brace yourself; we're kind of rednecks

The coop itself is converted from a shed that my kids used as a playhouse when they were small. We took out the windows and recovered the outside with leftover siding pieces from friends (with a 5x8-ish coop, the scraps from "real" projects are just right.) The inside walls and ceiling are old fence boards from a fence a friend of ours tore out and replaced. I considered painting them, but I actually love the look of the boards inside, almost like a little Chicken Cabin

The window opens on hinges and has a latch for locking at night, but the window guard is one of those junky wire shelf/ closet organizer thingies we'd pulled out of our closets (and replaced with REAL shelves, *finally*) You can barely see it in the picture, but the roost are held up with triangular shelf supports from the DIY area of the hardware store. The building sits on 6 large cinderblocks, allowing air flow under the coop, and giving us the option to move the building in the future if we choose to.

The run is made with two 2'x8' roof trusses we scrounged from a construction site, 2'x6' boards along the bottom, and more recycled fence boards through the middle. The trusses are sunk in concrete on the vertical end, and mounted to the coop with deck brackets. (The fence boards you can see in the back is my actual fence behind the coop.) The roof of the run is recycled metal siding from a storage shed my neighbor dismantled and tossed. Not visible in the picture is the run door, also made from fence boards and 2'x6'. The whole shebang covered in chickenwire that's buried below ground 8-10 inches or so. The chicken door opens and closes by a cable, run through a ring at the ceiling inside and out through a hole to the outside, where it hangs on an outside ring with a hook. Does that make sense? To open every day, we just unhook it from the top ring and pull it down to the bottom ring and hook again.

And yes, that is a wheel ramp we're using for chicken access

We could have had fancy, but we mostly wanted functional. If there's a construction site anywhere near you, where new houses or apartments are being built, check the dumpsters - you'd be amazed at how many partial pieces of various materials get tossed because they're not big enough to build a house (but totally fine for a little coop). Ask your neighbors and friends, too, if they're doing any remodeling or anything; you may really score (and save a gob of money) with coop building supplies.

 

[shepan2]

My last coop cost about 2500.00 - My new one, using and converting an existing garden shed - cost about 1500.00 - like buying a hybrid car - I will never re-coop expenses but they are so entertaining and they are totally worth every cent! I'm sure I'll be spending another 500.00 to secure their outside run area from predators...

 

[gettinaclue]

We spent over a thousand on the coop and run, but we also covered our run and built our coop up off the ground about 5 or 6 inches. We also dug down a foot and out 6 inches and buried fencing there to deter digging predators.

We are just starting to plan a "mini" coop and run expansion. sigh. DH says the price of lumber is going down - good thing too.

We searched freecycle and craigs list and could never find what we need, so we ended up buying all new - more than likely, we will do the same thing again.

 

[weazel922]

I'm building an elevated 6x4 coop. We want to make sure it looks nice as I have 5 neighbors adjacent to my back yard, so we don't want a dump that they can complain to the city council about. With that said, I already had a 6x12 dog kennel. That will be our run. I'm looking at about $600 for a very nice coop, custom built to what we need.

It's more than I originally intended, but I'm a firm believing of doing it right the first time and making things that last.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

My coop costs $1200+. It is very secure--cement floor, an inch thick side and plywood, that a metal roof -chain link fencing and hardware over windows and the run is completely enclosed w/ chain link fencing

 

[AlienChick]

Just yesterday we bought all the materials we need to build our 8x12 coop.
We went to Lowes and spent $690 (I used my 10% discount coupon, too).
And today we're going down to the restore to pick up a door for $10.

 

[GeneJordan]

I am at about $600 and will spend another $100 to finish. That is for a 12x12 run, 4x6 coop, and 4x6 goat pen.

We will have it surrounded by a 48x48 corral, and the project total will be $1500