A couple of tough questions. We had a good many of the materials on hand, and pay retail for very little when we do purchase supplies. I think one could build this coop and run for under a thousand dollars, give or take a couple of hundred. There are some extras we included which could be cut out without damaging the overall scope of the project. Not everyone wants or needs to bury 4X4 posts 16 - 18" deep in concrete, nor run a concrete skirt with hardware cloth embedded into the ground around the entire coop.
Plywood for the floor and walls is much heavier than required and there is enough hardware cloth and fencing wire on this thing to cage King Kong.
We have also since found other ways to economize some of these things, such as the gray 3/4 electrical conduit rather than standard PVC. Given the perimeter protection, we used chicken wire for the floor of the run, etc. Little things but they add up.
We presently have 12 chickens living comfortably at night in the coop. There are 4 - 12"X 14" exterior nest boxes. The roosts inside are being under utilized now that the chickens decided they prefer the ceiling joists as a roost. I do not think I would want more, and in fact hope to cull,(find some poor smuck to take) the just maturing roosters back to 8-10 birds in the near future.
Our chickens cannot free range, but my understanding is free ranging would not effect living conditions in the coop anyway. The gang of twelve is restricted to the run at all times. We lock them up in the coop at night to be on the safe side. We have a homemade 3" PVC feeder which needs to be checked at least once a day. This is serviced from outside the run and can be seen in one of Gail's pictures. If I knew we were going to be away for an extended time I would suppliment that with a large poultry feeder.
For water we have a 5 gal. bucket with watter nipples, and they have a foot bath as well. Inside the coop we keep a small waterer and chicken feeder as well. All in all there are very few things I would change in this design. We are just starting our third coop. I imagine GeorgiaGail will post pictures from that build as well.
Yes, the hatch at the rear of the coop is 3'X3' wide and positioned dead center of the coop. This allows us to service pretty much the entire coop from the doorway. Further there is no "lip" on this door and you can sweep anything right out into the garden cart which fits just under the door edge. Roosts, ladders, and poop boards all slide out for cleaning, and the lid of the nest boxes are hinged on the outside for easy access.
