Snowkitten714
Chirping
So, I've always wanted chickens, but have never been in an "ideal" situation to have them. I've always moved around between apartments, condo rentals, and basic city dwelling without the backyard or room to have them. My situation has finally changed, and I planned on getting them next spring (wanting to make sure I had everything ready and researched before purchase), however, BF went and sent me pictures of the TSC chicks, and asked me if I wanted to go see them. Well duh, silly BF! We stopped by our local feed store first, and low and behold, they had the two species I wanted. My will power got me out of the store without chicks, but I still wanted to go to TSC and look. With my will power weakened, I picked up a bunch of supplies while in town, then headed home. We went back to the local feed store the next day (yeah, ok, there was really no willpower, just temporary suspension of purchase since I didn't actually have the supplies yet to bring them home that day). I got three chicks, 2 Easter Eggers and a Red Sex Link.
The day I got them, they said 2 weeks old
When we picked them up, they were already 2 weeks old, so I told the BF we had maybe a month or two to build the coop. We hit the hardware store the next day and I spent WAY too much money. I even bought him a new table saw to assist the project. So every day after work, I rode him hard in working on the coop. No breaks, no "I'm too tired" after work, we had to get it done. This lasted about a month. The chickens were still in the house, the livingroom to be exact, and they were getting big, and a bit smelly. They've really no other place we could put them (we have a very very small house, no garage), so I was doing my best to change bedding daily. I even added a bit of PDZ to try and control the smell. Every day the chicks would get to come out and run around the kitchen. They were getting big and outgrowing the brooder (which was already a big plastic tub, and we didn't have the room to make a bigger brooder) and I didn't want them to start picking on one another.
2 months old, wandering the front yard.
The big coop in the works...
I still found building the coop fun, but the BF was becoming bitter and bickering. I'm definitely one to pick and chose my battles, and this wasn't one of them. Even though he'd promised a coop, he wasn't really getting it done fast enough, being too tired after work, or just not wanting to work on it. *sigh* So to diffuse the situation, I stated I would buy a little cheapy $200 coop from TSC and use it as a temporary. He thought it a waste of money, but agreed.
The next day I drove past a neighbors house, and there has been a pallet sitting at the corner of their lot for the past week or so, it made me think of all the posts on this forum about pallet coops. I thought, "I can build one of those..." so I went and checked out the new Family Dollar Store that was opening, talked to the manager and asked if I could have a few pallets. He said take as many as I wanted, so yeah, I did. They had a ton of them. Each day after work, I'd swing by and pick up 4-5 of them. I think I brought home something like 15 pallets? I'm not sure because I broke them down as I was building and as I picked them up, so I never really saw more than about 4 in my driveway at a time.
It took me longer to build than even I expected, it took 3 weeks to be exact. Of course, I work 12 hour days, so even on my workdays I would rush home to work on something or another. Breaking down the pallets wasn't actually that hard, but it felt back breaking. The coop itself is 4'x3' and the run is 3.5'x7'. I calculated this to be the bare minimum footage the birds should have, plus the pallets were 4'x4', and I had one pallet that was 2.5'x7'. It's very simple, but it's temporary. I built it to allow my BF extra time to build the big coop and to ease the tension on the relationship that it was causing. Now he has a couple months to get it done, or I'm going to have to add a covered kitty litter box in the little coop, since I didn't build it with nesting boxes.
I built most of it with items already had, but if I had to break it down, I'd say I probably spent about $200 on it? Including hardware, chicken wire (yeah, to be upgraded on large coop to hardware cloth), paint, bricks, concrete stakes, and decorations. It's "technically" a little cheaper, because many of the supplies were bought for the big coop, but could be used on the little coop. I included them in the cost though... but as compared to the TSC coop, I think it's $200 much better spent.
Inside the coop, simple but works for temperary
The pop door ramp, how to attach it
Access to the underside, now with a handle and stained
The coop, 4'x3'
It has one window, 2 vents, and the pop door. If it needs more, I will make another 2
The day I got them, they said 2 weeks old
When we picked them up, they were already 2 weeks old, so I told the BF we had maybe a month or two to build the coop. We hit the hardware store the next day and I spent WAY too much money. I even bought him a new table saw to assist the project. So every day after work, I rode him hard in working on the coop. No breaks, no "I'm too tired" after work, we had to get it done. This lasted about a month. The chickens were still in the house, the livingroom to be exact, and they were getting big, and a bit smelly. They've really no other place we could put them (we have a very very small house, no garage), so I was doing my best to change bedding daily. I even added a bit of PDZ to try and control the smell. Every day the chicks would get to come out and run around the kitchen. They were getting big and outgrowing the brooder (which was already a big plastic tub, and we didn't have the room to make a bigger brooder) and I didn't want them to start picking on one another.
2 months old, wandering the front yard.
The big coop in the works...
I still found building the coop fun, but the BF was becoming bitter and bickering. I'm definitely one to pick and chose my battles, and this wasn't one of them. Even though he'd promised a coop, he wasn't really getting it done fast enough, being too tired after work, or just not wanting to work on it. *sigh* So to diffuse the situation, I stated I would buy a little cheapy $200 coop from TSC and use it as a temporary. He thought it a waste of money, but agreed.
The next day I drove past a neighbors house, and there has been a pallet sitting at the corner of their lot for the past week or so, it made me think of all the posts on this forum about pallet coops. I thought, "I can build one of those..." so I went and checked out the new Family Dollar Store that was opening, talked to the manager and asked if I could have a few pallets. He said take as many as I wanted, so yeah, I did. They had a ton of them. Each day after work, I'd swing by and pick up 4-5 of them. I think I brought home something like 15 pallets? I'm not sure because I broke them down as I was building and as I picked them up, so I never really saw more than about 4 in my driveway at a time.
It took me longer to build than even I expected, it took 3 weeks to be exact. Of course, I work 12 hour days, so even on my workdays I would rush home to work on something or another. Breaking down the pallets wasn't actually that hard, but it felt back breaking. The coop itself is 4'x3' and the run is 3.5'x7'. I calculated this to be the bare minimum footage the birds should have, plus the pallets were 4'x4', and I had one pallet that was 2.5'x7'. It's very simple, but it's temporary. I built it to allow my BF extra time to build the big coop and to ease the tension on the relationship that it was causing. Now he has a couple months to get it done, or I'm going to have to add a covered kitty litter box in the little coop, since I didn't build it with nesting boxes.
I built most of it with items already had, but if I had to break it down, I'd say I probably spent about $200 on it? Including hardware, chicken wire (yeah, to be upgraded on large coop to hardware cloth), paint, bricks, concrete stakes, and decorations. It's "technically" a little cheaper, because many of the supplies were bought for the big coop, but could be used on the little coop. I included them in the cost though... but as compared to the TSC coop, I think it's $200 much better spent.
Inside the coop, simple but works for temperary
The pop door ramp, how to attach it
Access to the underside, now with a handle and stained
The coop, 4'x3'
It has one window, 2 vents, and the pop door. If it needs more, I will make another 2
