First Coop Design & Build - added video of automatic door

[Resolute]

Lovely design, and I love the automatic door! Your coop is the same size I'm looking at building - I might have to steal a significant portion of your design

What was your cost of building, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Wild Trapper]

I like looking a coop designs. I had my chicks before I had a coop large enough for them so I had to cheat and bought a 8x10 pre-built storage shed and altered it for a coop. At first I did build a 4x4 chicken tractor but it was far too small for the number of chicks I ended up with. Chicken math!

 

[PeterW]

@Resolute: I dread to think what the total overall cost is but here goes...The initial lot of timber (4 sheets OSB, all the 2x3, 7x1, 5x2 etc) came to somewhere around €300. Then there was probably another €100 on top of that for screws, chicken wire, extra wood for the run etc. The windows, door, hinges, galvanised sheets for the roof, concrete blocks, bricks, paint etc were all left over from previous building/DIY projects so it's difficult to put a value on those but probably add another €100? I got the corrugated plastic that I lined the interior with for free but that would've been another €50. So a rough total if I starting from nothing would be around €550. Probably the best thing I did in the beginning, and something I'd recommend to anyone else planning a coop, was to hunt out bits and pieces I could make use of and build my design around those. ie. my design & layout was heavily influenced by the number and size of the windows. If I hadn't had those available then my design might have been entierly different.

 

[PeterW]

4 1/2 years later, revisited this page and...I miss my chickens!. We moved from Ireland to San Diego in January 2012 and donated our whole setup, chickens included, to a family friend. Hopefully one day we'll get to keep chickens again so I can have another shot at coop building. Last time was a great learning experience.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

What a huge change! Moving from Green Green Ireland to San Diego, wow! Enjoyed reading your build and how you adapted as you went. Here's hoping you get to build another coop soon!
And get more chickens :cd