Found a coop on Craigslist for $50..so I bought it :P..

[Lyongirl]

Our Boxer volunteered to be there for size comparison

nest boxes on side

It needs a little fixing up and we are going to paint it so it'll be prettier but I'm so excited about it! I thought that was an amazing deal for such a large coop in such good shape.

 

[shadowman]

Great deal! time and material would cost you a lot more than that!

 

[herefordlovinglady]

Great -- awesome -- find! But, how did you move it?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Good find! The run itself is huge, but the actually wooden coop looks small (holding only about 4 or 5 hens), or maybe I'm not reading the photo correctly.

To keep your hens safe, I'd line the lower 5' of the existing chickenwire with hardware cloth wire. Dogs can rip though chickenwire like it was nothing. And raccoons can reach in a put a chicken's foot through and eat it while the chicken is still struggling inside.

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

Quote:
Agreed! The materials alone are worth far more, great find!

BUT in no way, shape or form is it predator proof, especially because there is no interior coop section that can be locked up at night. Chicken wire would only be a minor annoyance to any raccoon, dog, etc as they ripped through it on their way to your sleeping chickens. You'll need to reinforce all of those wire walls with hardware cloth.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Nice find. Agree chicken wire has got to go. It doesn't stand up to predators well at all. The tin and framework though...GREAT deal!

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Wow, what a find!

If I found something like that for $50, I'd be thrilled. Good for you!

 

[Lyongirl]

In Arizona we have to have high ventilation coops so that's why there's no "interior chicken coop". It just gets so hot here in the summer (120 F) that they would cook if it was enclosed. The dogs won't be allowed near it without supervision, they only go out back to go to the bathroom, but we will be adding smaller chicken wire around the bottom and fixing it up so it's more predator proof.

 

[Lyongirl]

Our backyard also has that 6 foot concrete fencing completely around it, and a canal behind us so there's not very much desert wildlife besides scorpians and spiders that make it in our neighborhood. Our biggest concern was the hawks that fly around

 

[Lyongirl]

Quote:
I didn't hehe

. 2 very strong men (my husband and the guy who sold it) brought it back behind the fence through the canal on a trailor and then used the fencing to slowely lower it and stabilize it. It def. wasn't easy! The guy was awesome for helping us put it where we wanted. There's a door to the left that you can't see but we are going to move it to the front because we wanted to tin to face where it's facing now for added shade..since our yard gets LOTS of sun.

Thank you everyone! I'm way excited about how cheap it was! There were lots on craigslist in similar style that were way smaller selling for 125-300 normally so this was exciting for me!