Has anyone built the "playhouse coop"?

[TubbyChicken]

I keep seeing it when I'm searching for coop ideas and I love it! I'm not sure though, how many chickens it would hold or how expensive it would be to construct. Does anyone have any experience with this particular coop?

 

[mattmatts-momma]

I have the playhouse from Lowe's. It was relatively easy to assemble, although longer than the 90 minutes the box suggests.

You can see what it looks like if you click under my user name where it says website.

My husband modified it and added some nest boxes.

I currently have 7 hens in mine, but they only stay in there at night and during the day the free range. We have 2 roosts in ours. I don't think that if they had to stay in the coop all day, that this would be big enough, but mine are only in there at night and there hasn't been any squabbles between them.

I purchased mine for less than $199, I think others here have gotten it for less.

I hope this helps you.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Check out this thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=77999

 

[arlee453]

Do you mean Dennis's Playhouse Coop plans?

If so, I have used that plan to build my parakeet aviary. If you have some experience in building it is not hard to figure out the plans. If you are a complete novice, it doesn't provide step-by-step instructions though.

Here's the thread on building it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=55746

 

[TubbyChicken]

Quote:
Yes! I should have been more specific! That's the coop. I think it's a beautiful design, I'm just concerned with the ease of cleaning inside the coop, the cost of materials and the difficulty with assembly. We will have close to 10 hens (though they will be able to free range for a portion of the day) I assume we will need the 8x8 version that he offers and the plans alone will be $35.

How difficult was the assembly? My husband will be doing all the constructing with help from a friend.

 

[moodusnewchick]

I have built a coop from this design. I agree with Arlee, the plans are good, but not for a novice. If your husband and friend have tools and skills, they'll be fine. My cost is up in the $700s. We didn't use cedar nor the metal roofing he has. I have more chickens in the coop than recommended but that's because the coop and run sit inside a 20 x 30 run and the hens and roos actually free range outside the 20 x 30 too. Dennis' coop is used for sleeping and having a roof covered run for rain. Very solid good looking design.

 

[moodusnewchick]

Oh, and I haven't cleaned mine yet, but we changed my "cleaning door" to the back panel. It swings out like a door instead of using the inside one and having to unscrew it. We made a few changes, i should post pics.

 

[TubbyChicken]

Quote:
Yikes! 700 is WAY more than I want to spend. I assume the metal roof and cedar would have been even more costly. Where does it get expensive? I keep staring at it and thinking "It looks easy, it appears to be inexpensive"...I'm glad I asked these questions here.

My husband is good with tools and constructing things. I agree, the design looks great and I like the idea of having the run/coop being compact together (despite my birds being able to free range, it would be nice to have the run when I'm not at home as I do get concerned about leaving them alone.)

How long did it take to construct the coop?

 

[arlee453]

I have about $200 in my 4x8 that I use for an aviary. AND I was able to use some left over plybead I had for the exterior walls and I didn't even build out the inside part.

I used cheap tin 4x8 pieces for the roof.

Frankly, the biggest single cost for me was the hardware cloth. Since I was putting in button quail and parakeets, I needed to use 1/2" hardware cloth all around. I think I had close to $80 in that. I had another $50 in hardware - the screws, washers for the hardware cloth, screws for assembly and a screen door kit for the door.

 

[moodusnewchick]

I just opened up the excel document i used to keep track of cost. I must not know how to use the sum function. I re-checked and my total is close to $400.

Do you have excel? I can try sending you my list to you. Denis has a list with his package too.