HELP i have no experience in making coops!

[qnzchoe7]

what is the BEST WAY of building a coop? i have NO experience!

 

[Catfishingpokey]

as long as the chickens have the things they need which is a roost feed and water and nest boxes they dont care what it looks like so do the best you can and have fun with it. if you dont know any thing about construction by the time you get thru you will.

 

[sewincircle]

My DH built my coop. I hope to encourage you with the fact that he has NO experience either. We looked at some of the photos offered here on BYC. Many of them are progressive shots that show how the coop progressed in stages. They were so good that he built my coop and it is wonderful. It probably took longer than if someone else with experience did it but I love it. It was a labor of love. Good luck with it though.

 

[Catfishingpokey]

look on here there are a lot of good ideas on this forum. my coop is all metal but most people build them out of wood.i just have more background working with metal.and i find it easy to work with.plus we dont have much cold weather to worry about where i live.

 

[Mahonri]

Up at the very top of the page is a link for "Coop Designs"

I found a coop design on the internet and then I made it bigger. I love it. So do my hens.

 

[FrChuckW]

Quote:
There are a lot of factors to consider when building a coop. The area of the country where you live is one. Is it in an area that is prone to flooding? What are your seasons like? Are you in a urban or rural area? Are there any restrictions on what you can build and how close to existing structures and neighbors.

If you have close neighbors then whatever you build you don't want to be an eyesore so that they will complain.

Aside from looking through this forum, which has a lot of great ideas for different style coops for different settings.

Storey Publishing has a great book complete with diagrams on how to build small animal structures. A good basic book on carpentry might also help.

 

[Texas ChickenZ]

I don't think there is a "best" way, but I just finished building my first one and can tell you a few things I would have done differently. I built mine out of mostly scrap lumber and an old wooden fence someone let me have. I used the fence boards for my siding. If I build another there are a couple of things I would do differently:

1. I would probably build it with a "shed" type roof instead of a gable- much easier.

2. I would build it bigger. Mine is 6x6', but the time and money wouldn't be much more to make it 8'x8' or even bigger.

3. I used 2"x4" welded wire or cage wire for my run. It is much stronger than 'chicken wire', however young chicks can run right through it! I learned this the hard way and then wrapped regular chicken wire around the bottom to keep them from running out.

4. Plan out where you want your roost, feed/water, nesting boxes and storage before you begin. Also decide where your run will be in relation to the coop and plan for the "pop hole" for the chickens into the run accordingly.

5. Do it as cheap as you can!


I used the plan found here:

http://www.buildeazy.com/chicken_coop_1.html

and modified it to fit my needs. Here are a couple of pics of the finished product. Good luck!