How much did you spend building your coop/run?

[laughaha]

Ummmm......which one? We are talking JUST coops, right? Not everything that goes in them?

The large one my DH and I built was around $500 plus another $150 or so for the fencing (old tposts already had). 8'x8'x8' cube that will survive a trip to oz and back.
Then we built the pheasant pen and that was around $250
Then we bought a shelter logic system for the rabbits (cuz both sides open ALL the way up and gets a good breeze going through it) and I cut down on rabbits a little bit and turned 1/2 of it into broody/banty/chick pens. This totalled about $600 (counting the shed which probably shouldn't be counted here as I bought it for the rabbits)

 

[easton coop]

ours is 2mx1.5m coop with a 2x2m covered run and a 2x4m uncovered run. I built it mostly out of recycled materials including a children's play house. The total was about £85.00 UK£. Very cheep and lucky to find the materials.

 

[Ineggsperienced]

Now that it's done we have put close to $200 into our 5x4 (with an external 1x4 nestbox) coop and 8x8 mini run. Mini because the run is only 28 inches high.
The measurements on the coop were adjusted to what we already had laying around, and I got the window, some trim, roofing material and fence boards for free.

We bought 22 8' lengths of 2x3 lumber, a 50 foot roll of 2x4 welded wire, a 5' roll of hardware cloth for the coop ventilation, 2 sheets of plywood, 1 gallon of Oops paint, 1 gallon of fence paint, 1 packet of shingles and a lot of hardware (6 boxes of screws and nails and 8 hinges).

 

[Orchid]

To build an insulated 4 x 4 portable coop with 1 x 4 external nesting boxes and an 8 x 8 run, we spent approximately $700. That seems like a lot to house four chickens, but the thing is built like Fort Knox and will probably last at least as long as our house. And the entertainment I get from those four silly chickens made it worth every penny!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Quote:
It just depends on what you want, what materials are available to you, and what building skills/time commitment you have. I really think everyone's situation is going to be very different. If you spend your time scrounging for materials on Freecycle, or bartering with a local carpenter for building help, you would probably be able to come by a really nice coop rather cheaply. Just budget what you want to spend, stay within your budget, and make sacrifices when necessary.

 

[Tigerjane]

Quote:
W-O-W. Excellent use of space, too!

 

[Tigerjane]

Quote:
It looks great!

 

[Tigerjane]

Quote:
It just depends on what you want, what materials are available to you, and what building skills/time commitment you have. I really think everyone's situation is going to be very different. If you spend your time scrounging for materials on Freecycle, or bartering with a local carpenter for building help, you would probably be able to come by a really nice coop rather cheaply. Just budget what you want to spend, stay within your budget, and make sacrifices when necessary.

All great suggestions, but ours has to be aesthetically appropriate for our small yard, as well. I think this is going to turn into one of those, pay what we have to pay situations. We already have the chicks, and they're gonna have to go somewhere!

A trip to the Habitat for Humanity Re Store is scheduled for this weekend, hoping to find some good windows and doors. Ventilation will be our biggest concern, being that we're in central Texas with heat indexes above 100 for several months out of the year, and a freeze only on rare occasions.

I really enjoy reading what everyone's story around their coop is!

 

[father-clucker]

We chose to build our own.. Ours is currently in the build phase (as it has been for several weeks). Our current expenditures are >$400.. The coop is a bit larger than 3x4 with an enclosed run that is 8'x4' with a single roof for both coop & run. We may opt (later) to put a roll-down tarp material on to allow the birds warmth & outdoor fun when its raining so they don't get too wet. The big ticket items in coop building is the wood & hardware cloth. We bought the hardware cloth at Lowes for $28/roll (4 rolls for us) of 24"x25 feet (1/2" holes).. The nice thing is that the coop can be designed to your liking which you usually won't get with a pre-built. There are some kits & plans available too such as these (I bought a set of these plans but we ended up choosing a different design later), but these plans came with lots of photos,etc..

http://www.chickenmobilestagecoach.com/

 

[kla37]

Quote:
Interesting... considering that mine drive me to drinking. Send me your gin if you're not using it.