How much did you spend on your DIY coop?

[Flock In Texas]

I spent about $600 to build a 4x8 chicken tractor. I spent another $200 to build a 3 sided 8x12 portable pen to mate to the tractor. I have 3 laying hens and 6 2 month old pullets. I remodeled the tractor to have 2 living areas that are separated by a door that will be opened soon when I take the pullets off of chick starter and give them the adult feed. I have separate grazing areas for the pullets and the older ladies and can clean the tractor while they are in the pens from access doors.

I had to buy all of the lumber and hardware, but the 10% veterans discount at Lowe's was a plus.

View attachment 1370315

 

[Compost King]

I posted earlier about how little I spend on Coops... I took some pictures to show some of my coops and some of my secrets. Slapping together a cheap coop isn't for everyone. Some love the beauty of a well maintained Coops, others like me try to do everything on the cheap so more money goes towards retirement. To each their own.

I build duplex 4x4 coops for my breeding trios. Lids to tubs I buy never get used by me. I turn them into Interior walls. If they fail then 2 roosters might fight and I might get set back 4 weeks on my hatching eggs... no big deal on the hatching eggs being set back, I just eat them. This is one of the ways to use less materials I have to buy. I build duplexes because the roofing material I use is 8 feet long. save on cutting and after this coop is disassembled I still have 8 foot long roofing panels.

This was my first ever completely free Coop, even the feeder and nesting boxes were recycled from previous endeavors. The fencing and netting were all left over from previous builds. It has a lot of flaws and in winter I have staple cardboard around it when it goes below 20 or we have high winds.

This one was mostly free, under 10 dollars spent , I had to buy the concrete block and 1 board was from my unused pile because I didn't have enough used lumber at the time I built it. This is another bantam coop. This the coop that I discovered I could build sliding doors because the raccoons have not figured out how to unlock them.

The only money spent on this one was to build the screen door and a few screws. I had the hard wire from previous projects but I needed new specific width wood which I had to spend money on. The run was not finished at the time of the picture because it was a low spot. The french drain you see on the bottom right was already there but I had to dig out and add some gravel. When I bought this property this was a low point of the property . Another secret for saving money, one of the walls was already in place, I built this next to my shed, I also cut openings into the shed and but the egg boxes in the shed. When I collect eggs I go into the shed and get them from 3 different flocks.

This one is was completely free, the 2 8 foot long walls already existed because this is a 4 foot alley between my shed and house, I just needed to build a hardware cloth door and put up old plywood on the other side. I did have to pay for the screws on this because I didn't have any used ones at the time.

 

[Jayecookie]

$300 for all new material

 

[~KH~]

I spent somewhere around $600+ (but less than $700). You can see the coop under Articles in my profile. It is overbuilt (2x4s on the inside and outside of the hardware cloth - we could have used lath pieces over one side to cover the raw edges of it) but we wanted it to be very sturdy and attractive. We're in an urban setting and have neighbors with two story houses that can see into our yard and not everyone was excited as we were to get chickens.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I tried not to think about it, I never tallied it up but it was in the thousands.
Spoilt chickens

or spoilt me?

Hmmm

Click my coop link IDK how to link from here its to the left..
I went overboard

Gary

 

[2 many chickens]

I'm building another coop right now. We have some lumber already here and spent $400 on the rest we don't have. It's 10x10 in size

 

[Blue Eager]

$1K++, honestly never went back afterward and added it all up, don't really want to know, everything was purchased. All my must haves (my first coop made me crazy with frustration), my DH had to have something that looked good, so this was the end product. Some mods since it was done, large 100 x 100 fenced open run with nursery area added, automatic door added, more nest boxes, more roosts in run. Inside is deep litter now, obviously the grass lasted a minute and a half. It's been through hurricanes with no issues, anchored with mobile home anchors and coop posts are 3+ feet in the ground. Never had a predator get in. This year it needs to be repainted........
View attachment 1365119

This coop w/builtin run is absolutely incredable! Job well done!

 

[LoveLakeview]

About $1100 for just the main coop and run (NOT the short extension run or red TSC coop).

 

[sackosuds]

Hey all. Just about finished 6x8 coop, with8x22 run. Managed to collect all plywood and 2x’s offa job. I had a good bit of material around also.Still spent around $600.(hardware,fasteners,roofing,wire, etc.) could’ve been closer to $1000 had I bought everything

 

[Ms Biddy]

I posted earlier about how little I spend on Coops... I took some pictures to show some of my coops and some of my secrets. Slapping together a cheap coop isn't for everyone. Some love the beauty of a well maintained Coops, others like me try to do everything on the cheap so more money goes towards retirement. To each their own.
View attachment 1370653
I build duplex 4x4 coops for my breeding trios. Lids to tubs I buy never get used by me. I turn them into Interior walls. If they fail then 2 roosters might fight and I might get set back 4 weeks on my hatching eggs... no big deal on the hatching eggs being set back, I just eat them. This is one of the ways to use less materials I have to buy. I build duplexes because the roofing material I use is 8 feet long. save on cutting and after this coop is disassembled I still have 8 foot long roofing panels.
View attachment 1370654
This was my first ever completely free Coop, even the feeder and nesting boxes were recycled from previous endeavors. The fencing and netting were all left over from previous builds. It has a lot of flaws and in winter I have staple cardboard around it when it goes below 20 or we have high winds. View attachment 1370656 This one was mostly free, under 10 dollars spent , I had to buy the concrete block and 1 board was from my unused pile because I didn't have enough used lumber at the time I built it. This is another bantam coop. This the coop that I discovered I could build sliding doors because the raccoons have not figured out how to unlock them.
View attachment 1370659
The only money spent on this one was to build the screen door and a few screws. I had the hard wire from previous projects but I needed new specific width wood which I had to spend money on. The run was not finished at the time of the picture because it was a low spot. The french drain you see on the bottom right was already there but I had to dig out and add some gravel. When I bought this property this was a low point of the property . Another secret for saving money, one of the walls was already in place, I built this next to my shed, I also cut openings into the shed and but the egg boxes in the shed. When I collect eggs I go into the shed and get them from 3 different flocks.View attachment 1370667
This one is was completely free, the 2 8 foot long walls already existed because this is a 4 foot alley between my shed and house, I just needed to build a hardware cloth door and put up old plywood on the other side. I did have to pay for the screws on this because I didn't have any used ones at the time.

I love your coops! I especially like the idea of sliding doors/walls.