I Don't Understand Coop Pricing, I Really Don't

[PhilErvin]

I built my coop by myself. I have NO BUILDING experience except what my Dad taught me growing up. Since I built mine people have asked me to build them one the same but everyone assumes you'll work for peanuts. Lumber and all the supplies are not cheap. As a matter of fact they are down right expensive. Then you have roofing, paint, hardeware, wire, etc. it all adds up. And that's before you start cutting and hammering and measureing and painting and leveling and roofing......Labor is not cheap either but everyone expects it to be.
My advise is always the same; Go to Home Depot and buy a book on building sheds. Study it, it's simple, decide on what you want it to look like and build it yourself. You'll have more pride than your money could have bought and you will have saved a lot.

 

[dsqard]

My husband and I built our own chicken tractor for our four chicks about a month ago. It is just large enough to house four hens and has a small run. I was pricing how much a built coop was and thought that we could build one much cheaper. We wound up spending more on materials than some of the pre-made coops I could find online. Oh well you live and learn! It was fun to spend a couple of weekends together building it but if I had to do it over, I would probably buy one that was already built. LOL Anyway, I would price out materials (check to see if there is a Restore near by and check out what they actually have, ours had very little when it came to stuff like the wood!) and decide what you want to do.

 

[crj]

My husband and I are not builders but we do build our own coops. We make it easy and as inexpensive as possible. We don't build it to hold people but we do build the coops to be sturdy. I can get in it and it will hold me very well. Two were built 4x8x4. The back side is probably 3 ft in order to have a slope on the roof. We had used aluminum roof pieces on top of plywood. That helped. It is not on in the picture. I think materials cost just over $100. I had some spare pieces of wood which was used. 5 pieces of plywood were used.

In this picture one door is open. This door also has a popout door. The other side opens as well.

I later built nest boxes from free material. The perch was also made out of scraps of wood. You would be surprised what you can find at HomeDepot (scrap wood section) and Lowe's (pieces of lamenant over goods on pallets in the flooring section) home improvement stores. Whenever I see some good wood I will bring it home. It will always have a use. The fence in the picture came from my cousin. Find friends in the construction business that might no where to find left overs. Go dumpster diving at construction sites. It can be fun. Craigslist is helpful once in a while too. Look in Farm and Garden, free, general, material......... all kinds of places. You will be surprised what you can find. Just ask people and you will be surprised with some neat answers.

 

[annie3001]

hello the first coop sounds like a fair price. the second one,,,,,heck NO!!!! wicked overpriced.

 

[Dora'smom]

My husband built our first coop/tool shed, and it's great---insulated, and vinyl floor with baseboard, etc., but it was not cheap, and we need a bigger one now

, so this time we searched ads on Craig's list and found a number of options. There is a company up in Washington---don't remember the city off the top of my head---that makes basic kits to order, and you put them together. You would need to add in your own ventilation, and put in a pop door and roosts, nest boxes, etc., but it wasn't a terrible price. I think that a 10 x 12 was around $800. You still have to put it together and paint and customize it, but that's really not a bad price for a shed. We were going to go this route, but happened into a shed that was in the backyard of a foreclosed property in a Portland suburb. The shed had been a home office, and we had to do demolition on the interior, and then take it apart and move the pieces to our place. We did that with a little help, and it is awaiting reassembly in our backyard. The freecycle/ recycled items are a great way to go, also. It just takes a little looking around until you find the right fit for your time, know-how and budget. Happy hunting!

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
looks nice, but wheres the windows?

 

[TOL Chick]

ok - here's my "bought" coop. We determined price based on what we wanted to spend (~$1500), our local "coop maker" determined what we could "Get" for that amount. He built it onsite, and it took he & 2 workers basically 5 days to finish what you see here: an 8X8 coop; split down the middle to house my 2 breeding groups of Dorkings(~16), TONS of venilation (based on Dr. Woods design), lots of windows & light. Awning windows will be installed in over the hardware cloth screens, as well as sliders to cover my upper windows, and those in the opposite wall as well.

We just finished painting it yesterday(with paint was left over from the house)...

My DH is the curb appeal Guru - so the "style" of the coop needed to mimic our house. 12 X 20 ft run will be built with cedar posts, to keep the theme of our horse fencing, completely wrapped with 2'x3' wielded wire, sides, top & bottom.

We are thrilled with the result, and know it would have taken us all summer to do on the weekends, what Dave & his crew did in less than a week.

Hope this helps with your costing and planning

 

[88Haywood88]

What i did for my first coop is I bought a 6x6x12 dog kennel kit from Lowes and assembled it. I then added a roof using plywood supported by 2x4's to keep the sun off the birds. I then added chicken wire around the chain link to keep out the sparrows. For shelter during inclement weather, I built a "chicken bunker" out of old alfalfa bales... works great in windy or snowy conditions. I keep my Buff Orpingtons in there and all my other chickens (free range) sleep in a refurbished shed. Chain link dog kennels are a terrific, cost effective way to go, and are widely used around here for coops. You just have to modify them a bit.

 

[shellybean40]

Lumber is unbelievable in price right now!! My brother in law is building a really nice gazebo and spent $10,000 on just the lumber-not including the labor!

 

[EliteTempleton]

Quote:
You're probably just fine using the cedar as they are post's but you might want to read about Cedar & chickens: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=99738&p=1