I found a coop I like!

[Wraith]

It's built by a company in PA using Amish design.
http://www.horizonstructures.com/coop.asp
I love the design, it would look nice in our neighborhood and I think it would be perfect for six birds, but I'd rather be kicked in the nuts by a bull than pay 1550 for one of these. How hard would it be to make one and maybe make it 8x8 in case I want to expand my flock later. Can I reverse engineer it from a picture?

 

[smom1976]

yea 1500 is an expensive chicken.. LOL

 

[catfish]

I hope you plan to sell eggs for along time to justify that much expense in a coop!

You could better for less even going for the $350 play house Lowes sells.

 

[Linda in San Diego]

If you can afford it, do it!

I can't afford it, but I think it is terrific! And fresh eggs are the best!

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I'm building a chicken coop now. It can be one 8'x8'x8' unit or two 4x8x8 units. Each unit will have six modules, (front, back, two ends, roof, floor) that can be seperated easily so the entire unit can be moved as 12 light-weight pieces if I ever want to move it/them.
Sound complicated?
Sound like I know what I'm doing?
Sound like a carpenter talking?
Actually I'm a village idiot when it comes to construction, but so far it's looking great and working out wonderfully. Can't wait to see it finished.
How did I do it?
I am using deck screws only, along with my 18-volt drill/screw driver. I have to do that because I cannot drive a nail straight. Luckily for me, screws are stronger than nails and hold better. For each wall, I am using 8-foot (96 inch) 2x4's on top and bottom of shorter 2x4's spaced 16 inches on center.
JUST DO IT!
BTW, when I wasn't sure about something, I got a lot of good advice from the carpenter guys who work at Home Depot.

 

[MissPrissy]

If you are going to buy something and not build look around locally at the places that build small sheds. More and more of them are building coops in every size. We have a place here that sells a small 3 hen coop all the way up to a full sized barn shed set up for laying hens.

 

[Msbear]

I think this coop is great and would be super easy to build. As long as you have the dimensions you just build a box then stud it in. The roof trusses don't have to be exact -just need to all be the same angle.

If you don't want to take it on yourself, you could try to find a carpenter or handyman in the yellow pages or local buyer's guide (that's what we call ours but any local paper might have want ads for handymen looking for work)

Just have him give you an estimate and he would supply lumber. It might be almost half that price. Tell him you could do the painting!

Good Luck!

 

[Wraith]

Thanks all. The point was no way can I spend that, but if I could build it, then that would work. I'm going to try to build this thing and make it 6x5 for 6 chickens. There's a guy working on my deck right now, I might seek his expertise for advice or to help with labor. joebryant, yours sounds sweet. How many birds will it house?

edited to add: The glasbord floor I think is a key part of the house. It makes poop easy to clean up. If I have a floor, it will be glasbord. It also resists mold and mildew.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I had 15, but I've already given away five splash ones. I have five dark blue and five blue Orpington chicks left. Five +- of those ten might be roosters that I'll have to give away. I'm hoping to end up with six hens.
BTW Home Depot has a white bathroom wall panel for $10 that'll do the same thing as what glasbord will do. It'll be easy to work with. I intend to lay it over both 4x8 floor modules that have 2x4's as a base that's covered with 4'x8'x1/2-inch OSB. It will cover the OSB sheet.

 

[digitS']

Wraith, the coop in the pictures uses board & batten (or pseudo board & batten) siding. I used that approach to better match my backyard fence and it played an important part in the design of a "sunshed" for use as a greenhouse.

It is more rustic and the board & batten sides are turned away from the camera but you can see the coop on my BYC page. After building the fence then practicing on the coop, I went on to the sunshed which has a 20' north wall.

One thing you can do with board & batten is to build the stud frame horizontally. The board siding is applied vertically, after all. This can eliminate sheating with OSB or plywood and applying siding over that. Every component not used will save money.

The metal roof shown in the advertisement is fairly easy to build, altho' mine certainly has a more unfinished look. It is cold here in the Winter so I built a coop that was essentially a well-insulated box. The roof sits over this a little like an umbrella. Hardware cloth under the roof keeps the sparrows out. This "umbrella" approach allows for cooler temperatures indoors during the Summer. And, it saved time and material.

Steve