I've come to the conclusion...

[hennypenny9]

I most likely won't be able to get chickens this year, either. I was all set to get some. I had checked with the city that they are legal, and made out a list of materials. But now the house I rent is for sale. So unless it sells and I move somewhere right away that is chicken-friendly, I'm out of luck. It's sad because I really had my heart set on them. Even picked out breeds and called the feed store.

Now I just hang out of BYC hoping that I move, and soon! (The house is being shown this afternoon, fingers crossed!) I'm sure everything will work out in time for both of us.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

It can be really fun to have even a few chickens. Even a big dog house can house a couple of chickens. A small coop is cheaper and easier to build or acquire, plus can move with you.

If you have more money later or move to a different house later, depending on the situation, you can upgrade. I guess I'm thinking sometimes chickens get "starter homes" too!

 

[agnes_day]

you dont have to even have a truck..i have tied so many things to the top of our old car, you wouldnt believe! even a set of bunkbeds!
i think that part of the fun of getting a coop together and everything is the fun of hunting for creative things to use..i imagine you could even take an old trash can, cut a side off of it and put it on the ground...slap some wire on one end and fill it with straw and there you have a temporary coop. besides, with chicks you cant keep them outside right away anyways so all you need at the start is an old box and a heat lamp

 

[bulldog-girl]

You also might try the barter part of Craigslist. If you look around and see a few things you could part with, you can list them to trade for supplies like fencing, wood etc. They may even be able to pick up your stuff and bring you the stuff you trade for. I put up a post to trade eggs for canning jars. I got two offers. Ya just never know what someone needs.

Also, as much as you want chickens, I would sure put effort into the garden. I don't know if you can or freeze, but you can put up lots of good food for the winter and cut your food costs way down. My chickens are a wash after I buy the feed so really I could just buy the eggs and save myself the time I spend on them. (I sure wouldn't tell hubby this or he would say to get rid of them) But I do love having them around. If I had to choose between my dogs, my garden and chickens-I would sure put the time into my garden and established pets.

Good luck!!!!

 

[hennypenny9]

Quote:
Okay, I'm not recommending doing this but it's so funny. I watched a small sub-compact car drive down the street with one person in the drivers seat, another in the passenger seat behind the driver. They had their hands out the window holding onto a long wooden beam. It stuck out in front of the hood of the car!

 

[Lil_Chickadee]

I found this low budget chicken coop in google images and thought it might give you some ideas.

Good luck to you. I haven't started on a coop yet either, still weighing out options.

 

[warmfuzzies]

We have an old hog shed, about 8x5 and 5ft tall, for ours. It was free. It has no bottom and half of one side is open, where we are puttin ga door. We made a fence with old fencing we got free, but they are out most of the time.

I free range my chickens, but you can do the same thing with a chicken tractor, on a smaller scale.

I offer them feed every other day or so in the winter. (We have had NO snow, though, and I give them more when it gets cold.)

I fed them hardly anything in the summer, they grew up that way from about 12 weeks. They love it, it doesnt hurt them at all, and they thrive! But, of course, we give them LOTS of scraps, our dogs dont get any scraps anymore.

And we have a lot of room. At this rate, I can get eggs cheaper then buying them. I have no decrease in eggs. I have 6 laying hens and I average 4 eggs a day, which is pretty good from what I hear, for these breeds.

 

[BarkerChickens]

I completely understand, but keep your chin up! I agree with Pdsavage...hop onto Craigslist or Freecycle and see what you can find. Even if it is scrap wood. As long as you have a power drill and few screws (heck...screws are cheap anyway), you're set. Maybe some recycled fencing. We got our coop from a coworker who bought a house with a coop on site and she didn't want it. We had scrap fencing around and $20 later we had 6 chicks. Chickens don't care how it looks! In our area, egg prices are going up so much that we pay less in feed then we would for the amount of eggs we get. Where there's a will, there's a way, right?

 

[briana1975]

We have built most things in our yard from reused recycled materials. Fort for the boys, tree house, goat house, and next the chicken coop. Zero money spent. Brooder zero money. The only thing I have had to pay for so far are the chicks and of coarse thier supplies. But if you can find free chicks that would be even better. Even our 2 play structures were free. We just used a trailer unhooked a couple bolts and heve hoo... and reset it up at home. check into it you'd be suprised what you can reuse.

 

[conradpdx]

Quote:
That is true for now. But with buildings going through "green" certifications (LEED) now-a-days, those days are ending.

As an iron worker we have always taken any usable scrap iron from a job site, it comes in handy on the next job when the fabricator shorts you material. The last few jobs the general contractor has been fighting us tooth and nail over the scrap because it affects the weight of material that they send to the scrap yard, which affects the LEED point system.

Personally I think it's kinda weird that the LEED certification process actually in an inadvertently way supports waste. Especially since much of this material has just been manufactured only to be smelted down and completely manufactured again, when it was just fine to begin with. You'd think it'd be the other way around.

Of course I say this and just today was walking off site after my shift with a pallet in hands for building my coop. Not to mention all the river rocks I take for garden boarders. Or the untreated 4x4's that we use to keep the steel off the ground that I take home and cut up for firewood.