my cheap design. any ideas?

[VI KING RANCH]

Nice little coop you got yourself there.

 

[kcwazzu]

Very nice. If you decide to build a stationary coop you can get some old windows cheap at Second Use just south of the First Ave S Bridge in Seattle. I got old sashes for $5 each.
Keith

 

[pinkwindsong]

youve used several idea i had.. nice to see them actually in use.. you were trying to make it for less than the store.. did you do it.. what cost range did you run into.. I need to stay economical too.. I need 4 small coops. for 5 birds in each of the coops..
I appreciate you passing on your new found knowledge of the coop and dos and donts.. what would you have done differently next time?

smiles.. Pink

 

[mendozer]

Well, all the wood, shingles, and paint was either free or I had lying around (paint). I had to buy hinges (maybe $15?) and chicken wire ($40 roll). The picture frames were 1.50 from goodwill. As for the windows, I thought about putting in a real window, but have no idea how to. I will check out Second Use, thanks. I got my PVC and VCT tiles from habitat for humanity outlet store for like $5. The wheels were $8 a piece new, had no choice there.

The vast majority was free off Craigslist as I was trying to recycle parts.

Things to do differently:
I do think I'm going to make a stationary coop in panels (for easy disassembly if I move)
make it big enough to get in. I had to crawl in the bottom after forgetting to do certain things and modify the ramp. It's 3' x 6', so it's doable, but uncomfortable. Also, b/c it's a tractor, the deep litter method won't work as it'll fall through the door hole. I have to change the shavings out every now and then. I can't say how often b/c it's only been 2 days.
The PVC feeders were a great idea. Although the upper water portion in the coop won't last as long as the run portion, simply b/c the water reservoir on the bottom has more piping. Next time, I'll put one in the coop and maybe a small bucket in the run attached to a post. I can't decide whether I want food in the run or only in the coop in the future plans. the bottom run door doesn't close flush, but oh well. Racoons can't fit in a 1.5 inch space so I'm not worried.

Another thing I learned: OSB > plywood. I never realized how heavy plywood was until I got a couple free pieces of OSB. Having never worked with OSB before (only ply and solid wood) I was in shock. If you're making a tractor, use OSB. My tractor is heavy as ****. Part of that is I added on this and that and that and that, etc.

Obviously it's harder when you're working with used wood, some hinges, etc. You have to be able to make changes on the fly. I changed plans like 10 times while building it, then 10 more afterwards.

Things I'll keep in the next coop:
heating vent idea
PVC feeder
pole to open/close coop door from outside
carabiner locking mechanism.

although the next coop will be all 2x4 for framing and OSB for walls, so that'll have to be purchased. My girlfriend wants a coop we can walk into to shoo the chickens into the coop, plus my tractor is fine now, but will be cramped with 4 adult chickens.

I'm happy with the design of my first ever coop. I'm hoping to sell it after building the next one to help with some of the cost. I've seen tractors on CL for $300 and mine has way more features than theirs so I feel good about it. Should have made it prettier though

So total I spent about $100? on random little things. I could be overshooting my estimate, but seeing as how some people spend $500, even $100 aint shabby

 

[einhard]

I love your PVC feeder idea with the outside-the-coop access. I'd love to use something like that. How do you clean it out? (or is that a problem?) I have a little goat feeder that I've been using from TSC. It works okay, but needs to be dumped out every now and then. Just wondering how the cleaning would work on the PVC.

 

[mendozer]

so far i don't have to clean it other than pick a few feathers out of the food trough, which is inside the coop. Because it's covered, nothing gets inside. I did use silicone sealant by the elbow joints to prevent rain from getting in the food. I also did the same with water because the amount of water was causing slow leaks through the elbows. However, the joint for the food going into the wall (last elbow on outside) isn't sealed. I did that so I could pull it out and disassemble it if I needed to. But because the water is a closes system, it's fine.