My coop didn't cost a thing!

[wing it]

Quote:
love it I am with you. My coop cost almost nothing just used a lot of stuff I found on job sites, around the house. I did have some plans worked on them for sometime then junked them , went outside and built it! chicks love it

 

[Sammimom]

Love your coop!!! It turned out great! If you don't have paint already, you can get "mis-mixed" paint at the hardware store for cheap...or ask friends for leftover exterior house paint.

 

[Dogfish]

While Utah doesn't get much rain, I'd suggest painting it at a minimum, or covering it with Tyvek or tarpaper and maybe putting some roofing material on it. They make a 3' wide comp roof product in a roll, which would shed rain and increase the life of your coop.

 

[mikecnorthwest]

Honestly, I think it's great and I'm very jealous of the low cost, however I would definitely do something to weather proof it as others have mentioned. In fact, it looks so good, I would break the piggy bank open and by a few sheets of exterior siding, apply it, and then paint it. I'm a little afraid that simply painting what you have might not be enough to prevent water damage.

 

[FluffyColor]

Wonderful! I like the reuse/recycle method. I have a garage I could turn into a coop. It has lighting and everything, and most of the junk in there could be moved to the storage room.

Hope I have an easy of a time as you had!

 

[Nostalchic]

Your coop looks great. There are a couple of things I might recommend (sorry if I'm misinterpreting the picture). Chicken wire on the top half of the door will not be predator proof - racoons, for instance, can tear right through it. You might want to use hardware cloth there instead, securely fastened with washers, or strips of wood screwed in securely. Also, you might want to consider another source of ventilation as we head into summer, several adjustable floor vents set into the wall along the top of the back wall might work. Maybe they're already there and I just didn't see! We also used old but functional double hung windows from a local construction recycle source in our coop, which allow for lots of light and solar gain in winter, and good ventilation in summer. They even had really tough old screens, though we reinforced those with hardware cloth for when we want to leave them open on warm summer nights. You could retrofit if you found some. Good job!

 

[redrocketrooster]

OOHH! How nice! Can we see the inside maybe?

 

[b.hromada]

I think you did a great job!

 

[Chickens-246]

My coop is made from the same Wafer Wood that the OP used, it's painted and it still swelled. Paint slows the swelling and is the lowest cost, should do just fine.

 

[Louiza]

We have just finishedbuilding an 5ft.6ft coop with a 10 ft run altho they will have access to 45ft x 50ft section of back garden most of the time. It hasn't cost anything yet. We put a request in on our freecycle and freegle web sites and have been given enough wood / roofing felt / various gauge chicken wire and some hinges (free) I already has all the screws, nails, staples, paint. finished it over 4 days and are waiting for our 6 ex battery hens

We are now putting together a hen/rabbit fence to stop them invading the veg patch (also using freebie supplies) We are very grateful to all these sites and to everyone that has donated materials to us.