My first coop...a pallet coop.

[Flyboy718]

 

[kuntrygirl]

We are going to get it painted up this weekend.

Everything looks great!!! Good job!

 

[auto5man]

Flyboy that is awesome! And looks like you are putting it to good use too...love that flock of all Barred Rocks (I have one in my flock named 'Babe' and she is a favorite). One suggestion for the door...you have vertical 2x4's but none horizontal. It will be quick to add a horizontal 2x4 top and bottom to close the frame, would really stiffen up the door and make it last longer. Are all yours laying now? My flock of six is close to the same age as yours. 4 are currently laying, the first layer is having her first molt and stopped laying several weeks ago and looks pitiful. One of my Easter Eggers is STILL not laying yet so I have four producers...we are loving it. I still haven't finished my big coop and they are still in the ugly temporary one

. I will be glad when mine is finished so I can post pictures. GREAT work and thanks for posting!!

 

[Felony]

awesome!! good job...and very inspiring

 

[Bullitt]

It looks like there are about three nesting boxes on that coop, right? They say that you should have a maximum of five chickens per nesting box.

So it seems you could have a maximum of 15 chickens in that coop. The nine Barred Rocks are a good number.

Pallets are great for building a coop. You can find pallets for free on craigslist.

You had to buy some lumber, hinges, particle board to close it in, tar paper, tile for the roof, paint, fence posts, and wire. What was the total cost?

 

[Flyboy718]

It looks like there are about three nesting boxes on that coop, right? They say that you should have a maximum of five chickens per nesting box.

So it seems you could have a maximum of 15 chickens in that coop. The nine Barred Rocks are a good number.

Pallets are great for building a coop. You can find pallets for free on craigslist.

You had to buy some lumber, hinges, particle board to close it in, tar paper, tile for the roof, paint, fence posts, and wire. What was the total cost?

I had tar paper from another project left over from three years ago, all but one package of the shingles I got for free from when my Mom re-roofed her house, the sheathing on the walls I got for basically free when I did a little work for the folks up the street, I already had a bunch of screws on hand also...basically all I purchased was:
(4) sheets of sheathing......$35
(1) package shingles.........$22
(3) hinges..........................$5
(1) box of nails...................$5
(1) roll of wire.....................$40
(7) t-post............................$21
--------------
$128.00 Total....$60 of that was fencing and posts!

* The rafters for the roof, I made by tearing down pallets and joining two pieces of the 2X4's from the pallets end to end and then nailing 1X4's pieces on each side of the joint face.

 

[Bullitt]

Too bad someone wasn't giving away the fencing also.

That is good that you were able to gather many of the needed materials for free. That is the cheapest way to construct something.

I look forward to seeing a picture of the coop painted.

 

[Charm1704]

Cute Chicken coop...watch out for rats moving in...they love to live between the wood on the ground....I learned the hard way...I also have a pallet coop.....free wood! DH cut the wood off one side of the pallets with a sawzaw...just cut through the nails....the other side of my pallets were solid wood so we used them for the walls, I'ts 48 by 50 ..It's for my Silver laced Cochin bantams. the only thing left to do is a metal roof..and paint.....DH put plywood on top for a little insulation from the sun beating on the metal roof.....It's a fun project, saving money and recycling ......~Charm1704

 

[Flyboy718]

Charm...that is pretty sweet! I love seeing things built out of pallets and/or recycled wood.

 

[Maev]

Just found this thread. Your coop is amazing!! Thank you for taking the pictures and posting them! This will help a lot when I start to build my pallet coop!