NEED ADVICE! Have chickens but no coop. Lookimg for affordable options

[MJ22]

The funny thing is it takes alot of time for them to start laying. By then hopefully it will be over and I can collect some egg laying chickens for cheap(cause people who bought wont want them anymore)

I’d take them all! My husband would flip! But we are maxed out at 12. The coop we got is for 15-20. But I like them having more room! we lost one and had no problem finding 4 more the next day! but we know where to look

 

[Kingnyro]

I’d take them all! My husband would flip! But we are maxed out at 12. The coop we got is for 15-20. But I like them having more room! we lost one and had no problem finding 4 more the next day! but we know where to look

I'm sure! I'll take them all as well, looking to start a hatchery, local egg, and chicken meat buisness. Starting small with 44, but hoping to scale up asarp.

 

[MickWithChicks]

A prefab coop for 44 chickens? I'd convert the shed for sure, or if you want to save the shed, get a scrappy second hand one off Craigslist/Gumtree/FBmarketplace.

For the run, Galmesh fencing was very popular from the 60s-90s here, so there's an abundance of second hand panels online. I built my run with 10 x 3*2.4m panels and some H4 rough sawn 4*4 posts. Went up in an afternoon and is stronger than hardware cloth. I then wrapped the perimeter with folded corrugated iron to stop predators digging under.

 

[OlympicChick]

I love my hoop coop, so that's my input: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hooyah-cheep-sea.75648/

 

[blueseal]

A old ice shack or shed . That's what I use .

 

[bufforpington42]

used dog chain link fencing?

 

[Jcoupe]

We have been building our coop all weekend! We are also very frugal...and by that i mean penny pinchers! Lol. We have spent under $100. We have been gathering free pallets and taking them apart! We used them as siding! We bought a sheet of plywood for the box and a couple of 1x2s for nailers! We literally have used all the scrap wood we have laying around. I had bought a whole roll of chicken wire at a flea market for $5 last summer. We have to build a bigger run area yet and it will be done! But post on local sites for free left over wood people have! Big money saver!

 

[Kingnyro]

We have been building our coop all weekend! We are also very frugal...and by that i mean penny pinchers! Lol. We have spent under $100. We have been gathering free pallets and taking them apart! We used them as siding! We bought a sheet of plywood for the box and a couple of 1x2s for nailers! We literally have used all the scrap wood we have laying around. I had bought a whole roll of chicken wire at a flea market for $5 last summer. We have to build a bigger run area yet and it will be done! But post on local sites for free left over wood people have! Big money saver!

That's good to know. We are going to have 55 chickens, and once we build our coops we are gonna move that number up. My goal is to have a semi functional hatchery or egg sales co. By dec. Ideally we will have around 500 of various breeds by this time next year...... in reality my gf will put a stop to it......... lol

 

[Birdielee]

Been there, done that! I think most of us have.

I didn't even have my heating pad set up last time I got chicks - I didn't think they'd let me buy on day of shipment so I'd only gone in to see what breeds were available, and, well... chicks happened.

That was nice of you to say. Obviously, we're not supposed to do things this way, but occasionally...

 

[Mamatomany123]

We have been building our coop all weekend! We are also very frugal...and by that i mean penny pinchers! Lol. We have spent under $100. We have been gathering free pallets and taking them apart! We used them as siding! We bought a sheet of plywood for the box and a couple of 1x2s for nailers! We literally have used all the scrap wood we have laying around. I had bought a whole roll of chicken wire at a flea market for $5 last summer. We have to build a bigger run area yet and it will be done! But post on local sites for free left over wood people have! Big money saver!

I wouldnt do the entire thing in chicken wire. We used it on the top of our run to save some money but the sides are hardware cloth and our coop is solid with hardware cloth covering the windows. If we had more predators than dogs, cats, and big birds then I would have used hardware cloth for the entire run. Chicken wire is so thin and flimsy. A dog could run through that like it's nothing.