Need help with reclaimed materials brainstorming

[Briandawg]

Hi Everyone,

We have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore nearby, and I want to try to use that as much as possible for materials to build my own coop. I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on the following items:

Mix and Match tile: I'm thinking to put tile down on top of the plywood for where the chickens will sleep to make things easier to clean. You can get like 1ft x 1 ft tile pieces (smooth) for like 20 cents each

Solid wood doors: I'm wondering if I could use these in place of 2x4's to trim them into long pieces to use for framing (I'm planning on a small coop for 3-5 chickens)

Assorted cabinet doors: These are mostly particle board. Not sure if I can figure out a way to use them since they are typically like 1 ft wide by 2ish feet, but they have probably a hundred of them for $1 each

I've also potentially thought about using either solid or hollow wood doors as walls and then cover them with some nice siding so you don't know they are doors.

I should be able to find some sort of small window, too.

If anyone has any guidance or knows of a specific coop plan on the site, I'm all ears!

 

[alec120psi]

I'm curious to see what others have to day. We are wanting to do the same exact thing on our coop. We will be stopping by our local Re-Store soon to see what they have to offer.

The particle board doors I would avoid for a few reasons. 1 the glue may be poisonous to the birds if ingested - I know people should not breath the sawdust. 2 it will likely swell and may fall apart if/when it gets wet. Particle board is not designed to get wet.

Good luck. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Alec

 

[4 the Birds]

You could certainly make use of all those reclaimed materials. I suppose that I would buy a handfull of 2x4s to make a strong basic structure shell and then use the reclaimed materials as your siding and roof. If the doors are truly solid wood (most doors are hollow) then those may be OK for the framework if cut into strips. You could overlap those doors on top to make a slant roof with a good overhang. You could paint the exterior creatively if you don't need the finished look of siding. The tiles may be ok on a poop board but not in the nest box. Too slick and hard. I put carpet remnants in my boxes along with pine chips. The cabinet doors would make nice storm shutters for vented openings. Sounds like a fun build!

 

[Briandawg]

My thoughts on the particle board were more of using it like a middle material, i.e. maybe for a nesting box use them for the frame and then tile the bottom and sides and the outside would have some siding so it would never get wet. It's probably just easier to use plywood.

Is tile really not good? I would still put 3-4 inches of nesting material, so the chickens would not actually be touching it right?

 

[alec120psi]

Going to Habitat for Humanity Restore this weekend. I will let you know what I come up with.

Alec

 

[4 the Birds]

My thoughts on the particle board were more of using it like a middle material, i.e. maybe for a nesting box use them for the frame and then tile the bottom and sides and the outside would have some siding so it would never get wet. It's probably just easier to use plywood.

Is tile really not good? I would still put 3-4 inches of nesting material, so the chickens would not actually be touching it right?

Hens like do dig and scratch so many time the bedding material gets pushed aside. I would just use plywood for the nest box bottom. I like to put carpet remnants on the nest box bottom before adding a few inches of pine chips. I don't think the tile would serve any purpose and only make for hard surface when any bedding gets pushed aside or thinned.

 

[alec120psi]

Update:
I went down to restore a week or so ago, and they had nothing that I could use. I was not trying to be too creative, just looking for wood, windows, skylight etc. all I found was a sheet of nailed up plywood. Still looking...

 

[Ga Boy]

This is my 8'X8' Coop I'm working on

Here is a pallet coop I'm building for my mom

A rabbit hutch

Total cost $0.00 dumpster diving at job sites. Yes I buy the wire and that's it.
DIY Rabbit feeders

So much we can do cut back on waste and save some green. Good luck.

 

[mommyoftwo]

...

This is my 8'X8' Coop I'm working on

Here is a pallet coop I'm building for my mom

A rabbit hutch

Total cost $0.00 dumpster diving at job sites. Yes I buy the wire and that's it.
DIY Rabbit feeders

So much we can do cut back on waste and save some green. Good luck.[/quote
How did u make the rabbit hutch? And love your coops.

 

[JDK123]

Here is the coop and run I built using almost all pallets and scavanged material. I had to buy some lumber for framing and wire but all in all i ended up with 278.00 in the entire set up.