Needed : Cheap designs!

[Goat_Walker]

Well, I currently own 3 ducks, one of which is a broody hen, and 2 pygmy goats. The yard they are kept in when I am not home is part rock, part ( at the moment) Mud.


I am on a budget, so I cant afford to go out and buy a 100 - 500 $ shed.

I need something ( either built, bought or donated) That can fit all five ( plus future residents) animals in , but so that they have enough room that it is not too awful crowded.

It doesnt have to be off the ground, I just need something big enough and sturdy enough to put out there. Something with room on the inside, tall enough for me ( 5'7) to fit into, and id like it to have a door and a window ( most likely covered in rat wire) so that at times like this when it is all mud and water my poor goats have some place they can be locked up.

Does any one have ideas or suggestions? Better yet does anyone have pictures of their cheap homes????

 

[patandchickens]

Cheap is not a design - cheap is a materials source. I.e. scrounging. Find your cheap-enough materials (plywood and 2x4s would be good), then you can work out a design tht will incorporate them

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Goat_Walker]

lol, Thanks.

I have some wood from a failed project left over, SO im hoping that when I get a design that the wood will fit

 

[The Chicken Lady]

You'd be surprised at what folks here have pulled off using free and inexpensive materials they found on Craigslist.

Sometimes, you can find someone with an old shed or other structure, and they will give you the wood for free if you dismantle it and cart it away.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
What if you tell us what the dimensions/amounts/types of the materials are, and we see if we can come up with a design?

Pat

 

[mrsengeseth]

For the coop we are building we got our materials mostly free. I had to buy

1 piece 4x8 plywood
1 piece plexi glass
1 roll poultry netting
1 roll hardware cloth

cost me 40.00

now, the rest of the material I got from various places using the free section at craigslist and my local chapter of freecycle.

When I asked, I asked for left over building lumber (i didn't want something that housed animals already, i was afraid of disease or mites.) I got supplies from a guy who is building a new house. He gave me all the knotty 2x4's & stuff he couldn't use, but I could. All I had to do is pick it up, and buy the few pieces that I mentioned already. I baked the guy a carrot cake loaf and took it with me to give him. He offered me the paint he didnt need too, lol. Musta been really liking the carrot loaf!!

SO, in a long winded way I was trying to suggest that there are ways to get your supplies real cheap.

As far as cheap design, maybe a lean-to type thing that you could build up against a house or garage/shed that you already have? That would save some on the cost of almost half a structure...being that a lean to would use part of an existing wall as it's side too. Or how about an a-frame style structure??

As far as I can figure, it's only as expensive as we make it.

 

[hensdeliverthegoods]

don't you mean "cheep" design?

sorry, couldn't resist....

 

[mamato3]

we are build ours out of pallets we got free so far nails is the only thing we bought call your lumberyards and warehouses to see who has the free ones

 

[coffeelady3]

Look on Craig's list for a large doghouse. You can get them pretty cheaply, and sometimes for free. They're easy to convert into coops...

 

[BantyHugger]

Go to building sites and ask if you can have the scrap wood. They generally say ok. Pallets are also free in many places. Check craigslist. That leaves you only having to buy nails.