Off to Lowes to buy COOP LUMBER...and it's only Feb...

[Cass]

Quote:
Yes, the timbers have something in them to keep them from rotting. Dawn said she thinks it's copper. If you have children stay with the ceder. If you are gardening totally organically, stay with the cedar.

You can fit 8 feet in a station wagon....it goes from the dashboard to the back window. Bring towels/small blankets to put over the ends of the boards so they don't mark anything in the car, like the dashboard or back window casing. If your back window goes down, or up for that matter, you can definately get them in....but if you are building 4x4 boxes, have them cut at the store and they are a LOT lighter that way. (cedar is not a LIGHT wood to carry)

 

[Moabite]

Wood treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate is not something I'd put in my garden, but sealing it with some good exterior latex paint ought to be good enough for chicken coop posts. I'd trust it, anyway.

My wood shed is made of natural cedar logs set on an asphalt shingle on top of a flat piece of granite rock to keep it out of contact with the ground. It is 10ft x 20ft and I haven't had any troubles with it yet.

Cypress is better then Cedar if you can find that.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Life is too short to worry about a little Chromated Copper Arsenate in your diet.

And I am not even sure my timbers are treated....but I don't want to tell someone else to use them , in case they are.

I am not going to use anything pressure treated for the chicken coop. While I don't care about my own health (with regards to pressure treating chemicals) I do care about other living creatures. So no presure treated wood in the coop; no paint inside either, just in case.

 

[kickinchicken]

Go to Home Depot and check the cull cart. Check it often! A little flirting and you can get some prime wood for 50 cents each! I built a 4x4x4 coop for about 50 bucks!

 

[WhySayWhat]

Quote:
Ditto! I could have gotten a full sheet of clear corugated roofing tonight for $8! I'm not actually roofing mine though...it's being built under my deck, so it has a flat "roof". My coop will be 4'x6'8"x4', with an additional 12-18" under the coop, the base is pallets.

And...mine is about $175 all total...

 

[Cass]

5 of 7 roof rafters built. wooo hooo....I'm gonna have a chicken coop soon.

 

[Cass]

7 out of 7 rafters built. Now to wait for the snow to melt so we (read "ray" ) can start digging holes and putting up the floor. Since the roof rafters are done, we'll start at the other end now.

 

[motoclown]

Quote:
8x8 is not as big as you think with chicken math.
We have 5 chickens now and ordered 30 chicks that will arrive next week.
We built our first coop last year in the spring at around 8x8 ,give a few feet because it's not square.
Built coop #2 last fall on wheels, prob 6x4 and working on #3.
Which will be a `Post Brooder Coop~` lol

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Sounds like chicken math's got ahold of you, but good.

I don't ever plan to order chicks. I know they are cute and everything, but they are a lot of work. I hope to have/buy a broody hen to hatch any future hens I need. Once I get up to my coop's capacity I plan to send the extra to freezer camp. I really don't want my entire yard covered in perpetual chicken poo. There are only 2 of us, so 15 hens will be plenty enough for our needs.

ETA: plus a few dozen to sell to make chicken feed money...or barter with if things get as bad as "they" say they are going to get

 

[Momagain1]

I agree; Lowes has cull lumber...we got all of ours there & menards & home depot: (see this post)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=454573

we spent WAY less by getting that than what we would have buying full price