OMG prices just keep going UPPPPPPP!

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

This looks awesome! I would pay for something like this. You did a great job.

We thought about building them and selling them on Craigslist or Marketplace for like $500. We decided not to because it takes Dad way too long to make them. It is basically a prefab upgrade. It is obviously bigger than many prefabs. It is also a tractor so you can move it around. There is larger wire on the bottom so nothing can dig under it. There are upgrades I would make though. A door that closes on the coop. An inside roost bar (we had no idea that chickens roosted at night when we made this.). Lighter wood. Overall a pretty nice coop though.

 

[samanthaoverton]

What about a few smaller coops? I know sounds crazy. I do small portables off the ground. My hubby works at a place that makes furniture..they throw out gobs of wood. He has done a couple smaller coops for us. And built one for my mom. Predators are usually out at night. Ours locks at night and we have fencing. You can have a smaller coop if they are out all day.. and the coop is just used for laying eggs/sleeping/or rain coverage. I'm rambling sorry..is there a place near you that makes furniture? They use all sorts of wood and even big sheets of plywood at some of these places..maybe if you talk to an owner or boss they will give you cast offs..I'm spit balling here, don't know if there is a place like this near you..

 

[3KillerBs]

You can have a smaller coop if they are out all day.. and the coop is just used for laying eggs/sleeping/or rain coverage.

From an article I'm writing:

But I free range/have a huge run and my chickens only use the coop to sleep and lay eggs! Why do I need all that space inside?​

You might not. As I've said, these are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules.​

If you never close the pop door so that your coop and run function together as a fully integrated system that is the equivalent of a huge, open-air coop, then your flock might be just fine for years, even decades.​

If you are always out there to open the pop door at the crack of dawn or you have an ultra-reliable automatic door so that your chickens never lack access to their free range territory during the daylight hours, then your flock might be just fine for years, even decades.​

If you live in a mild climate where chickens can always go out into their run/range and are never kept in by snow or storms, then your flock might be just fine for decades. People who keep chickens in places with tropical and subtropical climates do successfully go without a coop at all, just offering a covered roost and some nestboxes.​

But when something happens ...​

When a determined predator moves in and breaks through the fencing so that you have to confine the flock to the coop itself so that you can fix the run,​

When an extreme weather event prevents your chickens from leaving shelter for days,​

When an emergency calls you out of town and you can't find someone willing to be there at the crack of dawn to open the pop door,​

Then you could have a mess on your hands.​

Which brings us back to the issue of flexibility and options. Any time you push a system hard against it's limits you have to count on everything remaining stable -- exactly as it is without any changes. How well that's likely to work depends on your specific circumstances. You may never encounter an unfortunate circumstance -- some people DO hit the lottery, after all. ​

My something that happened which requires my birds to be confined to their coop is Avian Flu being found on the US east coast. If I didn't have over-sized facilities I either be taking the risk of losing my entire flock to the disease or having to cull numbers down to minimums.

 

[Dach]

OK We ripped everything out and poured a concrete slab and I've been obsessively planning and drawing and redrawing and pricing and repricing materials for our new coop for week and the new chicks arrive this week...

Every time I reprice things it's more expensive! I HAVE GOT to go to the lumber yard tomorrow and just firm things up. I wish I could build something beautiful, but it's gonna be a 8x10 shed with LP Smartside panels (yuck). Or????? Even that is gonna cost like $1,500 here in Los Angeles after all is said and done. Maybe I should just build something lovely? Argh. Meanwhile, those chicks are about to get dropped in the mail!

We used free pallets we got from a business nearby. A lot of work but free. Plenty of free plans on the internet.