Penny Pinching Ideas On Coop Making

[Gatekeeper]

How about a thread where we Bird Lovers can post out suggestions for saving money while enjoying one of our favorite passions ... Poultry!

I would like to hear some ideas on how to save money on hardware for building coops. Latches and hinges aren't cheap. I think by the time I put eye hooks and latches on my coops, I'm looking at about $12-14 dollars.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to secure doors safe and economically? Homemade latches and locks? Show us what you got!!!


Gate

 

[deb1]

I wonder if you could get something from a salvage yard?

 

[dixygirl]

If you are really pressed you could tie them shut with wire clothes hangers. Replace with a real latch as soon as possible.

 

[Anny]

I bought latches and hinges at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for 0.50 each!

Salvation Army might have old chest, or thing that you could take the latches off.

I also made a latch out of one pieces of wood, that swings. You can see if in this picture below kind of if you look really had between the two big doors (the wood was a scrap piece)

The small door on the left (in front of the nesting box) came from the kitchen we tore out when we moved in.



craigslist.com is a great place to find shingles and left over construction materials.

 

[AllChookUp]

Great idea, Gatekeeper. Sounds like this is a thread an Administrator could put a "sticky" on so it stays up top.

For my suggestion, I used a lot of boards from pallets to line the inside walls of the coop for insulation. The pallets need to be in good shape, and you need to find free pallets with the thicker boards (like 2x4s), but they're out there for free.

Oh, BTW, I also used an old door from my garage for the coop, and and old storm door for the run.
Here's a couple of pics:

Coop door:

Run door:

You get the idea....

 

[HeadHen]

Quote:

I read somewhere that you have to be careful that you know the origin of the pallets. Only use ones from local shipping. The ones that are used to go overseas and back are treated with horrific pesticides. The pallets may be stamped to let you know, I'm not sure.

 

[AllChookUp]

HenHead speaks truth. Make SURE the pallets are not treated. You should be able to tell by looking at them.

Thanks!

 

[patandchickens]

Two good sources of cheap/free hardware, for the original poster:

When you're driving along and see some draggly old piece of furniture or kitchen cabinet or interior door or whatever that's been set out by the curb, if it doesn't look like something anyone's going to really want in one piece (around here, that is common), see if it has "harvestable" parts. Door hinges work pretty well for coop doors/windows/etc.

Even better, esp. for heavyweight hinges and eye bolts and such, see if you can find a 'junk auction' type thing, like the estate sale from someone with a large garage or workshop, or a consignment auction of tools and machinery, or that sort of thing. Quite often, at least around here, you can get a great big (often plywood!) box o' miscellaneous hardware for $1 or less. Make sure you've looked thru the boxes before the auctioneer gets to them, so you know which ones contain items you want and which don't. Most of my nails and screws and eyebolts and latches are from this source; I've also gotten things like a heavyduty (homemade) dolly for $1 that we now use to roll 700 lb bales of hay around on, or a 50 ft roll of wire mesh fencing for $4.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Chicky Joy]

I'm pretty sure the only materials we had to purchase for our coop so far has been the hinges and latches. My hubby's uncle gave us a bunch of cedar posts he wasn't going to use and a friend down the road gave us a ton of scrap slab wood. Of course we have been giving them some eggs. Our fencing we had from something we'd recently taken down. Our building itself was already on the property. The building needs a lot of work for winterizing it. When we get started on that we'll be spending a little more money but we're getting off really cheap overall. Of course our coop doesn't look fancy, AT ALL. The appearance doesn't bother me as long as it is practical.

I love the tip about picking up free furniture from the side of the road to use parts for a coop. Great idea!

 

[patandchickens]

Oh, one other thought, for lumber:

I notice that all the big box stores around here (Walmart, Canadian Tire, etc) are getting rid of their last remaining plants from the garden department. (By this time of year the plants are usually in terrible shape - I am not recommending you necessarily buy *them*

)

Thing is, at least around here they get rid of the wooden SHELVES on which they display the plants, too! I have been sorely tempted, the last few times I drove past the Walmart loading docks, to take them up on their 'free firewood!' sign and take some of the shelving or giant pallets. Some have 6' 2x4s and pieces of plywood, even.

Even if there is no 'free' sign at your local store, ask the manager - often they have to pay extra to dispose of this stuff so they may be willing to give it to you.

Pat