Prefab shed vs building yourself vs having a carpenter build

[KathyJB]

My husband just doesn't have the time to help me with a chicken coop and that is ok with me, but I need to do something pretty quick. I was looking at getting this from Lowe'shttp://www.lowes.com/pd_132693-5765...currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=wood+shed&facetInfo=


I've been looking at coops on this site, but not many people (none actually) discussed the cost of building their chicken coops. I was wondering if the above shed would be comparable to the cost of some of the coops I've seen here. I would need a house to hold 13+ chickens as I want to get a few more next year plus I want storage for feed and other items.

Thank you in advance

 

[NovaAman]

Oh! I was looking at this at my Lowe's! You'll need to add some more venting, but its do-able. My coop cost me about $400 all together and I built the whole structure myself. It started as a 4x8 coop... Added winter enclosure, that was 8x7, but that had been altered to coop space now. Added another 5x4 coop next to that and now an odd shaped run that's roughly 20x12. Yes, all for about $400. I used a lot of found scrap wood from building sites for the 4x5 coop and got the 12x20 run for free from a neighbor. I also built a small A-frame coop and run with all new material for 54 bucks. That has a base floor 3x4 and 7x4 run. So, if you have the skills, you could build for less. But 1000 for that shed, not bad at all. Is it delivered set up or do you have to assemble it?

 

[Jakoda]

gorgeous coop and would work just fine I would think. I was looking at sheds as well, this way you can customize them to what you want.. I already have two sheds that are 12 x 30 but the hubby wasn't to keen on using one with chickens changed his mind and I have sectioned off a 4 x 12 area for my 9 chicks with a 12 x 20 run. here's a pic it's still a work in progress

 

[7 Biddies]

I had mine built by a builder. Granted, it's to my specifications and extremely well built, so it'll last forever. I'm really happy with it, but his labor wasn't cheep, .. er, cheap! It about doubled the cost of the project. It took him about 4-5 weeks to complete. Just the painting (two coats) took 2+ days. If you get something like the Lowes shed and have someone finish it off, I'm sure it would be fairly reasonable cost-wise and would be completed quicker. Most of the work is already done.

PS: Don't forget to have it well vented: Must have vents!!

 

[lizm1221]

we only have 4 chickens and a 4x6 coop and it cost us $250 in materials alone (luckily my mom's boyfriend offered to build it for us) and the 11x8 run cost us another $250 - that wire really adds up! Now they are not professionally done and probably won't last forever, but for now it works. There is a local shed store that sells some beautiful coops and they ran about $1200 for ones just slightly larger than the one we built, probably for 6-8 chickens (and that was just the coop!). And they weren't built with materials much different than what we used (I know cuz I based mine off what they had lol). So for one as big as you need I imagine it will add up quick to have a carpenter build you one, unless you know him. I think for the money the prefab shed seems like a good way to go, with a few modifications it will be real nice

 

[chicken pickin]

We built ours it is a 4x8 with exterior nest boxes on both sides so including those 4x11 then we have a 12x12 attached covered run. The total roughly for this was $1000. heres a few pics

 

[citychickx6]

I think that is the kit price.
We needed a coop so we looked at HD and Lowes. What I found was that I could justify taking DH's 8x8 and converting it while building him a new 10x10 from a Home Depot kit. The Home Depot kit did not come with flooring or shingles. Total cost of new shed for DH was about 1000 after we bought the flooring and shingles. I did not like the 2x3 construction so I added some 2x4's and additional roof trusses.
( I am rather handy with power tools.)
Time spent was 2 weekends and evenings of both weeks. It rained a lot while we were building it.
What I liked a lot was the precut siding and trim. That saved a lot of time.
Look at Lowes for their closeout models. They are not always to the scale of the kit but a lot cheaper. For example there was one here that the kit was for a 12x12 but the sample was 8' deep and 12' wide. It was really cool and would have been great but I had just put in a new chain link fence and even if I took some of it down there would have been no way to get it where I needed it.
The 12x12 kit was 1300 and the discounted model was about 650. OH and the model had the floor and shingles too.

Just a thought on how you can have an instant coop with only a little fixing up for the babies.

 

[KathyJB]

Hooray, finally going to get started on the coop/shed tomorrow. I bought 4 2x3 windows for ventilation. They will be low, but should work as it's better than nothing. We want to 1/2 the coop and have 8x8 for the chickens and the rest for storage for their feed. We are also going to run electricity for lights and a plug in for a fan on these hot summer Texas days. This is adding up though. Plus I found out 2 of my black minorcas really are roosters and not hens.

Guess that's 2 for the soup pot. I have 2 brown danish leghorn roosters that I ordered. Now I'm down to 9 hens.

 

[The Lazy L]

...looking at getting this from Lowe'shttp://www.lowes.com/pd_132693-5765...currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=wood+shed&facetInfo=


...not many people (none actually) discussed the cost of building their chicken coops...

Thank you in advance

I think that shed from Lowes would be excellent. Put some extra vents for ventilation at the gabled ends and you're in business!


I think the reason most don't discuss the cost of building because if their spouse would learn the true cost....

 

[AussieAcres]

I am building my own specifically due to cost, as well as being exactly what I want. Prefab kits selling for $900 4'X4' sheds here and an 8'X8' was closer to $2k. I estimate all said and done I will save close to $500-700 doing it myself. A lot more time involved, but the wife and I like these kind of projects.