Prefab shed vs building yourself vs having a carpenter build

[crchickens]

We built ours, to my custom specifications, for about $600. I love the way it turned out. It is 6X8, with exterior nesting boxes. My husband is super talented at such things, and it is super well built, but it took forever because we could only work on weekends. We still have to build our permanent run, but right now we are using a make shift one I built. I love that our coop matches our house, and has all kinds of adorable trim on it.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

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

I had poultry many years ago. I'm starting a small flock of Buff Orpington EggLayers this summer. Its been great getting back into keeping chickens again.

I built my Coop from a design that I developed after looking closely at several designs that had features that appealed to me. My goal with the final design was a functional structure, that would provide me lots of access to the coop interior, but efficient enough to limit my having to go into the coop, unless I had too.

Here the design is in various stages of construction:



The coop has 3 Egg Boxes...its a small flock, so there is an abundance of boxes.



I will have 4 layers in the flock, but the coop will comfortably house 10 birds.



I wired the coop so that I can maintaina comfortable temperature during the cold months of winter. There is also a circuit that I can program the lighting to extend the girls' exposure so that I don't loose to much egg production during the short days of winter.



In it final location the coop is well sheltered from the elements.



Here is the link to the page in my thread where I discuss the costs of my poultry project.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/656727/coop-project-maken-the-plunge-getting-chickens/150

Enjoy.

 

[RobinZ]

Finally done with our prebuilt shed/coop. I think my Hubby did a wonderful job. He doesn't mind the money so much, his philosophy is, it's my hobby and we're not doing it to make money. I love him!

 

[jeepguy982001]

i think i spent around 150 on mine but it was mostly recycled materials. The fencing for the run is what eats up the budget. But i've found lots of deals on amazon that are alot cheaper for wire the tsc or lowes.

 

[horseshowmomnv]

Our hen house is 8x10, I stopped keeping track at 1500.00. We are NOT done yet, we have now sided the pen side, still have the other two to go. We have added an exterior nesting box on the northside, The run is temporary right now, just busy with summer stuff and a little burned out on this simple "lets get chickens" project my 20 year old daughter decided she wanted to do. HA HA HA, her dad and I are the now in charge of. We have 16 hens.

 

[KathyJB]

I'm going to try and post a link to the pictures on photobucket.

http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/Kbotard/Chicken House/?albumview=slideshow

He already has the starting of the frame of the roof/eve finished. I am adding a 3 ft. door to the back also.