Purchasing vs Building?

[saulsx]

I'm not interested in something "cute" from TSC as my birds aren't pets and certainly don't want to drop $3K on a shed. Hence my post about building it myself or purchasing something used. Typically every 25 days I hatch 90+ birds. I want a place where I can put brooders all in one spot and my lone incubator. Just get a little bit more organized. I like the idea of turning the Winnabago into a chicken coop and I'm sure you could do it in a way that was "cute" if you really wanted to. But for me, right now, that's not in the picture. The property I purchased was run down, the previous owners had 8 sheds/barns in the back yard ranging from 8X10 to 20X40 that were all falling apart and I had to remove each one. By remove, I mean fill with some newspaper and light a match to. The place was a dump and the neighbors hated living beside it. The place looks a million times better now and I want to keep up the clean (for lack of a better word) appearance it has now.

I am very jealous of all the really cool things people have repurposed as coops or hen houses, but I want something boring that matches the other barns and the horse fences on the property.

Well, we're new to keeping chickens, homesteading, etc, and we have small flock strictly for eggs and composting materials... not raising or hatching eggs... so take this for whatever it's worth...

My wife and I bought our house on 3 acres a couple of years ago. Ended up being a fixer upper and the previous owners did a lot of "repairs" that were just plain wrong and/or unsafe. The list seems never-ending. Plus we homeschool our 2 kids, my wife works full-time, and I occasionally take some freelance work. Time is definitely an issue for us. Just now getting around to doing more projects around the property, like trying to expand the garden, setting up a small orchard, and chickens.

There were 2 sheds on our property when we bought it. One was a pre-fab garden shed that the previous owners apparently let their cats use as a litter box. Thought we might be able to clean it and use it as is, but tore it down and re-used every scrap that was salvageable and not saturated with cat urine. Burning it down wasn't an option. Too many farms around here, our next door neighbor runs a horse training farm, lots of old growth oaks on the property, so we couldn't get permitted to do a burn that large. Built a nifty art table out of some 2x4s and wood siding, had enough good 2x8s to re-frame part of the subfloor in a bathroom, various scraps for some future project(s). Now there's a nice little firepit and a picnic table where that old shed once stood.

The other shed/garage, which I'm guessing someone used as a workshop at some point and where they stored junk, was/is falling apart. Roof collapsed, about half of it rotting away, bad wiring, wasps everywhere, and the seller left a LOT of crap in it. We've just now started tearing it down since we finally cleaned it out a few weeks ago and realized there's actually lots of good wood left in the larger section where the roof is still intact. A lot of 1x3s that we plan on re-using as flooring in the house, lots of plywood with stamps from the once-was cotton mill in town (part of the shed is made out of old shipping crates).

What we've torn down (this thing is the size of a small house), we've tossed a good bit. But, we managed to save enough to build a tractor/portable coop and have a nice pile of plywood and 2x4s that we can use for other projects. I'd estimate the total cost of the tractor to be less than $50, for chicken wire and various screws. Everything else, we found in that old shed, even lots of perfectly good hinges, bolts, nails, a good roll of vinyl flooring, a couple of good coolers, etc. The tractor ain't pretty, but it's secure and functional enough, big enough for our small flock to be safe and comfortable. And, they are chickens after all...

Not that everybody is gonna be so lucky and find an old building with lots of materials that can be re-used on their property. Lots of work, and that thing has given me nightmares since we moved here, but it's working out. Now we just have to get rid of the several large piles of bad wood and junk we have piling up out in the back of the property.

Anyway, I'm a fan of re-purposing and recycling whenever possible and doing things on the cheap without cutting corners and sacrificing quality. Cheapest shed I've seen at the nearest box store that might be re-purposed as a coop is like $500. Used isn't gonna be that much better, then there's the issue of getting it there. Never really been a fan of pre-fab coops.

I'd say build if at all possible and you can come out cheaper than buying. I'm sure time and money are both issues. Hope that helped.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I'm not interested in something "cute" from TSC as my birds aren't pets and certainly don't want to drop $3K on a shed.  Hence my post about building it myself or purchasing something used.  Typically every 25 days I hatch 90+ birds.  I want a place where I can put brooders all in one spot and my lone incubator.  Just get a little bit more organized.  I like the idea of turning the Winnabago into a chicken coop and I'm sure you could do it in a way that was "cute" if you really wanted to.  But for me, right now, that's not in the picture.  The property I purchased was run down, the previous owners had 8 sheds/barns in the back yard ranging from 8X10 to 20X40 that were all falling apart and I had to remove each one.  By remove, I mean fill with some newspaper and light a match to.  The place was a dump and the neighbors hated living beside it.  The place looks a million times better now and I want to keep up the clean (for lack of a better word) appearance it has now.

I am very jealous of all the really cool things people have repurposed as coops or hen houses, but I want something boring that matches the other barns and the horse fences on the property. 

Yeah, I'm getting the picture now. You're talking a sizable operation that requires a bit more than a few old pallets and some scrap wood!
A little bit more information would be nice in order to offer better advice but I'll take a stab at it. Just correct me if I'm way off base on your objective.
90 chicks per month makes me think you're running meat birds or raising started pullets. You won't need any long term housing, just something cheap & temporary.
Lacking a shed to incubate & brood in, and tight on money required for the initial investment to build a turn key operation, used materials hard to acquire...

#1- Incubate, then brood in totes in your house for the first week.

#2- Build growout cages for the 2-3 week old birds.
I build mine 10' long, 3' deep, 2' high because hardware cloth & 2x4's come in 10' lengths and hardware cloth comes in 2' and 3' widths. Rip 2x4's into 2x2s for the frame.
Or instead of wooden frame, fasten the sides & bottom together with zip ties, galvanized wire, or crimps.
Set the cage on some sort of legs or supports. 44" is a comfortable height to work birds.
Cost of new material of wire for floor & sides, lumber for frame, tin for roof will be around $75. Tin roof is not necessary, you can use cage wire for the ceiling and put a tarp over it.

#2- At 3 weeks move to chicken tractors until processing time. I don't use tractors. Sorry, won't waste keystrokes on what I don't know.

An alternative for the cages is a hoop house. Use PVC pipe or cattle panels, bend them in a "U" and fasten them to a wooden frame, cover them with chicken wire or a tarp. Probably cost about the same or a little more than the forementioned cages. Put wheels on it and there's your chicken tractor. Run an extension cord to it and there's your incubator & brooder house.

That should get you started until time & money allows for bigger & better facilities.

I prefer cages because I raise Quail on an assembly line. Each 10' cage has a removable divider every 2' so I can use it as 1 large cage or 5 small cages. The first section has a brooder light for the new chicks. When I need that section for new hatch I pull the divider back and run the quail to the next section. Next hatch I move them down 1 section again. When they reach the last section they're ready to butcher. I manage baby chickens the same way, only when they get to the end of the cage they go to the grower pen & hen yard instead of the frying pan.

That's just general ideas. Your mileage may vary.
Hope some of that might help you.

 

[ChickenJesus]

A little bit more information would be nice in order to offer better advice but I'll take a stab at it. Just correct me if I'm way off base on your objective.

Yea, you're a little off on what my objective is, and although I really appreciate you taking the time to offer me advice on how to get to where you think I'm going with my operation, the conversation has definitely taken a turn from the reason for starting this thread. I'm going to get another shed/barn. Approx 12' by 16'. I can save quite a bit of money by purchasing something used, spend a lot of money and purchase something new, or save a lot of money by building one myself but spending a ton (relative I know) of time building it myself. I was hoping a few people who have been through this decision making process could share what they did and if they think they made the correct decision or not.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

A little bit more information would be nice in order to offer better advice but I'll take a stab at it. Just correct me if I'm way off base on your objective.

Yea, you're a little off on what my objective is, and although I really appreciate you taking the time to offer me advice on how to get to where you think I'm going with my operation, the conversation has definitely taken a turn from the reason for starting this thread.  I'm going to get another shed/barn.  Approx 12' by 16'.  I can save quite a bit of money by purchasing something used, spend a lot of money and purchase something new, or save a lot of money by building one myself but spending a ton (relative I know) of time building it myself.  I was hoping a few people who have been through this decision making process could share what they did and if they think they made the correct decision or not.

Yeah, guess I did miss it by a mile. After all the thread topic is purchasing vs. building a shed; not alternatives to having a shed.
To answer your question about other people's experiences, I build my own.
#1 old, used sheds have always fallen apart by the time I loaded, transported, and unloaded them and require a lot of repair before use.
#2 prefab sheds are nice, but too expensive for my budget. Even if you built an identical shed, after penciling out materials, tools, and time, you're not saving any money.
#3 building a shed using both new & used material works best for me.
You might find several 2x4's, 2x6's and a half sheet of plywood on the curb or craiglist but you're not going to find twenty or thirty 2x4, 2x6 or pieces of plywood on the side of the road or in a dumpster. I usually have on-hand or re-purpose about half of what's needed and buy the rest new.
Short scrap pieces, pallets etc is what I find for free and what I use for framing around windows & doors, building benches, shelves, nest boxes, small cages & brooders.
To build a lean to type 10x10 hen house in my layer pen I needed 6 posts and 12 2x4's. At the time I didn't have any on hand and had to buy them. For post I used landscape timbers from HD @ $3 ea and the 2x4's cost $3 each. Total of $54 to frame it and build a 4 rung roosting ladder 10' long. For roofing & siding a friend gave me a stack of metal roofing he had piled up outside his barn from a carport project & the screws to go with it. For feed storage bin shelves and 5 section nest box I used scrap wood I had stashed in my barn. The front wall around the door was a wood privacy fence I found in a trash pile on the side of the road. Add several $ for nails and total cost was about $60 for a 10x10 structure.

There, is that more like what you're lasking about?

As a side note:
The 30x40 pen around it was the expensive part, For the fence I used 13 posts, 2 rolls of 2x4 welded wire 2 sets of hinges & latches for the 2 doors with a cost of $180.

$240 for a $1,200 sq ft pen/coop that handles 50 laying hens comfortable. My wife asked me if it would withstand a hurricane because we're in hurricane zone area. I said I built it to withstand a chicken.

 

[ChickenJesus]

thanks! that is more of what I was looking for. I've priced materials locally, and it will cost ~$1100 . Another ~$100 in paint, ~$150 in various hardware, and I've budgeted another $200 for stuff that I don't know that I need yet. I can buy a used one for ~$850 that all I have to do is paint. according to the listings.

The pen isn't an issue, this is going inside of a 6 acre horse paddock that is fenced in with horse fencing. they will have plenty of room to roam during the day!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

And time IS money.

 

[ChickenJesus]

Hence my dilemma.

 

[TLWR]

We've bought 2 sheds in the past. One was a lifetime shed that I had shipped to Kodiak, AK and put together so I could get my husband motorcycle out of my dining room...
Easy to put together and they have lots of options now. Concern would be ventilation, but easy to fix I'd think. Can be found at Sam's/BJs and places like that and I'm sure HD/Lowe's also carry them. I purchased mine online. Was 8x10 and with the shipping service to AK, was about 1k. Not sure on prices now.

The other was a prefab shed when we moved from AK to AL. We needed something quick and past experience of DH and I building something together would mean one of us would be whacked with a board over the head and it would take forever to build it. So down the road we went and picked out a shed and it was delivered a day or two later. 12x20 and it was about 3500 or so.

Our chicken house - much smaller than what you want/need for your plans, but what about framing the shed you want and then using fence boards to finish it off. I'd suggest buying the fencing, but I think that is pretty $ vs making the panels yourself. Siding with fence board should be quick.
If you'd like to save a bit with wood, see if there is a source for pallets and use that wood (pull the wood from the pallets and attach that).

The used sheds I see locally on CL are in sad shape.


If you can find a decent used shed for $850 - that seems to be the way to go.

 

[saulsx]

I shared our story since we'd been talking about getting chickens for a while and had to really consider buying vs building. Of course, we have a different purpose and it's on a smaller scale...

Most pre-fab coops/tractors that we looked at were anywhere from $300-$1200 and wouldn't really function how we needed without modifications anyway. We saw a portable coop that came close. Cost practically a month's worth of bills, though, so we decided against it. Couldn't find a used one.

We were able to scrounge up enough materials to build a tractor for next to nothing. I spent a few hours here and there over the course of a couple of weeks with the kids pitching in to build it. It was better for us to build than buy, even considering the time it took. Our little "junk" tractor is a lot smaller in comparison and serves a different purpose. Would take a lot more doing to put together an 8'x12' shed, but I would still look at building if we were in a situation similar to yours.

I occasionally see used sheds on craigslist, but they're either too expensive, in bad shape, or would be too problematic to haul. Almost always see free or cheap palettes and free scrap wood and other materials that could be cobbled together to build something useful.
If you can find one that just needs a fresh coat of paint for $850 and have a way to get it there

 

[Birdydeb]

We have now done both. We bought a used 6' x 12' chicken house for $200, the farmer selling it brought it here on a trailer. The only thing it has had going for it is that it is indeed sturdy and secure. We could not have built the main structure ourselves for $200. But what we "thought" was going to be just a clean out and paint turned into a nightmare of repairs (along with all the rain we have had) with the roof being replaced, then the windows, etc. Still I think we have only another $300 tops in it. Now the run attached to it? Ha! Probably another $3-400 because it is a roofed run. And we had to fence on one side where there was no fencing. Welded wire fencing and hardware cloth probably another $200. As you can see fencing and containing is where money can really start to add up. Total cost for just the chicken house is probably around $500.

We have ducks too and in the process of building their home. We bought a metal shed 8' x 10' from Lowes. It is up (took two days with two men working on it) and is waiting to be framed out inside so we can cut windows on three walls. I got a lot of warnings about using metal but I think it is going to work once the windows and gable ventilation is cut in because the spot it sits in starts out in deep shade every morning until around lunch time. Also it is sitting in direct path of where the breezes usually blow. I intend to put a covered run on the front to help shade the inside during the day. Again the run is where the money is going to pile up. We will make use of some wire left over from the chicken house and I had to buy another roll or two. The whole thing itself with run will be fenced in with industrial chain link fencing 6' high that hubby scored for free at work. It was headed for the land fill but absolutely nothing wrong with it, just no need for it. Finally a freebie! So....with the shed being $289. And I have run a price list (Lowes) of everything needed for framing inside...probably another $300. Duck house alone is probably gonna hit $600. The free chain link fencing is going to help a lot and having left over wire from the chicken house. Additional costs to get them contained will mainly be the wood to frame a run.

Which would I do again? Ha! Due to time constraints (hubby works out of town) and the weather that just kept holding us up....my preference would be to just order a shed and have it delivered. But that wasn't in the budget at the time. Both choices have had merits and problems. The used chicken house was strong and sturdy but getting into it we discovered many more repairs and redos than we anticipated. The metal shed has potential problems when it is actually in use with heating up but I will know better after the adaptations...which we have a ton planned with the framing inside and insulation in the roof, etc. In a lot of ways the shed has been easier and looks nicer but it is nail biting time to make sure we can keep it cool.

Hubby is NOT a carpenter at all and he knows it but can do repairs and minor stuff. Time was a big problem since he works away from home, everything had to be done on weekends. So I get the time issue very well. Hope this helped!