Re-purposing furniture for coop

[eggsontoast]

I've been wanting chickens for over a year but couldn't b/c i didn't have $600 to spend on a premade coop and don't have the carpentry skills or tools to build one. We recently had our bathroom remodeled, pulling out the cabinet underneath our double sinks. Looking at the cabinet a few weeks ago, I had an epiphany....it was the perfect size for a chicken coop! My husband purchased some 2x2s, plywood, hinges and hardware cloth and within a week had turned it into a coop perfect for 3 chickens. Just to let you know, my husband and i can barely screw in a light bulb between the two of us. We have NO BUILDING SKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE OF TOOLS WHATSOEVER. There's a large lid on top to make cleaning easy, a small one on the end (over the nesting box area) for egg collecting and a chicken-size door that doubles as a ramp. All doors have latches with locks (we've got lots of possums, skunks and raccoons). For the run, he used chicken wire that came in a 3' by 50' roll to wrap from one end of our fence, around my kids' play structure and back around to the fence, enclosing the coop within. The chickens now have a safe, yet large area to roam, scratch and play. If there's rain or an aerial predator, they can go into the coop or under the play structure for protection. And the fence is low enough that i can step over it, eliminating the need for a door. i'll post pics soon...I just wanted to show that you don't need carpentry skills to build a coop and that the coop doesn't have to look like the Taj Mahal, as long as it's functional. I admire all the beautiful pics of coops on thses boards, but it's also nice to know that you can repurpose old furniturnand other items just as easily. if i decide to add to the flock in the future, and want another coop, I'll probably just buy an old dresser or something and do the same thing all over again!

 

[HEChicken]

Congrats! I completely agree with you - the chickens don't care what it LOOKS like. Most important to them is comfort - ventilation, humidity etc. Take care of those things and they'll be happy. The only concern I have with the set up you described is the chicken wire. You said you have raccoons in the area and chicken wire will NOT stop a raccoon. I hate to say it after you've already purchased the wire and done the work, but to really keep them safe, you'll need to upgrade it to hardware cloth. If I were you, I'd leave the chicken wire where it is and add the hardware cloth around it - that way you'll have a double layer.

 

[eggsontoast]

The chicken wire is around the run, not the coop itself. The coop is fortified with 2 layers of hardware cloth. I'm not worried about raccoons in the daytime, only at night--we have dogs around during the day and they scare off the "wildlife". The chicken wire is only to keep the chickens in their "area", although if they escaped and wanted to roam around the rest of the backyard, that would be okay, too. The dogs are in a fortified run of their own and will never have access to the chickens.

 

[Nava]

congatulations on your coop, and welcome to

 

[minnie1]

congrats to you. I have no talent with the tools either and have done a simular coop but with a clothes chest. You don't need to worry about the chickens thinking its ugly. I used the same 3' by 50' wire too but I ran it over the top so the girls don't have to worry about the flying preditors. Now in the winter the top has tarp over it as well. I also folded at the bottom and have 4-5 inches of wire flat on the ground and I put old boards down to line where the wire ends so as to not run over it with the lawn mower and have a mess. I'm glad I did that because they dig and would have been able to almost slip underneth the fence otherwise. Its not to expensive and heavy constructed so I can dismantel it and build something fresh if need be.