Recycling Materials to Build your COOP

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

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I couldn't agree more!! We have a place in town that sells salvaged stuff. You can even sell things to him. What I don't get is if people are taking this stuff to the dump, why not take it to him and just give it to him. Then it could be made available to the public.
When ever I do a dump run I am just AMAZED at what I see people throwing out! I wish I could just tell them to throw it in the back of my trailer!!

 

[zoomia]

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I LOVE the idea of using those "billboards" in the coop! That is awesome!

A cautionary note that may or may not apply to your situation - just wanted to throw it out there. When I was building my first chicken tractor (about a month ago) I fastened the welded wire to the frame using staples like you have.

I share yard space with the property owner, who has 4 very large dogs (Newfoundlands, between 105 and 160lbs). The first afternoon after I "launched" the chicken tractor, one of the dogs kicked it right apart.

If you are a very large dog, and you pounce at the middle of the wire wall, the staples will pop right out of the frame at both ends.

For the current (second) tractor, I fastened the wire by screwing on thin lengths of wood. I think these are called battens? I used whatever scrap wood I had on hand, including some paint stir sticks. So far it has withstood Pounce By Giant Dogs many times over.

Just a heads up! Fortunately no chickens were harmed or freed. I happened to be looking out the window right when it happened, so I was able to run out before the chickens discovered that their pen had fallen apart.

Thanks! And thanks for the hint. We actually only secured the chicken wire with staples on the first pass. Then we reinforced with those chicken wire nails all the way around. At the bottom, I am planning on putting additional boards just to be on the safe side.

 

[ClayChicken]

We purchased very little to build this coop.

All of the siding is reclaimed from old pallets. The nest boxes were built from our old kitchen cabinets. The tin roof was from our old, huge doghouse. The windows were pulled from the dump. The paint was left over from my in-laws last deck painting project. The framing was reclaimed from an old pergola that the in-laws took down.

 

[sparkles2307]

We used new wire/hardware cloth since the only stuff we could find on the farm was balled up and rusted, and we only have about 12 ft of chain link in a roll from years ago. We also are using almost all of the lumber from the in-laws' porch that was just torn down. havent reused the nails as they were mostly rust, and DH wants things done with screws, but we are not wasting an inch of that treated wood!

Also being recycled for our coop: feeders from 20 years ago that we found in the fallen down chicken coop at the back of the property. Windows from the in-laws' porch. heat lamps scrubbed up, tested, and all in fine working order from about 12 years ago. railroad ties from the old feedlot. And the main structure is the old barn that is corncrib slotted on one side, beautifully sound grain bin on the other, and concrete aisle 10' wideX8' highX25'long. The grain bin side is 2 pens for goats which the duck has currently taken over for her nesting. The corn crib side is for storage, the things rain/rodents cant destroy. And my coop is in the back half of the Concrete Center Aisle. We will winterize when the time comes, but for now with a little hardware cloth to keep vermin out, the chooks will have a well ventilated, but always shaded coop and a lovely run. So far all we have bought is some welded wire/hardware cloth/chicken netting for the goat pen/chicken run, 4 cornerposts as most of ours were a little old/rotted, and the nails/screws. Oh and the chickens of course

Pics soon. Recycling old buildings is really fun!

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

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Nice job! And it being almost free makes it even better right?!!

 

[Sam The Yam]

I'm pleased so far with my recycled lumber that was once pallets. Here is the progression so far on my "Pallet Palace for Poultry"
This first picture is one of my friends pulling nails out of the boards after his dad had pried them off:

Then we built the main frame:

I put a coat of primer on it Saturday and hope to finish it soon. I have access to a door that I thought that I would cut out a large egg shaped hole, put wire in it's place, and then I would have a recycled door fitting for the palace!

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

I made ladders for my chickens to go up and roost on with old wood pallets I found on the side of the road one day. And my neighbor tossed out a dog house which I also collected up and used. All that was wrong with it was a crack in the roof. I patched that up easily with some duck tape on the inside XD Can hardly tell from the outside!

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

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I like the design of your coop, nice job!
You should start a thread of building your coop, I would definately like to see how it all comes together.

I have farming in my blood too, must be the pioneer heritage!

 

[Emzyyy]

http://picstopics.blogspot.com/2008/05/house-made-from-glass-bottles.html

This is really cool. What do you think for a coop?

 

[Emzyyy]

http://weburbanist.com/2007/10/23/5-kinds-of-creative-recycled-architecture-cans-bottles-and-other-unusual-building-materials/
and this...