Repurpose a Metal bunk bed??

[Lilalienangel]

When all is said done I will have up to ten chickens. I have limited funds 2 metal bunkbed frames and a little scrap wood including some paneling board. Has anyone done this before? I live in Idaho so there is a possibility of hard winters so protection is a must. I am looking for ideas to help me figure out a design. Also, any construction hints wood be appreciated.. Drilling metal and attaching wood; oh boy.. Maybe notches helping to hold things together? Thank you so much for any and all responses.

 

[nuthatched]

It's hard for me to figure set up with out seeing the materials and dragging them around, but i am a world class jerry rigger (self proclaimed lol) so we'll see.
First of all, i would place them on their wide sides, they are more stable and requires less wood. Plus, they're more out of the wind and you can pile straw etc on top and sides for insulation. If you can remove the bottom bunk's interior platform, ( not the bunk itself, you need that for stability), whether it's that fence type stuff or slats, I would do so.
Basically, you're building a box around the frame, I'd leave part of one side , the entry hole, (I'd use a long one) and the floor un-covered. Or you could make a low floor some how.
You can make some some nest boxes near along the back and some sort of door for access to them. You can cover the other bed frame in chicken wire and use as a run. If you're planning on using both as a house, then I would still remove the bottom bunks' wire etc and stack them and enclose. It really depends on your preference. Also, you can find cheap outdoor paint at thrift store or if you have a habitat for humanity restore, the usually have an agreement with a paint shop and can have paint pretty cheap, you can also wrap the whole thing in plastic sheeting for a wind barrier and water proofing. As for attaching the wood to metal, since I'm not sure on the frame's thickness, I'd use corner braces to attach wood to wood. The great thing about having a low Coop, is the snow acts as as insulation. I'll try to draw up a better example

edit for correcting the autocorrect

 

[Lilalienangel]

I have to pull the bunk beds out of the garage.. I'll try to get those and the scrap wood I have photographed by tonight or early tomorrow. Thank you so much! That is definatly a good start.

 

[ValerieJ]

Fascinating. Can't wait to see the finished coop.

 

[Lilalienangel]

This will definatly be interesting. Especially since I have never built anything before... Leave it to me for my first project to include working with metal. Lol

 

[Chick Wrangler]

Binding wood and metal together: I am far from an accomplished builder but a few years ago built a 10' X 22' chicken run from repaired used chain link panels. The roof was also chain link panels covered with a tarp.

The last part of the roof was an uneven panel size so built a panel from wood & welded wire mesh. Had a hard time finding a way to attach wood panel securely to chain link panels. Finally tried large metal hose clamps from hardware/home improvement store. They worked very well!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I love recycling/upcycling. I've come to recognize chicken/livestock/ag folx as being remarkably resourceful. Amazingly so.

Pics would def help. My coops were both made of a bunch of recycled materials (an old fence and a hot tub surround). Metal bunk beds seem to be an additional challenge. But I have found aluminum pretty easy to drill through. Carriage bolts or bolts with splitter pins or cotter pins may be useful for connecting the wood and metal. Or anything for connecting fence boards to metal fence posts...???

Is it weird I'm a little jealous of your project? Sounds like an interesting puzzle!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Finally tried large metal hose clamps from hardware/home improvement store. They worked very well!

Great idea!!!!

 

[Lilalienangel]

Sorry I abandoned this for so long. So, life happened and I sold some of my chickens.
I haven't gotten back to this project for a while. Then lockdown happened. It's raining right now but later I'll show you what I have so far.. Nesting Boxes doors roof and I'll be done.. Now if it would just stop raining.