shipping crate coops

[AinaWGSD]

I know I've seen some people here who have used shipping crates for all sorts of shelters, from brooders to chicken coops and even goat houses. We are in the process of planning a new coop and are on a tight budget. While I love the design my husband has come up with (it really is a dream coop), after making up a partial materials list and looking at the prices of some of those materials I am afraid we're probably going to have to scrap it and try something different. The most expensive part of the materials we're looking at is the plywood and then I thought about some of the wonderful shipping crate coops I've seen here.

Problem is, I have no idea where to start looking to see if there are any available in the area. With the last coop, we already contacted one of the two local motorcycle dealerships about their shipping crates and that won't work for two reasons. One, the pallets they ship on are steel and not wood and the crates are made out of compressed cardboard and not wood. Two, they ship the crates back to the manufacturer to be reused, so they wouldn't give them to us even if they were wood. Does anyone have any ideas about who we would contact to see if they had any wooden shipping crates waiting to be disposed of?

 

[Wrigley62]

Moving Companies, Mayflower, Atlas, Global, the big moving companies. If not motorcycle dealers then try lawn mower dealers (riding mowers). I work at a wastewater treatment plant, and one of the other plants near by had 6 moving crates, 2-4x4x8 and 4- 4x4x4, I grabbed all 6. It was a killer find!
You have probably already checked, but try craigslist.
If you lived close by I would give you one, I know that doesn't help. I've always got my eyes open. Everytime is see plywood or board lumber I think to myself, "I can make a coop out of that"

I hope I have been of some help, Good Luck and keep your eyes peeled.

Wrigley

 

[quarrymaster]

There are many places that have shipping crates , ask around.....my wife works for a service company , they deliver about 200 to 300 crates a week ( they contain plastic film rolls that are used to shrink wrap or to package items (hard plastic)) ....they come in 12in x12in x 6 or 8 ft or 18x18 x 6 or 8ft{ makes good planter troughs}, to 3ft x3ft x 5 or 8ft long , the bottom is 12in deep x 34in to 37in x 53 to 57 long , the top half is 21 to 24 x 34 to 37 wide and 53 to 57 long , with several layers of plywood inside to support the big rolls of plastic , kinda hard to picture or explain this , but I have been making nesting boxes out of these , and a pool toy box etc......I can get them free , but they take about 3 hours to break down or tear apart and you have to pull all the nails , then measure , cut , glue and nail back together......it takes about 10 to 12 hrs and about 20 to $30.00 for screws , nails , paint etc etc.....but I'm selling the nests for $85 to $100 each ( which means I'm making about $5.00 an hour).......you might look around in an industrial park (look in the back lot for big crates ,then stop and ask) OR find a habitat for humanity in your area or other recycler ....I have seen people use old doors and windows to build coops , one was built from old garage role up doors some were wood some were the metal type (the coop ended up 9ft wide x 18 or 20 ft long , used 4x4s cemented in ground and bolted the doors to that , then added a dog pen for the run area , all used items and purchased cheap , I think total cost was $300 over a 3 month period for all the parts and cement { the guy had just been disabled in a motorcycle accident , was awaiting disability} ....just a few thoughts.......
my grandson got into the chickens , then my son found polish so he got started in the game , so we are constantly trying new and different things.....ie , rain troughs for feeders..... LOTS of ideas on this site I'm retired , but like to save money........
I'm in the Joplin , Mo area , would invite you down , but you'd need a large trailer or other to haul ( only available mon thru fri because of outside forklift) , I have a 25ft flatbed and can only fit 8 each on it , could stack 2 high and get 16 , but then all the tie downs etc and DOT gets too watching etc.......just some thoughts and ideas to look at and ponder.....check in your local area is best bet .....these are all plywood from china or japan etc so cheap construction , but with paint and screws become sturdy and lasting....... Rick

 

[erinszoo]

Don't know about shipping crates but you can get wood pallets at any lumber yard or home improvement store or feed store usually for free. We've build a fence and four storage units in our garage out of pallets that we got for free at the local lumber yard. We have more we are going to use to build a new barn/coop out of so we can keep all the fowl in one place at night but in seperate quarters.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Believe me, my husband is all about the pallets right now. After last weekend's raiding of several places (where he works he knows he can get the pallets for free, plus we spent some extra time cruising the backsides of stores looking for more) we have a stack of pallets as tall as the garage door. The current plan is to use tar paper to wrap the wall studs to create a moisture barrier, then use wood from the pallets as siding. I was hoping to find some large shipping crates though because I imagine the plywood to be easier than planks from wood pallets.

 

[erinszoo]

True the plywood would be much faster. Have you considered using the pallet slats like shingles up and down instead of sideways? A little different look but far less nailing or screwing.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Hadn't thought of that. The big concern would be extra lumber for supports to nail them to, but I believe the wall studs are no more than 2' apart at the most anyway so we could probably use the lumber from the pallets for that and not have to buy any extra. I'll mention it to him and see what he thinks.