Should I build a new run???!!!

[Emily_loveschickens]

Depending on where you are, you could price wood at your local Lowe‘s, Home Depot, Fix & Feed, etc. If you’re wanting to cut back on pricing some, Landscaping Timbers are far cheaper than 4x4s (they are 4x3 with rounding on 2 sides). I personally like the look of them better than all the square things.
You could also get 6in fence pickets (usually 6ft long) for some of the wood you need, but it won’t hold up forever.
Big box wood sellers, such as Lowe’s and Home Depot also sell “cull wood” in some locations. It’s usually on a cart somewhere with a bit of spray paint on it. It’s wood that’s warped or chipped, or otherwise has some flaws, but they sell it for 50-80% off the shelf price. It‘s not the best, because it has some flaws, but it’s cut to the size of normal lumber, and, if you can find good pieces, they’ll have all the strength of the high priced pieces.

As for making a sloped roof, you could build the wall on one side as 5ft tall, and build an identical wall for the other side, but also make a rectangle that is the same length, but only 1.5ft tall, and attach it to the top of one side. If your roofing requires slats, take 2x4s and lay them on their side. You can rest them on the bottom wall and hold the other side up to the taller wall to get the right angle for your cut. Get some decking or roofing metal holder things (idk what they’re called, but they attach wood to each other), and screw em in. Put your room on top, and BOOM! Slanted roof!

Instead of doing the 1 ft. Rectangle for the slant can I just do on one side the corner posts be 5 foot and on the other side the posts be 6 foot that way it is sort of seamless and I don’t have to do a rectangle.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Instead of doing the 1 ft. Rectangle for the slant can I just do on one side the corner posts be 5 foot and on the other side the posts be 6 foot that way it is sort of seamless and I don’t have to do a rectangle.

While I am not the poster you quoted I will offer an answer anyway.

Yes you can make one wall taller than the other to provide the slope.

 

[spiceholler]

I can tell you that construction materials have nearly tripled in price. To price out a structure, the easiest way is to find a plan online (you have) and take a look at the lumber needed, then put those items in a spreadsheet, then go online some place like Lowes or Home Depot and fill in the prices, multiply all of the quantities and get your grand total ESTIMATE cost. (I usually add 25-30%)

With regards to roofing, there are various types of corrugated material with different prices. If you do have any clear panels, ensure you get the more expensive one with UV resistance...it's not worth the trouble of having to replace it in two years!

Screws are more expensive, but easier to use than nails, especially if you don't have any/much experience building.

We built our coop with mostly scrap wood and will simply paint it. My mom would have called it "funky elite".

You could also troll Craig's list as often there are interesting free items. Look for building materials, free windows, even old dog houses or sheds.

Speaking of sheds, you could also head to your building supply and see what they have. Often, they will deliver, and once you compare the price with how much it costs to build your own, you might find it way easier and you can get on to enjoying your chickens.

One thought we had was to purchase a small camping trailer and convert that to our coop, but nothing really came up during the time we needed to rebuild the coop.

 

[Heidi Marston]

I bought plans from the garden coop. They have a website. I built it myself. I love how it’s modular and I can add on in the future.

 

[Rancher by day]

Hey,
I have six chickens and my current run is about 2 feet off the ground. It is not convenient because I cannot go into the run and I have had about enough of with it. I think I want to make the run so I can go in it not too tall but tall enough to where it’s OK if I bend down a little but I can get into it. I am 5’8” so it wouldn’t need to be too tall but pretty tall. Does anyone have any plans for a run that looks nice because we live in a residential area and I would not want it looking like an eyesore but also functional? Thank you so much!

I love my loop coops. I use 2 hog panels per coop. I have the 2x4s set 6 ft apart for width. The length varies. 2 are 8 ft because they have the nesting box protruding out the back. My other coop has no nest so it's 10 ft long. You can loop the panels tighter and it will then be taller so your 2x4s might be 5 ft apart. You could use just 1 panel. I cover it with a heavy duty (not store bought type) tarp. I can't say enough about the stoutness of this type of coop on comparison to kits you buy. I have head room, can hang feeders from the panels. Just look up the how to construct on the web. I used hardware cloth not chicken wire to cover over the panels.

 

[Chickenclaude]

I love using hog panels too. They go up fast too and zero upkeep. You just have to reinforce w hardware fabric to keep out critters.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I love using hog panels too. They go up fast too and zero upkeep. You just have to reinforce w hardware fabric to keep out critters.

I have a very large dog kennel run that I love for my chickens and ducks, but I built a rain out for my goats with 2 hog panels and t-posts in about an hour. Sooooo easy!

 

[Cutie Clucker]

Hey,
I have six chickens and my current run is about 2 feet off the ground. It is not convenient because I cannot go into the run and I have had about enough of with it. I think I want to make the run so I can go in it not too tall but tall enough to where it’s OK if I bend down a little but I can get into it. I am 5’8” so it wouldn’t need to be too tall but pretty tall. Does anyone have any plans for a run that looks nice because we live in a residential area and I would not want it looking like an eyesore but also functional? Thank you so much!

I definitely would! Mine was made with 2x4x6’ lumber so that just about anyone can go in without bending over. My coop is also about 3.5’ off the ground so I didn’t have to slant the roof of the run. The other plus is that I keep the food and water under the coop and it’s a little cramped to fill the feeder, but I only have to fill it every 3-4 weeks. I have 3 hens.

 

[Cutie Clucker]

I definitely would! Mine was made with 2x4x6’ lumber so that just about anyone can go in without bending over. My coop is also about 3.5’ off the ground so I didn’t have to slant the roof of the run. The other plus is that I keep the food and water under the coop and it’s a little cramped to fill the feeder, but I only have to fill it every 3-4 weeks. I have 3 hens. View attachment 3284662

Forgot to mention I paid my son and his handy friend to build it.

 

[Imataken]

For my chickens we bought a 20 by 30 dog kennel on Craigslist for 200 bucks covered with hardware cloth and had a peak roof put on and have heavy thick clear plastic around all the sides and back that we can roll up with attached velcro for summer and nice days roll down for bad weather cold days in winter we put straw bales around the outside walls to block wind help keep it warmer