So after browsing every single coop in the "Coop Designs" and reading almost every thread in this forum, we finally decided to build a larger coop. Actually, it wasn't so much of a choice as a necessity, due in part to bad information from the person we bought our coop from, and also largely in part to my inability to pass up chicks at the feed store....twice....
Anyhow, since we have a ton of projects that need done, and chickens were not high on DH's priority list, it was necessary to make this as cheap as we could.
DH has access to as many free pallets as he can haul home, plus we had a nice stack of 2x4s from various other projects. We also had various pieces of siding and cement blocks.
We decided to go 8x8, to accommodate standard sizes. Currently, we have 6 standard sized chickens, and 3 banties, and they free range all day long, so I feel that does give me some expansion room as well. We have about 2 acres that they range on, with lots of covered areas for them to hide under if need be.
What we did was level an area out, and used some 2x6 composite decking that someone gave us as a moisture barrier level. We then picked out pallets that were 48 inches tall, even though they varied on the lengths somewhat. We had to cut a couple of them to the correct length, and used lengths of 2x4s to "rebuild" the edges. Instead of fighting with trying to make the last 2 feet in the front and 1 foot in the back out of the pallets, we used a couple more 2x4s to finish off the framing, and to frame in where the windows would go.
We were able to pick up some metal roofing from a reject pile at our local hardware store. We had priced out the T1-11 (OSB) siding, and that stuff is SPENDY! Even for a little 8x8 building, so we looked at alternatives. I happened to notice that the 5' cedar fence boards were about a dollar a piece, and sat down and did some calculating. We figured out that we needed about 70 of the 5.5" wide boards. Well, DH mentioned that he had a pile of them left from a cedar fence we took down about 10 years ago
We ended up with 39 from that, so I only had to buy 31, plus we needed about 40 of the 4 inch cedar fence boards as well, which we ripped down to 2 inch widths to use for trim.
We had to buy our mesh, plexiglass for the windows, and hardware (hinges, etc). We cut some small trees from some of our property (we have 48 acres) for the roosts, and used a pre-primed piece of siding that we had for the poop board. The only thing we have left to do at this point is to figure out how to mount the nest boxes. We are using some small rubbermaid tubs that we found on sale, just haven's figured out how we want to put them up.
Total cost was a little over $200!!
The Front:
Pop Door Side (the other side is identical but no window and no pop door)
Back:
The inside:
All of the windows open, as we do get a month or two of 90+ degree weather here typically, and wanted them to have plenty of air.
We stood in there through of couple of good wind storms that we had here recently, and I am SO happy to report that it wasn't drafty at all. The air moved up top a bit, well above the roosts, but stayed plenty comfortable at roost level and below.
We actually had a lot of fun figuring out the puzzle of how to use the pallets, plus I think it turned out great!

Anyhow, since we have a ton of projects that need done, and chickens were not high on DH's priority list, it was necessary to make this as cheap as we could.
DH has access to as many free pallets as he can haul home, plus we had a nice stack of 2x4s from various other projects. We also had various pieces of siding and cement blocks.
We decided to go 8x8, to accommodate standard sizes. Currently, we have 6 standard sized chickens, and 3 banties, and they free range all day long, so I feel that does give me some expansion room as well. We have about 2 acres that they range on, with lots of covered areas for them to hide under if need be.
What we did was level an area out, and used some 2x6 composite decking that someone gave us as a moisture barrier level. We then picked out pallets that were 48 inches tall, even though they varied on the lengths somewhat. We had to cut a couple of them to the correct length, and used lengths of 2x4s to "rebuild" the edges. Instead of fighting with trying to make the last 2 feet in the front and 1 foot in the back out of the pallets, we used a couple more 2x4s to finish off the framing, and to frame in where the windows would go.
We were able to pick up some metal roofing from a reject pile at our local hardware store. We had priced out the T1-11 (OSB) siding, and that stuff is SPENDY! Even for a little 8x8 building, so we looked at alternatives. I happened to notice that the 5' cedar fence boards were about a dollar a piece, and sat down and did some calculating. We figured out that we needed about 70 of the 5.5" wide boards. Well, DH mentioned that he had a pile of them left from a cedar fence we took down about 10 years ago

We ended up with 39 from that, so I only had to buy 31, plus we needed about 40 of the 4 inch cedar fence boards as well, which we ripped down to 2 inch widths to use for trim.
We had to buy our mesh, plexiglass for the windows, and hardware (hinges, etc). We cut some small trees from some of our property (we have 48 acres) for the roosts, and used a pre-primed piece of siding that we had for the poop board. The only thing we have left to do at this point is to figure out how to mount the nest boxes. We are using some small rubbermaid tubs that we found on sale, just haven's figured out how we want to put them up.
Total cost was a little over $200!!



The Front:

Pop Door Side (the other side is identical but no window and no pop door)

Back:

The inside:

All of the windows open, as we do get a month or two of 90+ degree weather here typically, and wanted them to have plenty of air.
We stood in there through of couple of good wind storms that we had here recently, and I am SO happy to report that it wasn't drafty at all. The air moved up top a bit, well above the roosts, but stayed plenty comfortable at roost level and below.
We actually had a lot of fun figuring out the puzzle of how to use the pallets, plus I think it turned out great!
