Struggling with affordability of coop

[cholland]

If you are going to have more than a few chickens you will want an 8x8 coop at least. Building one will be cheaper but still probably $800-1000 if using all new materials. Recycling windows, doors, hinges, all of it will save $.
Pallets are a lot of work and in my area they don't give away the nice ones.

Do you have a ReStore or some kind of place that sells discounted/used hardware?
In my area the Lowes puts together cull packs of imperfect/damaged lumber and sells them 50% off. More than once I've found bundles of 2x4 and 2x6 that are still perfectly good for coops and sheds.

Just for reference. A couple of the local feed stores here sell coops they build. Not kits, real solid coops. They are $1200 and up.

 

[mystprism]

Do you have the tools? At the very least, you will need a good drill, and a skill saw. I much prefer to use a chop saw for most of my cuts.

What is your basic location? That will help folks to give climate appropriate advice. While you already have your coop drawn out, I suggest that you look at the Wood's Open Air style coop before making any design commitments. IMO these coops are by far the most practical coop for all locations.

You can build a coop that is far superior to any thing you could buy (unless you lay out well over a thousand dollars) To save money, you might scrounge up your doors and windows. I can get all the doors/windows I could ever need from my town dump. And they are good quality. You'd be surprised what people throw away. Then, after you get your doors/windows, you can design your walls to incorporate them.

Check out a little book published by Sunset, titled: "Sheds and garages". Lots of building details there to help get you started on designing the perfect coop for you.

I do have all the tools I'll need. I'm quite handy and have done a good deal of home remodeling so the labor isn't at issue. I'm just south of Seattle, WA so we get a lot of rain but our temperature doesn't go much below 25F at the coldest and we're lucky to hit 90F for a week or 2 in the summer.

 

[SonoranChick]

Coop set up can be pricey and should look different depending on where you reside. Living in the hot, dry desert, my flock needs tons of shade and open air/ventilation. My coop is not insulated, because it really doesn't need to be.
I do not recommend pre fab coops. They are over-priced in my opinion. You could easily take that money to Home Depot and buy three times the materials and really create something nice. I also highly recommend reusing old materials that you may already have lying around!...our entire coop is made of refurbished metal and wood. It looks perfectly mismatched in a way that I really appreciate, and the best part is, chickens don't care if it's fancy and new. They just need to be safe from predators and the elements, and comfortable.

 

[featheredplanets]

I too am struggling to find coops that are not too expensive...I currently have two ducks but will be expanding. What do you use? I am not tech enough to build my own. Are Wendy houses good to use? Thanks in advance x

Wendy houses would likely be fine if altered to accommodate ducks, I don’t know about duck housing but if it’s the same as chickens then I imagine all the same rule of thumbs apply. You would need a few tools but you could ask family, friends, neighbours if they could lend you theirs. If using a Wendy house, I’d replace the windows with hardware cloth and add indoor nesting boxes to avoid having to use any big tools and cutting holes in it etc (if ducks use them?), but whatever works easiest and safest for you is the best. There’s always an alternative

 

[Chickassan]

Spring is coming, look for coupons and deals on storage sheds and convert it into a coop. It will still be a little pricey, but much less than a coop kit most of what you need structurally will be there and you'll have space. I've found overstock is a good hunting ground for buildings, and coop kits even broody boxes and runs.

 

[GracieJ]

Wendy houses would likely be fine if altered to accommodate ducks, I don’t know about duck housing but if it’s the same as chickens then I imagine all the same rule of thumbs apply. You would need a few tools but you could ask family, friends, neighbours if they could lend you theirs. If using a Wendy house, I’d replace the windows with hardware cloth and add indoor nesting boxes to avoid having to use any big tools and cutting holes in it etc (if ducks use them?), but whatever works easiest and safest for you is the best. There’s always an alternative

Ah thank you! I've just looked up outdoor storage sheds and found that may be the better option! I've looked up coops online and they are small and expensive. Excellent advice thank you featheredplanets. As far as I know raising chickens and ducks are very similar

 

[pennyJo1960]

I've looked at all sorts of sources from Amazon to Walmart to local feed stores. I've also looked at local buy-nothing groups, Craigslist, and things like that. I've got a fairly basic (if large, 8x8) coop design sketched out but might want to go with a kit since it's my first coop and it seems like my options are all quite expensive.

Option 1: Buy kit
To get a kit for 10+ chickens seems to start at around $800

Option 2: Buy building materials from the hardware store
I threw everything (studs, OSB, plywood, roofing, treated posts, hardware cloth) into an online cart at Home Depot and came to about $500. I imagine my actual cost would be higher because I'm sure I'm not accounting for everything.

Option 3: Spend weeks digging through free ads for construction materials to scrounge together most of what I need
This would be time consuming, gas consuming, and would probably leave me with lower quality materials.

Am I missing something, or is a coop of any size beyond about 4x4 feet gonna hit my wallet pretty hard? Are there inexpensive prefabbed options out there? I'm in a very mild climate so I don't need anything fancy. I'm also planning to free range them most of the time, so all the coops with big attached runs are overkill.

do you have a habitat for humanity close as you do not give a locale.... there are also coops built from here by folks that post their plans.. free range is great but air attack can happen

 

[featheredplanets]

Ah thank you! I've just looked up outdoor storage sheds and found that may be the better option! I've looked up coops online and they are small and expensive. Excellent advice thank you featheredplanets. As far as I know raising chickens and ducks are very similar

Sheds will be my go to for housing any poultry, they’re versatile and can look pretty with some paint, you won’t catch me spending ££££. I’ve seen my friends’ ducks and she uses the Deep Litter Method, I’d probably add a kickboard at the door to stop bedding going everywhere and 1sqft+ ventilation each, maybe 2 for ducks? Sorry I can’t help you with them much, there’s probably some amazing threads on here about housing them!

 

[GracieJ]

Sheds will be my go to for housing any poultry, they’re versatile and can look pretty with some paint, you won’t catch me spending ££££. I’ve seen my friends’ ducks and she uses the Deep Litter Method, I’d probably add a kickboard at the door to stop bedding going everywhere and 1sqft+ ventilation each, maybe 2 for ducks? Sorry I can’t help you with them much, there’s probably some amazing threads on here about housing them!

You've helped me loads so thank you, it's much appreciated. The kickboard is an amazing idea actually, wouldn't have thought of that myself!

 

[dunnmom]

We opted to build ours. It wasn't cheap, but ours was built according to our particular needs. We saved a little money on the coop using reclaimed fence-panel wood for just about everything but the structural support pieces, and the floor. The main pro about building it was that predator proofing was part of the original design. In short, we didn't have to buy a prefab of questionable quality materials, and then spend extra money on top of that for predator proofing, or any customizing. 2 years later, it still looks pretty good, no big issues. The main con, I would have to say, is the time it took to build. However, my husband turned out two more identical ones for sale in less than half the time, because he knew better what he was doing by then.

Edit: my husband got the fence panels from a fencing company. They were throwing away panels they removed from jobs sites. We asked if we could have them, and they said we could take as many as we wanted. That's a lot of free wood!