Is this to have someone build it? You can lower your costs if you watch your local craigslist, facebook market, etc. for materials. We've done several projects that way, acquiring left over new material as well as in good condition used material. We scored enough brand new steel roofing to do our home, brand new windows from a canceled sale, & used sheet metal to build our coop.
Talk me off the Ledge... $2000 for a chicken coop!
- Thread starter ThatTeowonna
- Start date
My 8 x 6 henhouse with windows, rain gutters into a rain barrel that waters the chickens, solar powered pop door, and attached 12 x 6 run cost a lot more than that 9 years ago. I had someone build it for me. But, I had it insulated, too, and built so it can be used as a nice garden shed with green house attached should I ever stop keeping chickens, which I can‘t imagine. One lady not far from me spent $20k for hers a few years before I built mine. It has an area to keep chicks to introduce them to the flock before they’re big enough to be fully integrated. It all depends on what you want.
They’re definitely entertaining!
- Mar 29, 2016
- 16
- 3
- 72
5 years ago we spent about $2000 on a coop 6x24. It was the hardware cloth I think that made it so expensive but we wanted it to be predator proof. Better safe than sorry.
I wrapped the bottom of wood floor in it to prevent chewing through, as well as lined the sides and floor of the run in the stuff. Nothing’s ever gotten in, although a mouse once got under the hw cloth on the floor of the run, and I watched it tunnel everywhere. I finally got rid of it with one of those sonic varmint repellers.
JoHennBock
Chirping
- Apr 25, 2021
- 14
- 59
- 59
What state are you located in? You might look around for a sawmill that sells rough cut extras or "cants" at a much reduced price. It will mean more labor to create perfect dimensions, but it might be an angle at saving some dough. A second thought - although not as pleasing to the eye as a manufactured coop - is one made of repurposed pallets. If you live near a city, finding free pallets isn't terribly hard, but it does mean wading into full-blown DIY waters. All that being said, if the coop you are considering makes you happy, there is nothing wrong with prioritizing it. Best of luck to you and your birds!
We built a coop for $170 last year. It was mostly made of free/cheap pallets, some purchased materials, and materials we had in our shed. This thing is solid and huge. It weighs somewhere around half a ton, and it took seven grown adults to move it when we bought a different house late last year, and we barely got it moved. It has nesting boxes, three trusses made from 2x4s, a shingled roof, ventilation, and roosting bars made from 2x4s. Even with lumber costs continuing to rise, we were able to build a second coop last weekend with the same materials for about the same cost. We had shingles left over from the coop build last year, salvaged wood pieces from last year’s build, and more free/cheap pallets. Both coops work great, and will each hold about 20 chickens, some of which are large breed. I understand the cost of materials has increased exponentially, but I don’t see the need or logic behind paying $2000 for a coop that chickens are going to poop in. Granted, I live in a rural area where function matters more than form, and no one would call my coops Pinterest-worthy, but they get the job done, and my chickens are happy and healthy. I truly don’t see the logic in spending that kind of money on a chicken coop when one can be built for practically free with a little imagination and ingenuity. There are much more important things to spend $2000 on, and a chicken coop isn’t one of them. I don’t mean to sound snarky or rude; I just honestly want to help and let you know that a great coop can be built for way less than that, and I don’t want anyone to be taken advantage of. If you have $2000 to spend/blow on chicken stuff, I’d recommend spending as little as you can on the coop build, and instead, invest more of that money into high-quality, organic chicken feed and some heritage breed hens. I’d rather have fancy hens with a quality diet than a Taj Mahal chicken coop, but that’s just me. Good luck with everything!
Last edited:
Fieldsfive
Chirping
I built a 4 x 8 foot coop (simple, economical measurements) for about $800 in materials only. The 4' x 14' run cost me another $1100 in materials. So materials ONLY cost me close to $2000. I may have gone over with pavers, gravel & mulch in the run, but I am afraid to total every cent. So, $2k to have the coop made for you is fair. Mine took me 1 month of consistent work to build, outside of life obligations.
Fieldsfive
Chirping
Caveat: I think if you are paying fair market price for all materials + labor, it's a fair price.
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