Why All The "Junk"?

[kcwazzu]

While a goodly portion of my coop was made with new materials, I availed myself of anything and everything I could reuse that I already had on hand. The shingles were left over from reroofing the house 12 years ago, the run is made from a 10x10 dog kennel I wasn't using and the windows I bought at a recycled building products store. While I have seen many fantastic coops on this site(yes I am jealous) I don't feel the need to compete with anyone and I am very happy with my results.
Part of the reason I got chickens has to do with my desire to be self sufficient in any way I can. Since I live in the 'burbs my options for self sufficiency are limited. Otherwise my back yard would be home to some steaks and pork chops as well.

Keith

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

 

[Hammond Egger]

Keep track of your expenses and figure out the true actual cost of your very first egg and you will understand.

 

[StevenW.]

I agree. May I have a couple thousand dollars? I would be more than happy to build a nice big barn to put all my birdies in!

 

[Fred's Hens]

It all depends on how fortunate one is in finding/getting good recycled building materials and ones skill, I suppose. No intention to sound haughty as not everyone has the same skill set with roofing, carpentry, and the right tools. There's no greater joy for me than taking re-cycled building materials and reusing them. Sure, it is a touch more work cleaning up old lumber and demo skills are needed as well. It takes more time to tear down and tear apart if your intention is to re-use the material.

Anyhow, long way to say that our 20x24 barn is about 80% re-cycled materials demo-ed from other jobs and buildings. I got this thing about making stuff look good, I guess.

 

[Nonny]

Turbodog said it best, but I'll add my two cents...

My coop isn't a "junk" one as I bought it new and the latest one I'm building is out of new and carefully recycled timber and supplies but the rest of my yard probably fits your description of junk.

My house is on a corner so my yard is visible by all and it's full of what I like to call "pieces of whimsy" from the old rotted and rusted wood and iron seat the chooks like to sit on, to the pair of kids gumboots creatively hung in the tree, to the "face" we've made on one of our older trees and the bright red/orange/yellow painted piece of lopsided trellis we're using as a gate to the run at the moment.

I have absolutely no desire to spend our hard earned dollars making something look cute or pretty just to satisfy my neighbours. I don't keep chickens to be an ambassador of backyard poultry keeping. If people are only interested in keeping chickens because they look cute and their houses look cute then that's their problem, and if my neighbours put so much stock on things needing to look "cute" in my backyard then they're not the sort of neighbours I'd get on with anyway.

This is our home. Our children were born in this home. Our memories are made in this home. THAT is what's important to us, not our neighbours property values or their opinions on how pretty our chicken coop is.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
X4

Maybe sometimes it does look like junk. Maybe it doesn't. Personally, I don't have the money to go spending willy-nilly on coop and run materials and yes, I am proud of recycling materials that others just throw away. Are you saying you wouldn't be jealous of a good looking coop that cost the owner next to nothing, or are you seeing what you think is really horrible looking ones and shocked that people are proud of them? Either way, that's a sort of snobbery. Just because you wouldn't be proud of such a thing doesn't mean the other person shouldn't be.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Quote:
I am glad that your country, Australia allows anyone to have chickens anywhere they own their own land and have lived there a while.

There are many people in the USA that are struggling to "Legally" keep chickens. Cities, counties and homeowners associations (you join when you buy not opt in or out) have made having backyard chickens illegal for many.

My point and I think you missed it, is there are some great looking coops here that are made of "Junk". But in some areas where people are struggling to be legal, it does not help if all the coops the neighbors see are more shacks than coops. That is what they non chicken people start to think is a coop and they do not want to bring that to their neighborhood.

 

[Nonny]

We do have laws in each state regarding backyard poultry. Where I live the law is that you can only have up to 6 chickens, no roosters, and it doesn't matter whether you rent or own your land (provided your landlord doesn't have a "no pets" rule"). If it wasn't legal to keep chickens then I wouldn't have any.

A house we built years ago was in a neighbourhood where houses, fencing and street frontages had to meet exacting standards to "keep up the tone of the neighbourhood", and using recycled building materials was a definite no-no, so I do understand the HOA restrictions. I guess I'm lucky that places like that are few and far between in my city and I can choose not to live in those types of neighbourhoods.

Obviously if you have those restrictions you build what you need to, but my point was that if you don't have those restrictions you should feel perfectly free to use recycled junk to build your coop if that's what takes your fancy, without regard to your neighbours.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I personally wouldn't build a coop out of "junk". The chickens compliment my yard by free ranging, people often comment on how nice everything looks. A coop made of "junk" is an eye sore.

 

[Stephanie739]

Quote:
Hey thats my setup too! (or at least will be when I am finished) I love seeing the 'frugal' setups. I was worried that using dog supplies (kennels and doghouses) were not appropriate when I first got chickens, but there was no way I could buy one of those cute pre fab coops/runs. Thankfully, I learned that chickens are a little easier to keep than it would appear - thanks to those who post about the inexpensive ways to take care of their chicks! And it turned out that dog housing is actually very good chicken housing. My kennel is nice and secure and the dog houses make great nest boxes and will make excellent houses for babies when I have my first broody. My shed is also turning into a great coop. The chickens already love to wander around in there and I have one chick who has decided she will now lay her eggs in there (she did that yesterday and today)

to frugal and recycled posters!