Why All The "Junk"?

[ChickenCanoe]

Semantics gets us into trouble every time. Especially when we're not extremely careful to use the precise term for our intention or that term isn't fully understood.

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Awesome hexagon. My newest coop is a 5 apartment hexagon split down the middle by a breezeway allowing access to all the roosts, feeders, waterers and nests while under a roof.

 

[Cheapchicksfarm]

I have raised chickens all my life and have housed them in just about every style and size coop or cage there is some that were pretty and some down right ugly ones

.

I do see some of your points about HOA's and we are setting a bad example but on the other hand I would never live in a place that has a HOA if I own my own place I will do what ever the heck I want and by law in my rural area the neighbors can get over it (p.s. most of the neighbors are family

which is not as good as you would think

) I have 8 acres and my chicken houses can only be seen if someone starts walking around being nosy. They are almost done being painted I used scrap plywood to fix them up the big hen house was built by my father in the 80's and the plywood on the side had rotted out when we moved in so we took it all down and used plywood that had been used as signs some of the inside walls say NO in orange spray paint

and if I knew how to work a paint sprayer I would paint the inside but since I do not have a sprayer or the skills to go with it when you look at my website some birds pics have ugly back grounds. My bantam barn is a 16x8 shed I bought used out of the local paper for $400 it was ugly and had some issues so we used more scrap wood to make trim which covered up the bad spots then painted it.

I am working to make my farm a pretty place but some people can't afford to do that lumber and building supplies are getting more expensive by the day and while at the same time I do love to see truck loads of new lumber on the back of a pickup going to someone's house to build a new project (my hubby is a logger the more wood used means more will be needed) I also appreciate seeing recycled wood coops I recently met a women who made her own coop in her back yard out of an old falling down shed and some scrap lumber that I'm sure she found under a 50 yo barn it was rough but it worked kept her birds safe and didn't cost her husband any money which if it had she would never had been allowed to get the birds it was rough but I would never judge her from that she loved her birds so much and took excellent care of them so I appreciate her for her actions not her coop plus if she had painted it that would have made it stand out so it was better off plain.

People are trying to get back to their roots growing their own food and raising chickens for eggs the modern food industry is forcing us to pay a fortune for food that is often recalled before we get it home and with the price of everything else going up also it is hard to get by so sometimes we have to choose between that fifty dollar bucket of paint or 3 bags of feed If someone can recycle a pallet or two and they can stand looking at the mismatched wood pieces while providing their children with wholesome fresh eggs I say

: thumbsup

To the person who started this post I didn't think your question was offensive I see it as you were just curious and wanted some input which is what this site is for so when you look at pics of other peoples coops please try and see it from their point of view not everyone can buy or build a fancy or even pretty coop everyone is just doing the best they can in these hard times.

I love

seeing coops no matter what they look like

 

[Aria]

This is our Barn to keep our Silkies Safe. Aria

 

[Uncle Marc]

I looked up the synonyms for "junk" on thesaurus.com and it includes "salvage". That's what I meant. Geez!

 

[Aria]

This is the inside of our Barn Aria

 

[Yetti]

Even though I have a good job it never hurts toe a bit frugal. My Grand pa always said.. "One mans junk is another mans treasure!" it holds true to this day. one tip I will give everyone is to don't be afraid to ask for something. I have found most folks would rather give you stuff that looks like it needs a home rather then see it go to waste. over a period of 3 years I collected 60 snowmobiles by just asking. if I drove past a farm and saw one out in the weeds I would pull in and ask. one day I got 3 and the trailer they were sitting on

 

[CluckCluck18]

Reduce, reuse,recycle. If more people did this our environment wouldn't be in such awful shape. So many folks just don't get it.....we've lost sight of alot of what's important in life. I built a coop with new materials and it cost way more than I thought it would. I don't have alot of access to salvage materials and I salute all of you for using them and doing it so creatively. If I were you I would boast, too.

 

[Yetti]

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I totally agree. I can't imagin having to spend so much on stuff at the rate the stores would have you pay on precived increases. its just nuts. as an example I re-purpose tons of stuff, even stuff I have to haul long distances to save.

the majority of the goose hut was a swing set next to my mother in laws house about 20 miles away. when I was over redoing her shed I asked the neighbor what they had planned for it since the kids all grew up and moved away. they said to take it down if you'd like it...so I did. took it apart and brought it home and built the majority of what you see. the parts I had to buy were the board to cut the flooring out of and some hardware cloth. my duck hut was our old bus stop house and it was mostly salvage too.

 

[Stephanie739]

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X2 amen

X3

LOL Who would not understand why most people use discarded materials instead of buying new? And are excited and proud of their accomplishments. Duh! Did Uncle Marc really think there was a secret chicken society with goals of constructing the most recycled coops? REALLY? I wasn't offended. I couldn't care less, but the message I took from the posts was one of why are you so proudly using junk for your coops, as in ew. Can't you up your standards a bit, and be proud of better? Please do correct me if I am wrong! (To the original poster, but be honest!) No offense taken, and hopefully none given.

 

[Stephanie739]

And based on Narragansett's post, you got the same message! lol