Why All The "Junk"?

[Uncle Marc]

Wow! I guess I didn't calculate how easy it is to be misunderstood.

What I was asking was if there was some "tradition" or some thing about coops being made from used stuff (aka junk) that I was missing.

I repeat, frugal and resourceful I get.

Sorry if the word 'junk' offended you, but "re-cycled", "used" and "salvaged" are synonyms for "junk" in many cases, don't you think?

We are using an old coop to make parts of ours.

 

[Carols Clucks]

I'll have to post a photo of my snobby garden shed. The one I wasted all that money on. The one that is so cute we decided that some day it will have to be a play house when my sons have kids of their own. The one that has the cat hole.

It is snobby alright

Right down to the junk 3/4 plywood walls, dropped off at moms instead of the dump, just had to cut the sheets down to 3.5 x7 to get fresh good edges. And the salvaged 100+ year old windows that match the rest of the house (1890's) We paid for the tin roof, a few 2x4's for the interior frame work and some of the super cheap firring for trim. I think with paint we might have spent $100. Fixing up the house and yard is our Christmas present, we enjoy it all year long.



For years we had the worst looking house on the street, my dad could have probably been on garden/yard horders. But since we have cleaned up, so have the neighbors. Since we replaced the eyesore coop with my new foo foo snobby one, two new neighbors want to have chickens now too (one is having a different neighbor build her coop this week). And the chickens enjoy heading in to their coop extra early, earlier than they used to in the old one. I think they like it too.

 

[hemet dennis]

Quote:
No "re-cycled", "used" and "salvaged" are NOT synonyms for "junk"

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
No "re-cycled", "used" and "salvaged" are NOT synonyms for "junk"

X2

I agree with hemet dennis.

 

[7L Farm]

Here's a coop that was used by my Grandfathers care taker probably 50 years ago. It was so old I had to move it because woods had grown up where it was. It didn't have a run. Not sure they used runs in the day. I added a run. I love it & it will pr

obably last another 50 years. It's not junk its a part of my family's life, its art to me, brings back memories of my grandparents .

 

[Hoofer]

Here is my little coop. We built it this summer to house our six hens after the old coup was torn apart by a friends dog. It took us three weeks to build because we used primarily recycled/leftover materials.

 

[Narragansett]

It's too bad that people are so hypersensitive in today's society. What is the term that they like to use as a crutch, instead of simply debating their position in an agreeable manner? "Offended?" The poor guy asked a simple question, and for that he gets demeaned and accused of lacking in empathy. Geeze, grow up a little bit folks!

I tend to agree with his line of thinking, and especially with Carol's, that many of these eyesore chicken coops are embarrassments to our hobby. Whether your intent is to be an ambassador for the backyard chicken movement is irrelevant. If people can see an unattractive coop, it refelcts badly on all poultry keepers, and encourages HOAs to enact rules to prevent that from happening in their neighborhoods. A gallon of paint is not very expensive, and you'd be surprised at how much it can change a ramshackle conglomeration of patched together materials into something if not attractive, at least presentable. No one is suggesting that you have to spend a lot of money to do it, except a few who allowed their imaginations to get carried away and perceive an insult where none occurred. Nowhere in his posts did Marc insult the use of recycled material, as many of you insulted him. In fact he stated several times beginning with the OP that he approved of it. Now what I don't understand is how even the poorest chicken keeper does not have enough pride in his or her property to construct something that is not a blight to the community. It doesn't take a single dime extra to use recycled materials thoughtfully, rather than just slap them together enough to keep the birds in and the rain out. And I do use recyled materials whenever possible.

 

[TreeHugger]

In order for someone to salvage or recycle something I think the original owner would have to consider it junk/trash.

Both of my coops were originally my grandmother's and she passed away in 1984. She had them built from re-cycled lumber from a demolished house that was from the 1930's era. My parents considered them junk and were going to burn them down about 5 years ago. They had not been repaired during the last 20 years and were in really bad condition. I thought there were going to collapse when I had them moved. They both got a new roof, windows and a new coat of paint. A little TLC goes a long way!
The best part is they remind me of my grandmother and when I was a child. They were junk when I got them, but not anymore.

 

[canesisters]

Quote:
X2 amen

 

[GAchick]

No recycled, salvaged and re-purposed material is not 'junk'. Junk is the stuff left over that you COULN'T used because it was too...junky.... junk implies messiness. Re-cycled implies 'perfectly good "stuff" that one person no longer wanted, but still has usefulness'. Big difference.