Why All The "Junk"?

[speckledhen]

Folks, let's not get crazy here. If you will review his first post, he did not say, "hey, why are you all making such ugly eyesores out of found trash?" Below, emphasis mine:

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And when he put the quotation marks around the word "junk", to me, that qualified it as a shorter word for what he was trying to get across, i.e. recycled materials, not that he was truly saying "trash", as such.


For us, it's a matter of $$. We are retired military, living on my DH's pension alone. We built this cute little coop from almost all recycled materials from a log home builder's dumpster at just one construction site (with his permission to take whatever we wanted). We bought only the roll roofing and paint. We got some good use from it and it is now owned by gavinandallison in NC:

 

[kidd42]

When I built our first coop 3 years ago, I used redwwood lumber that had been discarded at our local landfill. We had planned on getting chickens that spring and had been looking at building a nice coop on the cheap. On a landfill run I noticed all this redwood from a deck that someone had taken the time to carefully disassemble. After getting permission from the dump, and spending 3 days with my alotted 3 CYD hauls out I had enough redwood to build a 8'X8' Playhouse coop with plenty of lumber left over for other projects. I spent an entire day ripping down 2 x 6 deck boards with my table saw so that I could have 2 x 3's. How many folks can say that they have a chicken coop framed out in redwood that didn't cost them a dime only sweat? I am very proud of that coop and it looks very nice, not a piece of junk. You can see photo's of it on my page.

 

[trooper]

e Excuse me but the way that I look at it is if it is reusuable then it's not junk.It is recyled materials.If it is good then use it.Most of the times coops are a small project that really doesn't take an over abundance of materials.Chickens are that easy to maintain once you get your setup going.The inside doesn't really take alot of fixing up as long as the coop is safe,secure,kept fairly clean and water proof.The outside is to your imagination as to what you want.My coop started with a playhouse that needed alot of repairs.I'm still working oh it but I can see what it's going to look like.I am fortunate enough to have windows that were free,Vinyl siding that was left over from my house,Nest boxes and roosts that were from projects that I had materials left over.I have a metal roof that I had roofing left over from another project.I have a deck for them to walk on and most of my fencing was free.It is left over good material,not junk.Chickens don't care as long as they have a good home.They don't know what it is made of.

:cd

 

[KimberlyJ]

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X2 amen

X3

 

[ericz]

i used wood from an old swing-set i tore down, but there was not enough of it for much more than the skeleton of a coop. if i had a pickup truck i would have scrounged for wood at construction sites, but i also have a job where i travel most every week, and time at home to work on stuff is very scarce. so home-depot runs are pretty much a necessity for me. and as far as costs go, keeping chickens is a hobby for us, and people spend money on hobbies sometimes when they can.

about aesthetics: we live in a somewhat austere suburban neighborhood, but my immediate neighbors are very nice and are completely cool about me keeping chickens. they even pretended to not be bothered when my (former) roosters started crowing

so in order to maintain that degree of neighborliness, i really want to do my best to make the new coop look more like a typical suburban yard structure... swingset, playhouse, garden shed, etc.

but when i get back to VA and hopefully be out in the country a bit, i intend to go hog-wild and go completely for function as opposed to cosmetics.

 

[Chemguy]

This is a good question. For me, there is one big reason beyond frugality and that has to do with quality. A lot of old wood tends to be thicker-cut and of a sturdier grade than newer wood. So, if I can reuse old wood I feel that I am building a sturdier structure. In some cases, there is a difference in appearance that leads old wood to look nicer to me.

 

[Ema]

I do not think its about any traditions or such. I can only tell you the reasoning for our family to use recycled materials.

While we all want that super duper great looking coop made of brand spanking new materials, some of us can't afford the prices of new lumber. For me in my little northern town, you would think lumber would be cheaper since after all its a logging town, but nope, prices are ridiculous.

So we gathered used lumber and other materials and built what we could at first to safely hold our first flock. Once we got the idea of how a coop should be built we went out and got more materials from people throwing out unused lumber or replacing decks etc...even pallets, (my first coop inside the barn was made from pallets) and then built another coop, which looks way nicer but everything used was still from recycled materials.

Its about saving money on the building items and spending it elsewhere where it is really needed Wood is wood, no matter if its recycled, or brand new, small pieces or large, it can all be used to make some really nice things And then we can just boast that our really nice coop only cost XXX amount of dollars, instead of YYYY amount of dollars

Ema

 

[patty12]

everybody to his or her own thing and if it works for you why change it. we should spend less time worring what others think and enjoy life.
if you choice is a area where there are by-law about what you can and can not due then that is you choice. My sister lives where if you don't cut the grass to a certain highth and if a weed is in the yard you will get a notice from the home owners ass. to shape up. That is fine for her because she is of that nature but I would NEVER live in such a place. Of course her yard is about the size of her couch!
I would like to see what would happen if she put chickens in her back yard!
No doubt if you live near other people a good looking coop would be a plus but you could use salvaged material if you had the ability.
I think people worry about what people say on this site too much.
my son built his chicken coop from doors. He found a lot of doors for free and he was able to build a nice coop with them . Me i could never get something I built to stand up in a hard wind but if you can more power too you.

 

[Clay Mudd]

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For some people, I think that's part of it. Not really specific to chicken coops, but two things come into play:

In a lot of rural areas, it's common practice to build and repair outbuildings in general with whatever comes to hand. I've seen a lot of barns and cowsheds that were sided with everything from cypress boards to rusty tin roofing. I've known a few old farmers for whom "buy" was a bad word. And I think a lot of urban chicken folks want to tap into that "country vibe".

And then there's that hippie dumpster-diving funky chic.

 

[Clay Mudd]

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Wow, that totally offended me!