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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Chicken Coops on the Cheap

Yesterdays post talked about a few of the different styles of chicken coops, and today I want to talk about how to build a chicken coop frugally.

Here are a few of my idea, please leave comments with your own ideas.

Dog House
Dog food, Jasmine, and Power Ranger were our first three chickens and their coop was a plastic dog house.


Recycle
Our second chicken coop was made from a neighbors old fence that they were tearing down. For the rest of the supplies it only cost us $50-$75.
Habitat for Humanity-ReStore
This chicken coop was built from supplies found at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.


Wood Pallets
Most of the time you can find wood pallets for free. Pull the wood apart for use, or even connect the pallets to make three sides of your structure and cover the sides with plywood and add a roof.
Classifieds & Craigslist
Check the classifieds for used sheds, coops, or even lumber.
Here is one coop that is listed in my local classifieds for just $100
Be Creative
Yesterday's post had a few creative ideas like using the back of a car or little tykes play house. I'm sure there are tons of other ideas you could come up with.

I know there are more ideas out there, leave a comment!

11 comments:

Judy T said...

I'll be interested to see what people come up with. We are hoping to get some chickens this spring. I'm thinking of using some of the wood (and doors) salvaged from our upcoming kitchen remodel to build our coop.
Judy

Anonymous said...

We had an older back porch on our home that needed replaced. It already had at least 4 large windows in it. We took off the back porch, took it to the back yard and added one side to it, where it used to be attached to our home and there it became a functional chicken coop. Recycling is wonderful!

Unknown said...

full freezer and anony....great ideas!

Cindy said...

These are some great resources for building an inexpensive coop! Our second coop was built from an assortment of materials that included a small wooden doghouse, the boards from an old deck, and an assorment of scrap wood - all obtained for free through Craigslist. We spent about $100 on the remaining materials to finish the coop and run.

Photo in this post: http://www.sidetrackedartist.com/2010/04/choose-to-reuse.html

Cindy

Anonymous said...

We house our few hens in a used dog run (chain link, covered with chicken wire on top to keep out hawks), a used covered kitty litter box (perfect nesting box when cleaned out--a nice deep place for bedding and so eggs don't roll out), and a used plastic dog house for shelter. During the winter, we just pull the whole shebang into the garage and hang a heat lamp over the water fountain. The only parts we paid actual money for were the heat lamp and bulb and the water fountain (bought at auction, though, so not even those were full price). I suggest you don't even think the word "coop": just think of the functions that need to be filled and look for what's available that can fill the functions.

Unknown said...

The pallets are great but be warned, they are very difficult to take apart! I ended up using the ones I had collected for a pen structure instead. I just covered them up on one side with metal hardware cloth and attached together with cheap galvanized metal strips and screws. I will plant peas and other vining vegetables along the out side to provide shade and snacks during our very hot summer months. (And to cover up a pretty apparent budget pen job.)

Good luck to all, it can be done !

Unknown said...

I once saw a photo of someone's coop - a dryer with the front door open!! Seriously! Doubt that would be your first choice.

Alison said...

Great ideas!
Thank you for posting them.
Oh, and thanks for your awesome blog too.

I was all 'set' to get chickens... but now I've put it off, since we may be moving. (hopefully)
But I can see now, that I could just get a few and a 'portable' coop would be splendid!

Unknown said...

Alison, you can definitely still get chickens! Just move them with you. Good luck on the move.

Mrs. Farmer said...

Our roosting shelves are made from scrap wood obtained from a guitar factory... they are mahogany!

The shingles on the roof are leftover from our roof- which was done before we bought the house. The extra shingles were just sitting in the yard!

The frame of the chicken yard is 2 tent frames discarded by the US Army. We just covered them with chicken wire and built a little house inside. It is tall enough for even the very tall Young Master Farmer to stand up inside!

Anonymous said...

We are building a coop from repurposed wood pallets that we got for free from our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore! We are not covering the outside with anything but are simply attaching plywood (from the ReStore as well)to the walls on the inside of the coop. We will not be wintering our chickens though. I love the rustic and creative look of the pallets!