A chicken coop for $25?? Yep, you read that right! Read on for our story on how we built a chicken coop with little funds.
Our 3 hens were quickly outgrowing their Rubbermaid tote in the garage, and we were not about to go and buy a brand new $200 coop. A few months ago, we picked up a few fence panels and other pressure treated boards from a free pile with the idea to use them as a fence for our yard. Well, those fence panels never got used and had just been leaning up against the garage. Here's a picture for reference, we had 5 panels total but only used 3:
Materials we used:
3 cedar fence panels: free ninety free
3 pieces of scrap plywood: free- left over from a project
4 or 5 random boards: free- left over from a project
3ftx4ft piece of metal roof: free- found under our deck from previous owners
1 small piece of plywood: $5
2 pairs of hinges for the clean out door: $10
1 heavy duty latch for clean out door: $5
Nails n screws: $5? or free-ish if you have a bunch laying around
Chop saw
Drill
Nail gun or hammer (nail gun is waay easier)
Bandaids. Metal roofing will cut you.
Time
My lovely husband deserves all of the credit for this project, I only held boards as he nailed or screwed them together. To start out, he began tearing apart the panels to see just how much we would be able to use for the coop. Below is from the main part of the panel.
We had some left over pieces of plywood from various projects around the house as well as metal roofing that we found under our deck (yay foreclosures?). For this project, my husband only had to buy hinges, latches, and a couple boards, coming out to about $25. Obviously, if you had to buy all of the wood, the cost would go up, but really not too bad. I've seen coops be made with wood pallets, which we could have used as well but those are a pain to break apart. Moving on....
The first thing my husband did was measure out a piece of plywood we had to figure out the base. That piece was 3ft by 4ft. He then cut boards to kind of "frame" it, and cut 1ft long pieces of a pressure treated board for the base, 4 total. He screwed all of that together to create a strong base for the coop, his lovely assistant helped hold it all together ;-)
Next, we flipped it over and began working on the frame for the coop. We decided an angled roof would be the easiest thing to build, since we are definitely not carpenters. I can't remember how tall it is at the tallest point, but it is approximately 3.5ft tall.
Lovely husband then framed out a spot for the door for the hens to go in and out of the coop, about 1ft wide and tall. After that it was time to start the "siding". When you break apart fence panels, the boards are connected tongue-n-groove type so this worked out well for our coop. Lovely husband cut the tops of the boards at an angle for the roof line and used a nail gun to secure them into place.
After the two sides were done, he secured a board across the middle of the roof for support. He then nailed on plywood to the roof, and finished it with the metal roofing.
He built a nesting box with 3 spots for nesting (they say 1 box is fine for 3 hens, but we didn't want our hens to have to share... ;-) ) Inside he also put in a roosting rod. Not pictured anywhere for some reason is the door he made for the end where the nesting boxes are. He built two large doors the length of the coop that open up so you can easily clean the coop out and collect eggs. He also made a hen ramp leading into the run.
Curious pups checking out the hens, Kimberly, Francine, and Cecilia (KFC).
Finished product. At the roof line, lovely husband drilled in holes for ventilation. Ventilation is key when you have chickens! The run was built by someone else, but is just wood and chicken wire stapled together, there is a large door on the left for easy access. The run is stapled to the coop so the chickens can't get out and the dogs can't get in :-)
Eventually, I will paint it up pretty but for now, it is just perfect!
This project took my husband and I 3 or 4 hours one day, he worked on it for probably 4 or 5 hours the next day on his own before it was complete. So, prepare to spend anywhere from 10-15 hours building if you aren't experienced :-)
Good luck!! Check out Craigslist, Freecycle, or other freebie websites for free materials. One of our smaller hardware stores has free pallets all of the time, so get creative and start collecting! Enjoy!
