I thought I would share my latest creation. We had a bunch of scrap wood left over from building our cabin so we thought we would try out chickens in the backyard this year. The only things I had to buy were the hardware, 2x4s, chicken wire, and some wood sealer. Not quite finished yet, but I'm hoping to be under $200 by the time it's ready for the chickens to move in.
Bonus pic is our garden beds which I cobbled together with a few fence planks and some 2x6s. Any of you chicken pros want to chime in with suggestions, I'm all ears. Please pardon the mess, we bought the house this September, and it was a fixer upper so I have projects all over the place. I will update pics when I make more progress.
Edit* I'm thinking I might have been better off putting this to the "something from nothing" or "garden" log. Sorry if it is in the wrong spot!
I recall doing this kind of thing as a kid. My dad brought home all the good shipping crates he received and we modified them into a chicken condo. Stacking, cutting, hinging and drilling in features for our birds.
This is my first time experimenting with pallets, and I wish I would have discovered them sooner. They make simple projects like this go much faster because of how much time you save on framing, and they are free!
I was going to ask how you save time on framing but I looked at your photo again and I get it. You recycled their nails too!
The crate coops we made were kept in crate form. We’d saw holes with a sawzall for door ways and just put hinges on the cutouts for the doors. I remember going over the crates with a holesaw for ventilation. We made big cutouts on the bottom and made grates with fencing slats for poop holes. The crates were then stood off on cinder blocks. We had little ramps (made from crate scrap) for the chickens to climb up at night. Somehow they knew it was time to climb up the ramp and get in the box at night.
Your structure looks like a yard and coop all in one. Do you let them roam outside the fence?
It's still under construction, but my girlfriend wants to keep them in the run when we are not home, and let them loose in the back yard when we are here. She says they are great at pest control.
We built a large run because we split our time between this place and our cabin, so we wanted them to have a safe spot to do their thing while we are gone.
Did your scrap coop hold up pretty Well? I'm hoping to get at least 3-5 years out of this one.
Did your scrap coop hold up pretty Well? I'm hoping to get at least 3-5 years out of this one.
Yeah, and the bugs make the eggs taste better too. I’m still trying to get back to that place where I had real eggs for breakfast as a kid. Farmers market eggs are close but nothing beats eggs raised on bugs and kitchen scraps. Spherical yolks!
Our coops lasted longer than our birds. Hmmm, like thirty years I’d guess. My mom had them hauled out after they’d been vacant a decade. Think heavy duty crates used to ship manufacturing equipment. They were indestructible.
If mine last half that long I'll be happy. I'm looking forward to fresh eggs too, this is our first time keeping them, so I've never experienced a true home grown fried egg.
