Need A Good Large CHEAP Chicken Coop

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I have to move my chickens. Right now they are in the bottom part of a hill, and with all of the rain we've gotten lately, basically they are knee-deep in mud and muck. NOT a pretty sight and certainly not healthy. Walked in to my bantam kennel yesterday and sank to my own ankles. Besides, I can't walk that far any more. Not with my current leg problems.

So ... I need to move the chickens (and goats) closer to my back door, which is towards the top of the hill. That way, the rain (and later, snow) will run off. Problem is I have no energy, no carpentry skills, and very little time and even less money. And Hubby doesn't have much time to help.

Working with 3 sets of chickens

(1) 16 Bantams, just starting to lay

(2) 25-30 standards, mostly eggers, 2 leghorns, 2 marans, etc, from 4 weeks old to 1 year and laying

(3) 25-30 standards, from 3 mo to 1 year and laying, 4 marans and the rest are black australorps. 15 of these are going to "freezer camp" in August.

It gets scorching hot in the Summer, and last Winter our lowest was negative 35 F. Wind can gust up to tornado-strength (60-80 mph on a regular windy day). We have foxes, coyotes, mountain lions, rogue dogs, cats, chipmunks and more.

Right now I'm using 6'x10' dog kennels, covered in tarps. "Shelves" inside propped up by cinder blocks. Worked well except the tarps leak and certainly don't hold rain and snow loads.

Have some 4x8 OSB (2-3 pieces, I think) and some smaller pieces. Have tin roofing (5 or 6 pieces). Can't hold a drill (no gripping ability). I have troubles making doors but thinking if I can do something like a 4'wide x 8' long x 2' tall "box", with two sections to the roof on hinges for me to check for eggs ... would that work for maybe the bantams? With a run attached, of course.

Help! Ideas?



ETA: I'm placing this thread here instead of on BYC because you're more creative (read: thrifty).

 

[Marianne]

Okay, here's what comes to me (practical and impractical as it may seem). It might inspire some other ideas:

Lifting up the roof section to check for eggs could be heavy and/or awkward. I'm guessing that you might have trouble later with it not being weather tight (warping, etc). You can paint the OSB, or cover it with a plastic shower curtain stretched tight and stapled. I get most of my paint off the mis-mixed cart for $5 - $10 a gallon. Our local recycle center takes paint and mixes in huge batches, then gives it all away. Some of that paint surely has been frozen so not the best thing for inside your house, but it'd do the trick for outside and give the OSB a little longer life.

Do you have a lot of the kennel panels? Could they be moved to your new location, then leaned in to create an A frame looking thing? You could use black wire ties (zip ties), the black are UV rated, usually. Or some wire scrap, etc. Then you could tarp it and that would give you something fast for rain and snow run off and some shade for the hens. Angled like that and with the kennel panel for support, the tarps should last a little longer.

Do you have a section of kennel panel that has a door? That could go on the end of the A frame so you could still get inside. Won't be pretty, but it'd be functional. A piece of OSB could be used on the opposite end.

You'd have to use something across the bottom to keep them from spreading apart. Got any scrap electrical wire around? You could just tie it to a panel, then across to the opposite panel, use nylon baling twine or pound in some stakes and ties. You'll still have to deal with some fencing for any predator that digs. We have had good luck just by laying fencing on top of the ground outside of the coop and run, then covering with dirt so we can mow over it. Any critter that starts to dig hits the fencing and stops.

For a fast shelter area, you could use straw bales. If you put some chicken wire around it, the hens won't tear them apart. Maybe use your boards where the nesting boxes are so it's easier to lift them up?

I have seen bales used for goat shelters, then they were just replaced every 2 -3 years. The tin could be used for the roofing there, maybe even just putting the concrete blocks on the top to hold the tin down in the wind? Are there holes in the sides of that tin so you could run some nylon baling twine through them, then tie it to the twine on the bales? I save a lot of that nylon baling twine that I cut off straw bales. I have used that as make shift hinges on fence pieces, and tie all kinds of things together with it.

Do you have access to any free pallets? They can be used as 'walls'.

This is kind of tough, not knowing how much usable 'stuff' you have around there or can scrounge up, barter for, etc. Your current health issues also make it difficult. How are you going to get those kennel panels up the hill? Agh. I'd help you if I wasn't 250 miles away. Any other info about what you have around there, etc would be helpful.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I have a few pallets. No extra kennel panels: the kennels are pretty much one piece-kits. A neighbor kid has volunteered to help build. Thinking a 3' deep x 8' wide x 3' tall "box" with a pop door to lead to a fenced area. I have extra cheapo shower curtains so I think I'll staple them on the OSB or use some leftover paint. Good idea.

Now if it will just stop raining long enough for me to stop sinking! My poor chickens refuse to lay since everything is completely covered in muck and mud.

Thanks for stirring my creative juices.

 

[FarmerJamie]

A guy near here snagged a *free* camper (the type that sits in the bed of a truck). That is his chicken coop. I have a picture somewhere.

I hope the kid can help. Let us know how it goes.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We grabbed a truck topper and it's just sitting there. I'd like to use it but would have no way of lifting it up to get eggs. Picture?

 

[FarmerJamie]

Are these the things that we call "truck caps"? Sit on the truck bed and are as high as the cab? Need to think on this one.

 

[savingdogs]

We used pallets to make fencing for our garden and it would work just as well for making walls, especially if you lined it with something (trash bags, old tarp, livestock food bags?). But Marianne has already listed a lot of great ideas, I can't top how well she came up with some good ideas there for you! Marianne, you are such a wonderful thoughtful resource for our forum. Course you fit right in with all the other wonderfulness we have here.

When some of our chickens haven't gotten along, we found they would go inside just plain old dog crates left in their enclosure! So I think we all have this mental image of what a chicken coop should look like and it isn't necessarily what chickens envision as utopia.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

FJ: Yes, it sits like a cap on the truck bed, has little gliding windows and such. We were using it as a goat house in the buck pen. Probably will again .. just have to sit it on several railroad ties so it will be call enough for the goats to slide on in.

The few pallets we have are not in great shape: missing slats or dissentegrating. Could definitely put the hen house on them tho ... keeps the chipmunks out and lets the poop drop through. Wish I could find a pre-made wood box!

 

[Marianne]

Be really careful with the topper idea! I know someone who cooked 250 chicks in one day under one of those things. He said it really wasn't that hot outside and he had the window open, but the inside was like an oven when he lifted it up.

The hens really don't care what they have for housing. Some people even do three sided coops (????) figuring that the chickens will have a good chance of getting away if a predator attacks. I kinda don't like that idea, myself. Anyway, they just need some kind of shelter. There's no way that you could move the existing coop up the hill? Well, not you, but someone else?

I saw a great little winter shelter for some hens. The gal just outlined a long, narrow area with straw bales on the ground, then attached 2 x 4 welded wire in an arch shape over the top to the other bales. She put regular ol' plastic dropcloth on top of the fencing, then secured the ends under the bales on each side. She had a little coop area on one end, and during the day, the hens had a miniature greenhouse to hang out in.

I love alternative building methods!

And thanks for the nice compliments, gals!

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Knowing my chickens, they would only go under the truck topper if it was pelting hail. Not even rain would make them stop pecking at my house (like they are at this moment, on the other side of the window where I'm sitting). Am I the only one who has paint-eating chickens?

Straw bales would be a good idea ... would they and the goats eat them? Couldn't something burrow through? Would it keep out all of the predators we have here?

I guess we could use our existing setup. It's just 6x10 dog kennels, with a tarp across the top. They are 6' tall. Plywood against one side, cinderblocks to prop up another piece of plywood, then cat carriers as nesting boxes. Did ok during the winter (only our black australorp roo got frostbite but he had a huge single comb) but the tarps don't hold up to the snow load and rain load. Maybe we can find someway to pound 7' posts at various points, put up some braces on them and put the tin roofing on them. Slanted.

MAybe cut a small hole in the side for a popdoor that leads to a largish fenced area because I'm REAL TIRED of these birds eating my house's paint! Right now they sound like woodpeckers!