Chicken Mansion, but no chickens. (New Ideas Welcome, mostly just a read about my struggles)

[teddyjames]

I decided I wanted chickens to offset my grocery bill, to give me a reason to get up in the morning (depression), and well I just love chickens. One of my problems is that I can make anything except money. I sat out to get some chickens one way or the other on the cheap, (Free). I love animals and have a huge heart and want to give my flock the very best that I can. I did the math, figured out what I needed, drew up some plans and started to gather up all the free, unwanted items that I could find. I was very optimistic at first, but my supplies dwindled to the point of total frustration.

I had some things laying around and started with some power poles, which I cut and put into holes and poured concrete around to form two corners of my raised coop foundation, the two other corners are blocks from under a mobile home.

I cut the mobile home frame and welded them into place to form my floor joists and general bracing. I used some smaller pieces of the frame to fabricate the steps going up to the coop door and filled with concrete. I used some 2x3's from the old mobile home to frame up the walls and other scrap wood to use as flooring. I cut some poles, milled some timbers to make my roofing support. I have the mobile home roof (metal) ready for the roof.

My neighbor had a piece of privacy fence she donated, I cut up a refrigerator and used the metal, found a piece of osb, used these for some of the outside wall coverings. I still need some more material for the wall coverings, and the fencing that my neighbor sold me is all used up so I will need some more of that.

I think my flock will love this. I have the house and the idea/design, just can't seem to find enough free stuff. All in all, looking good so far. Everything you see was free. I bought some nails, used gas for the chainsaw etc but no cost for supplies so far!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I decided I wanted chickens to offset my grocery bill, to give me a reason to get up in the morning (depression), and well I just love chickens. One of my problems is that I can make anything except money. I sat out to get some chickens one way or the other on the cheap, (Free). I love animals and have a huge heart and want to give my flock the very best that I can. I did the math, figured out what I needed, drew up some plans and started to gather up all the free, unwanted items that I could find. I was very optimistic at first, but my supplies dwindled to the point of total frustration.

I had some things laying around and started with some power poles, which I cut and put into holes and poured concrete around to form two corners of my raised coop foundation, the two other corners are blocks from under a mobile home.

I cut the mobile home frame and welded them into place to form my floor joists and general bracing. I used some smaller pieces of the frame to fabricate the steps going up to the coop door and filled with concrete. I used some 2x3's from the old mobile home to frame up the walls and other scrap wood to use as flooring. I cut some poles, milled some timbers to make my roofing support. I have the mobile home roof (metal) ready for the roof.

My neighbor had a piece of privacy fence she donated, I cut up a refrigerator and used the metal, found a piece of osb, used these for some of the outside wall coverings. I still need some more material for the wall coverings, and the fencing that my neighbor sold me is all used up so I will need some more of that.

I think my flock will love this. I have the house and the idea/design, just can't seem to find enough free stuff. All in all, looking good so far. Everything you see was free. I bought some nails, used gas for the chainsaw etc but no cost for supplies so far!

I think it looks good so far!

Keep going and don't give up, it's worth the wait.

Back in 2013 we had built most my coop and run, but things in life happen and it was all put on hold. It was almost another 2 years before I finally was able to finish and get chicks (2015).

 

[Chikn-Wisperer]

My wife bought the chicks first. We ended building something in the garage to keep them in. This was probably around April-May 2020. I built a chicken coop 20'x8' with a pitched roof from plans I found on youtube. It took until Sept-Oct 2020 to finally get chicks to stay inside most of the day. It took a little while for them to get used to staying there overnight.The metal roof was finally finished on Jan 1st of 2021. The roof consisted of plywood, then waterproof layer, and then a metal roof.

I thought I was done until the wife built an extended chicken run from plastic mesh, fencing poles, and tarps which fell apart in the winter rains. I built a permanent chicken run in 2021 with a flat roof cause the wife said it would be good enough. It ended up leaking during the winter of 2021-2022. The chicken run is attached to the chicken coop and is 30'x8'.

My next project was replacing the flat roof with a slanted roof in 2022. I think I lazily built it, but the roof had waterproof covering by the winter rains, and finally the metal roof at the end of 2022 or beginning of 2023 (I forget exactly).

The wife built another makeshift "outdoor" extension to the chicken run. I'm thinking about making a permanent extension this year. Not sure if I'm up to it, though.

If I was to do anything different, I think I'd make the chicken coop and run 10' wide, and also have a pitched roof for the bigger chicken run. Also, I would have built a higher proper foundation cause when it rains it gets wet in there.

Alternatively, I might have gotten a coop from caronlina chicken coops cause the coop I built was expensive, too. I had to buy all the tools, wood, and materials and spend all the time building it and getting saw dust all over the garage. Though, there is some satisfaction in having built the darn thing, too. Anyways, I'm sure it cost at least as much as a carolina chicken coop. But on the other hand, the cost was spread out, too.