Our Frugal Chicken Coop

I've mentioned before (and even put up a few pictures) of my chickens. We got baby chicks last year to be able to have fresh eggs, a little egg income, and eventually some chicken meat. My family raised chickens while I was growing up and we used to show them at 4-H Achievement Days for the Poultry Show. I always knew after I got married and we moved into our homestead that I wanted to have some chickens but it took us a year to get them because we couldn't afford it at first. Chickens would require a coop, feed,  feeders, waterers, a yard, ect. We couldn't figure out how to get an inexpenisve coop! That was our first issue. We looked for a small shed to be able to hold about 20 chickens but the only thing we could find was a couple hundred dollars and I wasn't about to pay that much just for a chicken house! We finally found an old run down shed that a guy was selling just to move it off the property for only $75. It's not pretty but we figured it's a good place to start. Now before I get into showing you the pictures I have to tell you a couple things... First, the hubby took these pictures at night so sorry if things are hard to see! Second, all of the inventions in the coop are the hubbys. He's great a coming up with things!! And thirdly, it's a chicken coop, don't expect total cleanliness!

This is just a picture from the little door looking in at the chickens. The little door goes into a fenced in yard. The fence was the most expensive part of the coop. We bought 6 foot garden fencing and made a  decent sized yard for them. It has a swinging door so I can go inside and give them scraps or I can open it and let the chickens into the yard. The rooster and the guineas don't like to stay in the fence. I frequently see them running around on the top of the chicken shed.

Ok this is the main door looking in(with one of the kitties out front). The shed didn't have a door. Last summer someone on Freecycle posted a bunch of free barn wood. We took a truck and loaded it up. From that free wood my hubby created a cool looking door for the shed.

Looking inside the chicken co-op. We have another door inside the main door. It separates where the chickens are from a little entry way. We use the entryway to store chicken feed, egg cartons, ect. The wire on the door and that creates the inner "wall" is just garden wire, we found a roll for $4 at a rummage sale. The door is created from the old barn wood also. The hubby also rigged up a temporary light that we have a heat lamp in. Keeping the heat lamp on in the winter helps to keep the chickens laying strong all winter. We have 14 laying hens and we get 12 -14 eggs every day.

Ok this isn't the whole contraption but this is the feeder the hubby created. It's pieced together barn wood for the bottom and there is a pvc pipe that goes from the entry way into the feeder. We keep a jar in the chicken feed, pour it right into the pvc pipe and it goes into the feeder. All this without having to step one foot inside the chicken coop. Its handy! And yes, that's my rooster in the front of the picture. He's always wondering what's going on.

Here is a closeup of the nests. These nest were old shelves that my grandpa had in his shed. We put pieces of barn wood on the front side to keep the eggs and sawdust in the nests. We have 9 nests.

Ok here you can see more barn wood. The shed is not very well insulated so the hubby took barn wood and nailed it around the bottom of the whole inside of the chicken coop. we put chicken wire on top of the wood so the chickens can't fall behind it. That bar across the coop is the roost. They love that thing. They all get on it together and then I have 17 chickens in a row. In this picture you can also see the little door on the inside of the coop that lets the chickens into the yard. It's closed in this picture. the hubby put it on tracks and on a rope. We pull on the rope int he entryway and it opens the door. Then there is a little hook to put the rope on to hold the door open. So basically we never have to go in the coop unless we need to and to grab the eggs!

This is one of my favorite chicken coop inventions. We tried to come up with an inexpensive insulation for the inside. One day we looked at the big empty bags of chicken feed we were throwing away and it dawned on us...lets nail them to the walls! They make some excellent insulation and it's free!

I would say, all in all, that our coop probably cost about $200 to make, that's including the yard. The shed cost $75 the fencing cost around $100 and then we had a few misc. costs creating the mini door, ect. We try and keep our costs low by selling extra eggs to pay for chicken feed. Hopefully if you are looking into getting some backyard chickens this gives you some creative ideas to keep the costs included low!

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