Chicken Coop on a Budget

by Brenda Neagle

7 Materials

After finally biting the bullet and bringing home a box of fluffy chicks, we had a lot of work to do in order to get them out of the house and on their own. We needed a whole different kind of Neagle's Nest!

chicken coop on a budget, animals, homesteading, how to, outdoor living, pets animals

Thanks to knowing some amazing people, most of the materials to build my coop were recycled and free. I had finally picked out a design to get me started, but I was building this as I went. Who needs plans, right? I come from handy stock!

I started with an old exterior sign face to use as the floor. That determined my size for me. I picked up concrete pier blocks and got started. We arranged the blocks, placed the studs to hold the floor, and screwed them together. Easy peasy. I really thought this was an indicator on how fast this booger was going to come together.

The wall frames were laid out on my thankfully large patio and assembled there. I even assembled the window frames while the walls were laid out on the patio. Once all the wall frames were assembled, the boys held them in place while I screwed them to the base and to each other. This part went so quickly! How misleading.

Rather than purchase shingles from the big box, I decided to stay frugal. I posted an ad on a local Facebook group and had one box donated, and another offered for $10. SOLD. I bit the bullet and purchased the felt underlayment after waiting several days with nobody wanting to get rid of any left overs. I went big and got the “expensive stuff” because technically it was the same price as the other, but just had less on the roll. I still didn’t even use half of it even with a wind storm that ripped it off once. The boys stepped up big time here. They were amazing!

The vintage metal nesting box was hung inside and roosting bars installed. We were ready to move the girls in. It has only taken them about 4 days to start going inside on their own when the sun starts to set. Someday soon we will build the attached deck and the covered run to keep them a little safer when we are not home, but until then they get free run of the yard.