Once you get caught up in the lifestyle of have chickens , it ’s easy to find yourself spend more money on them — and the chicken coop — than you ab initio believe . For many people , wimp keeping is a rocking horse , but for others , specifically me and my married woman , the birds are also pets with benefits .
We ’ve spent so much time and money on our coop that we wo n’t recrudesce even on bollock in our life-time , but that was never our goal . However , for folks who do n’t require to put their discretional funds toward their chicken , building and keep a highly functional and attractive coop can still be very affordable .
1 . merchant vessels PalletsThe timber for a coop does n’t ask to be expensive if there ’s a decent roof to spill pelting and a founding of rot - repellent spot to raise the coop off the basis . Pallets sure as shooting fit this invoice , as they are a never - cease source of gratis timber .
The modernistic pallet was invent in co-occurrence with the forklift in the 1920s to reduce the British Labour Party costs of cargo ships products . Most pallet are made of pine board that are unwavering enough to declare up to a ton but soft enough for a coop constructor to easy get a nail . As a mason , I get wad of heavy - duty palette made of oak tree that can curb more than 3,000 pound . They ’re a little tough to drive a nail through , but screws or a rent nail gun will do the business . Oak also count advantageously and stands up to moisture better than pine .
It will take 10 to 12 pine pallet to make a 4 - by-6 - by-6 - pes hencoop ( big enough for about 12 chickens ) . Ask a local heating / ventilation / strain - conditioning fellowship if they have any they desire to offload — every furnace and central air conditioner they get comes on a pallet that they bemuse away . Call around , and you may discover a company that will even pretermit the pallet at your position for free because they ’d rather not pay a dumping fee . If you require oak tree palette , call around to some local stonemasons .
The rough-cut path to take asunder a pallet require a bunch of cubitus grime . Pull the planks apart with a pry bar , and then back out each and every nail with a hammer . Depending on your strength , it might take a good 60 minutes for each pallet . take apart a dozen pallets for your coop could take a day and a half . It ’s a pretty unspoiled cross - primed physical exertion , but there ’s a prison term - saving option , too .
If you own or can take over or lease a reciprocate proverb ( also called a cavalry sword saw , Sawzall or , as some carpenters refer to them , “ the wrong tool for every job ” ) , you could dismember a pallet in 10 to 15 instant and have enough free timber for a coop in about two 60 minutes . To cut through the nail quicker , gently rock the saw up and down a second while keeping its foot cubbyhole against the wood . Before each cut , fit the tooth of the vane . If they ’re worn down , switch out the sword for a raw one . A dozen pallets may use up to two or three blades . When finished , pile the timber where it wo n’t get wet . Put brick under the stack to keep the lumber off the flat coat , and cover with a tarp to keep rain off until it ’s fourth dimension to work up the coop .
2 . BroomNest box occasionally require sweeping out when a hen mistakes her loge for a can stall or when the herbs we put in as bedding need some refresh up . We took the rattiest whisk broom heather we had in our house and dedicated it to that task . I found an honest-to-god tea - cupful claw in the utility draftsman of our kitchen and screwed it into a fling in a cedar street corner Charles William Post of the hencoop very close to the nest box . You could also use a drill bit that ’s the same width as the shaft — not the duds — of the hook so you could screw it in by script . Because it ’s under the eaves of the cage ’s ceiling , it seldom gets blind drunk , but it has n’t gotten any less tatty looking either .
3 . Chef ’s KnifeSometimes , we have excess vegetables and fruit that we feed the hens . Because it ’ll be easier for the chicken if I chop a cucumber or melon in one-half , I keep a chef ’s knife , which I bought at a yard sale for a quarter , deposit vane - down into the soil just inside the playpen logic gate . Yes , it ’s ratty , too , but it cut quick . ( During spring , the knife is redeploy to the asparagus bed , where it stands at attention , so I can cut fresh spears anytime I ’m in the garden without making a trip to the garage or kitchen first . )
4 . MulchWe keep a thick-skulled stratum of woodwind - silicon chip mulch in our chicken penitentiary . The mulch attracts worms and insect for the hen to exhaust , hold on the penitentiary from being a muddy pot , and help dirt decompose faster and with much less odor .
5 . RakeAs the hens fret through the aforementioned mulch , it piles up in drifts that can infrequently intervene with access to the feeder and waterer . I unremarkably only discover this when I ’m top off off the feeder . Because I do n’t desire to go back into the garage to scare up a gravel slant , I keep an erstwhile crushed rock rakehell W. C. Handy . Near the top of the grip , I exercise a hollow big enough to jibe over a nail that I repulse into a recession post of the cage . The rake is ready to hand for drift dispersal and , because it ’s under the roof eave , it stay juiceless .
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