[Stereo]

Winter is on the way and I have approx 10 flocks with various ropey housing. Some is good. Some needs replacing before the weather turns. I'm good with wood and tools and can build but pricing up my perfect 8x4 plywood house with onduline roof comes in at about £250 in materials alone. x 10.

Has anyone built a house for 15-25 birds for free? If so, what with. Just looking for some inspiration.

[nutterly_uts]

Have a look on Pinterest for their pallet houses

This should get you started https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=pallet+chicken+coop+plans&term_meta[]=pallet|autocomplete|1&term_meta[]=chicken|autocomplete|1&term_meta[]=coop|autocomplete|1&term_meta[]=plans|autocomplete|1

[chrismahon]

I've built two large coops (12 birds) for 'free' Stereo. They were both unwanted sheds. The roof and floor remained unchanged (but made smaller) and the door was split into two to make doors at either end. Leftover timber was used for the nest boxes but inevitably you haven't enough and end up buying stuff, plus hinges and latches. In the end the first one was stripped to the frame and re-clad and the second is part done. The treated weatherboarding is quite cheap, it's the framework that gets expensive.


The first coop I built 10 years ago was from 10 or 12 pallets. It's a devil of a job to separate the planking because of the type of nails used. I had to seal the gaps between the planks and the nail holes. The coop is still OK but needs some new roof felt. The downside was the two solid weeks it took to build, the finished weight and treating for red mite. Size is limited by the lengths of planking, but the floor was one pallet 1m x 1.2m I think? Only big enough for 6 hens.

[mojocafa]

I had a a large wooden box in Scotland it's called a tattie box , turned it upside down onto a wooden pallet which was flush and not gapped, made an entrance. Does the job!

[Steph Hen]

If you've any indoor space you can get really creative. My ferrets used to live in a TV cabinet with cages tacked on the sides. Dog has a wardrobe.
Pallets are probably your best bet - even if not free, they're very cheap, solid, etc.


I sometimes think we're a bit fixated on small sheds for chicken houses -
There was a house in the John Seymour book; it was bits of pipe, tied into a frame, covered in chicken wire, old feed bags for and held on with more chicken wire.

Alternatively, if you might have little runs used for broody coops or chicks - How about one of these, covered over with plastic, up on bricks with either a mesh wire floor or something?

[Q]

Looking around my garden, one hen house is a stripped out, upside down sideboard. Another is built completely out of pallets, another out of an old shed and the last one used to be an octagonal cat house that cost the previous owner £800 but I got it as a freebie and refurbished it - that was 5 years ago & its still going.
Your chickens wont mind as long as its ventilated and draught free.

[Stereo]

Thanks, some good ideas. I have built a few summer shelters for young birds this year with pallets. Basically 5 pallets on their ends arranged in a rectangle with one empty space on one long side. Then a sheet of 8x4 ply for a roof. Works well enough but won't do for winter without some kind of outer sheeting but this could be very thin ply which is not too expensive. . I have access to pallets no problem so that could be the way forward. My chicken field is steep but I was thinking I could build a level base with scrounged blocks or timber and then fill this with very deep litter, then just tip the house off it to clean out.

[doganjo]

An old caravan?

[cans]

Hi Stereo
Try gumtree or have a look on freecycle
You are sure to find something you can adapt

[Stereo]

Field too steep for vehicles. I'm on freecycle but not seen anything. Will have a look at gumtree.

[Stereo]

Another thought I had was an IBC container fixed up with a post at each corner and the front cut out and replaced with a door. With integral pop hole.  Pop in some roosts and some ventilation and it would be 100% watertight. My concern would be condensation but the flip side is that red mite wouldn't like it much. I could also use the pallet cages as log drying cages.  Anyone used an IBC?

[Creagan]

Re breaking up palettes: when the nails are stubborn I use a hole saw with the pilot drill removed, to cut a plug around the nail. Obviously this leaves a bit of a hole in the wood but it's bette than splitting it.

[Marches Farmer]

Do you have space against a wall that you could use as one side of the house?  That would save on materials. You just need to remember to seal the gap where to roof meets the wall, to stop rain running down the wall.  We've made roofs from twinwall polycarb., warehouse curtaining, tarpaulins, corrugated iron, creosoted ply, lino, and the sort of mat they put under office chairs to stop them wearing out the carpet ....

[RPF]

I've made stuff with scrap bits I've got, I.e pallets used for plasterboard that are 8x4 but you'll still need timber to fill in the gaps. I'd go down the pallet root or look for someone getting rid of a coop or shed locally