Keeping chickens can be a rewarding and sustainable venture, providing you with fresh eggs and a natural pest control solution for your garden. One way to embark on this journey without breaking the bank is by constructing a low-cost DIY chicken coop from reused materials. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essential considerations and steps to help you build a functional and budget-friendly coop for your chickens.
Before You Start building your DIY chicken coop
Assess Available Materials
Before diving into construction, take an inventory of materials you already have or can easily obtain. Look around your property for unused timber, pallets, old fencing, or discarded construction materials. Repurposing these items not only reduces costs but also contributes to sustainability.
Remember when building with reclaimed wood, we start with a concept and some basic size parameters. But the actual design evolves according to the wood that you have. The great thing about wood is that it is easy to cut. Building in this way requires flexibility and problem solving skills!
Choosing the Coop Location
Consider where you want to place the chicken coop. Select a spot that receives ample sunlight, is well-drained, and offers protection from harsh weather conditions. Ensure the coop is accessible for daily tasks. Keep in mind local planning regulations and proximity of your neighbors.
Determining Flock Size
Decide on the number of chickens you plan to keep. This will influence the size of your coop and the materials needed. Additionally, consider whether you may expand your flock in the future, allowing for scalability in your design.
We used the following ratios and dimensions:
- Nesting box: 3 chickens per box
- Roost bar: 30cm per chicken
- Coop area: 0.4 sqm per chicken
We are a family of 4, we thought that 4 chickens would provide ample eggs for us. But in reality we all eat eggs most days, so if I ever want to bake I rarely have enough eggs. We are expanding our flock to 6.
Fixed vs. Mobile Coop
Determine whether you want a fixed coop or a mobile one that can be moved around your property. A mobile coop allows for rotational grazing, minimizing wear on the ground and providing fresh forage for your chickens.
Our coop design is mobile, we have a space in the garden that we rotate the coop in. We also allow our chickens to free range out of their coop so there is less damage to the ground.
Predator Protection
Ensure your coop design is predator-proof. Use sturdy materials and reinforce vulnerable areas.
Our main predators are foxes and rats. Both dig. We have tough mesh fencing (not chicken wire) around the base of the coop. It extends out horizontally around 15cm. This means that if a fox comes near the coop and tries to dig they will hit the mesh and not be able to get through. They will not think to move back 15cm and try, they just give up and go away.
Make sure that windows and larger ventilation openings are protected. We raise our coop off the ground to deter predators.
Access for Cleaning
There are a couple of options for cleaning to be considered when designing your DIY chicken coop.
- Conventional regular (weekly) cleaning out of the coop
- Using a deep litter system. The chicken litter is left in place to compost and only cleaned out a couple of times per year
We use conventional cleaning in our coop because we use DE (diatomaceuos earth) powder to keep mites down. DE has a drying effect and would prevent a deep litter system from working.
We compost our chicken waste in a homemade compost bin alongside our garden and kitchen compost and the chicken poo really helps with the composting process.
So for us easy access for cleaning is crucial to maintaining the healthy environment for our chickens. Design the coop with removable panels or doors that allow you to reach all corners easily. Consider a design that facilitates the removal of bedding and droppings.
Egg Access
Incorporate a nesting area with easy access for collecting eggs. Ensure that the nesting boxes are comfortable and private for the hens. A hinged lid or access door can make egg collection a simple task.
We use an old piece of material as a curtain to provide privacy in the nesting box and separate them from the main coop.
Build the structure for the DIY chicken coop
Here is how we built our chicken house.
Step 1: Make the Cube Box shape
As we were using reused materials, it wasn’t possible to specify the exact sizes and layout before construction. Instead we started with the wood we had, lengths of pallet wood, of all sorts of different sizes and thicknesses.
Knowing roughly how big we wanted the coop (based on 0.4sqm per bird) we built the 2 sides that made the front and back. (The coop is 85cm x 105cm square and 100cm falling to 85cm on the sides).
We attached the wall wood to two uprights to allow the coop to be raised off the ground.
With the 2 main sides in place, we were able to make a cube shape by fixing the front and back together with lengths of side wall wood.
Each of the 4 sides has a different function:
- Small door for chicken access via the ramp (‘the front’)
- Large removable panel (the whole side) for cleaning access
- Fixed wall/side (‘the back’)
- Side containing the nest boxes – a hole was left here in the build.
The two sides contain a nesting box and a removable panel, so it is only the top and bottom pallet pieces that are fixed.
With the sides of the cube shape constructed. It was then possible to fix the base into place. More lengths of pallet wood.
Step 2: Add in the details
With the basic shape complete, we were able to add in the details. For each of these details we had to measure and cut wood to size, and where necessary fill in gaps with the most appropriate piece of wood that we could find.
Access Panel for cleaning
A panel was created by making an outline frame with wood and then filling in with lengths of pallet wood. It is sized to fit into the space available
Nest Box
Build the nest boxes to hang off the side wall, again built to the size available. Lengths of wood are fixed to the frame to make the outline structure. Filled in with lengths of pallet wood, overlapping to allow rain to fall off.
Roost bars
The roost bars are made from square lengths of offcut timber. The removable roost bars are attached to the side of the coop with a U shaped profile (made from offcuts), and supported with a block from a pallet.
Ramp
The ramp is made with 2 old lengths of pallet timber splayed slightly and fixed together with offcuts that also act as the steps.
The length is determined by the height of the coop.
Step 3: Roof
After a lot of thinking we decided to use bitumen roofing sheets. These sheets we did have to buy new. They are long lasting, easy to fix into place and guaranteed to keep the coop dry inside.
For the winter we have stuffed the holes with newspaper to prevent really big draughts from blowing in. We want some ventilation at the roof level and the corrugated roofing sheets naturally allow for ventilation through the eaves.
Step 4: Add ons / accessories
Poles to make the coop mobile
The coop is moved with 2 long steel poles. These were found items. We made small timber openings below the coop to slide the 2 poles through. Then it takes 2 people to pick it up and move it.
Weekly we move it only the length of the coop to a new patch of ground.
It would be possible to put the coop on wheels, but for us we had the poles available so we used the materials that we had.
Step 5: Outside run
Even though our chickens free range around our garden, we have built a small run for them for times when we need to keep them in, for example if we have another flock down and for late evenings/early mornings. It is also where their food and water is.
This was constructed with new materials, as we were unable to find long enough lengths of lightweight timber at the time. Annoyingly 2 months later we came across a huge pile of roof battens which would have been perfect for the job, this is the challenge of building with reused materials. But we used the battens to make our rabbit colony.
We also bought the mesh for the frame, we want this area to be secure from predators so we bought decent predator proof mesh, rather than chicken wire.
We stapled the mesh to the wooden frame we made, with an access door to get in and out.
And there we have it, our DIY reused chicken coop.
FAQ
Is it cheaper to make or buy a chicken coop?
It depends on whether you buy all new wood. If you can get hold of offcuts, old pallets etc for free. Then the cost is only the screws or nails.
If you don’t have the DIY skills, or enthusiasm to learn, or the tools then it will likely take more time and effort than the cost of buying a new chicken coop.
Why are chicken coops off the ground?
Chicken coops are raised to keep the chickens safe from predators like rats. It also prevents other rodents such as mice or voles from nesting in the coop through the winter.
With a raised coop it is easier to provide good ventilation.
Chickens naturally want to get high to feel safe when they roost. A raised coop automatically gets chickens into that feeling of safety.
I hope that this post has inspired you to look around for reclaimed wood. Rather than building from a plan, you need to start with an idea and build with what you have.
As long as you don’t mind that it isn’t too pretty then working with reclaimed wood can be very rewarding. I would love to hear how you have got along with your own chicken coop project in the comments below.