Chicken coop.

Time to build a chicken coop. I honestly have no plan at all for how to best do this. I know a couple of things - I'm cheap, I want it to be at least 6'x8', and I don't want to have to rebuild it in 3 months. The coop needs nest boxes, perches, and about 4 sq feet per bird (according to everything I have read) of floor space. It also needs a small chicken door, and a big peoplr door. Needs to be proof against raccoons and the black cat that lives in our garage. 

We're planning on having a flock of no more than a dozen birds at a time. This makes 48 sq. feet just about right. My uderstanding is that if birds have a lot of room to roam (these will) then they actually need quite a bit less room than that, cause they'll pretty much spend all day wandering around outside and then return to their roosts at night to sleep. Better safe than sorry though, so a minimum of 6x8 it shall be.

It should not be excessively drafty, but there should be good ventilation so that we don't develop excssive moisture/humidity in the coop.

Regarding the cheap factor, here's my plan of attack - start with all of the junk that is on the property, build as much as possible with all this scrap, spend ONE DAY messing with the scrap, then go to Carter Lumber and buy whatever else we need.

Here's a small selection of the exquisite scrap that I have to work with. This should be fun.

Random bits of OSB, etc scavenged out of the dumpster from the roofers last year. 

 

Look - a nice wooden window just sitting in the garage!!! I wonder if I can find the handle to open it up.....

 

Have a couple 6 1/2 '  (4"x4") fence posts leftover from the garden fencing. 

 

Lots of barn lumber, also the barn doors. These doors have blown off their hinges twice since we've moved in, , and we've decided to quit patching them and just side over them over sometime later this summer. Probably should save some of the lumber for that... 

 

We also have a bunch of 2x4s, 1x10s and siding left over from last year's barn repairs and door builds, though admittedly this isn't scrap as we still have a lot of repairs left to do this year. Eh, we'll pretend. As long as I don't have to buy it this week, all is good. 

We'll have an update on progress later tonight.