My frugal and free Chicken Coop
Prepare yourself for a feast of enterprise !!!!!
Firstly I should say my Chicken Coop set up is at the far end of the Garden on wasteland which I’m allowed to use by my Landlord, it is not seen by anyone else other than myself and anyone who wishes to do so!
Hence it is not altogether the most attractive of sights!
I can see the Sheds though – and they’re not too bad an eyesore!
The number one priority in any Chicken Coop set up and position is security. What something looks like is immaterial really. It’s about what serves it’s purpose and somewhere where your Flock can feel comfortable and safe in. Chickens would live in a Car if it suited their purposes!
Everything you see cost me nothing. The only expense I had in completing the Living Quarters and Run has been a few bags of nails!
Chicken Shed and Feeding Area
The sleeping quarter / nest box Shed (closest) is my old 6′ x 4′ ‘Office’. This is joined up to a small 5′ x 3′ Shed by a pop hole. I use this for a feeding area and access to the Run.
I then made a roof from corrugated sheeting extending it for use of a weather shelter and keeping at least some mud away from the feeding area
To save clambering in, plus my bad back, I designed a system where I made a hole 4′ up the Feeding Shed where I could pour feed into, down a shute made from Plastic Guttering and into an old Cast Iron narrow trough.
Fencing
The fencing is basically loads of 10′ or so long sheets of corrugated iron which were thrown away by the Landlord in the Barn (I did ask him!). I then extended the height of this to about 6′ by putting Chicken Wire around. This is at a height where a Fox could not stand on it’s hind legs and bite through it.
The Gate is made from old bits of wall skirting with stronger chicken wire attached thus avoiding predators chewing through.
So there you go, unslightly but practical, serves it’s purpose and the only security breach I’ve had was one Christmas Day morning when a snow drift built up one side of the fencing and bent it over enough for a Fox to get in.
As they always say, we learn by mistakes and as we go.
The Chickens and myself are happy!
The Chicken Shed Conversion? See ‘Converting a Garden Shed to Chicken Coop’
Full Chicken Keeping Pages on the main Web Site
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