[carlnpa]

I built this chickenhouse like a pole barn on 4x4 posts.

The house was sized for 8' x 8' and ending up growing 2 more feet due to excess concrete.

Build took me 3-4 days by myself.

The outdoor enclosure though is what is unique, it is 12' x 12'. I made the hoops out of standard fence components and bent them using a 12' tubing bender that came from ebay. This bender is used primarily for greenhouses.

The cover is 2"x4" pattern 14 gauge, 4 feet wide, 100 feet was used, very fast, very easy to erect. The butt edges are wired now but we held in place with zip ties, the zip ties would probably work longer term but they do degrade with UV exposure and eventually fail.

We have terrible predation to foxes, *****, opposums, mink, hawks, osprey even. We can't free range due to the predation.

Hopefully this will give some ideas to others.

The roof will be tin, I'm waiting for it to come in.

 

[Spartan300]

Good work there man....very good idea. As soon as I get done with our rabbit hutches I have to do some work on my old chickenhouse as well. That gives me a few ideas.

 

[lucylittle]

Great job!

Is that extra side space for storage? I am working on the plans for my chicken house and I wanted to include a storage place for feed.

Thanks for the ideas

 

[carlnpa]

The extra side space is storage.

 

[Chrysalis]

Did you buy the materials at a chain home-improvement store? If they are new, would you mind sharing the cost of the two parts? I've been looking at buying a shed but a little one runs about $1400. That could buy a heck of a lot of eggs.

I had chickens until this week, forgot to shut the tractor for one night. They all got killed so I am going to have to start over again.

 

[Al Diehl]

Nice! But, I have seen skunks slip right through wire with that mesh size. I don't know how your skunk problem is there but, you could always come back with chicken wire and go over your existing mesh. It's still very nice.
I bought a new place and in the process of building one too.

Be well.
Al

 

[carlnpa]

Gypsy

The materials came from Lowes primarily.

The "cage" cost around $250 The hoops inset into 18" cut length of pipe driven into earth 12" (6" above ground).

11 - 10' lengths galvanized pipe (eight for the hoops, ground posts, and upper brace) $110

4 - 2"x6"x12' treated for the perimeter $40

1 - 2" x 5' galvanized pipe $10

2 - 4" x 6"x 10' for the door frame and to stabilize the hoops $60 (I had these, would use 4"x4" if purchased $45)

1 - 100' 2"x4" 14 gauge galvanized wire $110

5 - 1"x 6" x 8' treated for the door, I sandwiched the wire $30

Box of metal screws #6 x 1" (I think), and misc hardware door hinges, latch, bag of zip ties

Building

4 - 4"x4" x 10' $90
35+ 2" x4"x 8' $90
4 - 2"x6" x8' treated for the concrete form, left in place $35
12 4'x8' sheets of primed T1-11 type panel $240
1 - 1" x 6' x10" for the ridge board
3 - 4' x 8' 1/2 plywood $60 (needed a 6" x 8' piece of T1-11 to finish the roof, had a gap)
1 - 32" hollow core door, cut down and faced with T1-11 $25
Concrete was $225 about a cubic yard
Roofing material tin $175

Structure itself around $810 without concrete, $1035 with the concrete


Not really cheap but it should last awhile.

I'll take some detail pictures after I get the roof on.

 

[carlnpa]

Al is correct on this. 2" x 4" panel will not stop some predators. We will add a 2 foot wide panel of fine chicken wire around the perimeter, secured with zip ties.

Our best defense is to close the solid coop door every night after the birds have roosted.

Most of our attacks with large losses have occured at night, the worst have been the opposums. Birds of prey will only take one, usually small chicken.

This building replaces a large dog kennel attached to a cheap metal shed that had a 2" x 2" diamond pattern chain link. All sorts of animals can get through it, mink are are really hard to stop. On the previous enclosure we attached a 2 foot wide panel of the fine chicken wire to the lower perimeter and zip tied it.

Defense is partly the reason concrete was used for the floor also, there are some good strong diggers out there also.

This is the lessons learned build, the perimeter cage boards are partially buried and the wire was cut to hang below the boards and present sharp edges to diggers. It cut me up nicely working with it.

 

[larryp]

Did you buy the materials at a chain home-improvement store? If they are new, would you mind sharing the cost of the two parts? I've been looking at buying a shed but a little one runs about $1400. That could buy a heck of a lot of eggs.

I had chickens until this week, forgot to shut the tractor for one night. They all got killed so I am going to have to start over again.

Sorry about your loss. Do you know what got them?

 

[milspec45]

Thank You for the post and pics, I now know what i'm going to do with that old chain link kennel