Chicken Accommodation Available for a Handsome, Single Young Man!

We recently acquired a rooster (cockerel), he was on death row as his old family were emigrating , we named him Duke (after John Wayne who played Rooster Cogburn in True Grit)

He is quite large, and the only house we had available for him at night was, lets say , a bit snug. He likes his own space away from the girls, so it was time to build him some better accommodation.

Almost everything is this project was either recycled. left over from other jobs or found in scrap bins.

2x2 timber

Chop saw

Jigsaw

Drill

Screwdriver

Measuring tape

Hammer

Roofing Iron

Chicken wire

Ply for floor

Cedar Tongue and Groove

Screws Various

Stables

Scrap Steel for Roof Ridge

Scrap Angle Aluminium

So all the frame wood was given to me by a neighbour as it was the cheap framing 2x2 (50mm x 50mm) that he was going to burn now his house is built.

I first built 3 "A" frames, and for ease of construction decided on a 90 degree angle at the top and 45 degrees at the bottom.

so I cut 3 pieces of 825mm length on the long edge, (this was decided by the size of the piece of roofing iron I found in a skip (dumpster)) and 3 of 775 mm (50mm shorter to account for the timber size.

I joined them together using 75mm screws (which were saved from an outside table I dismantled for the wood)

I then cut 3 pieces for the bottom of the frame to suit (they turned out to be 1170 mm) I could have worked it out but was easier just to offer up the wood and cut to length, again screwed together with 75mm screws, at this point I attached the roofing iron to get my spacing

I cut the piece of roofing iron in half using a nibbler, if you haven't got one of these you can use tin snips or have it cut in the shop, but get one of these they are great fun and SOOOO noisy!!

I then attached the iron to the frames using roofing screws (left over from the shed build), the whole thing was a bit saggy so I added a couple of pieces up inside for reinforcement, didn't measure just cut to fit)

Added a floor made from cheap ply from discarded packing boxes, by this time it was getting fairly heavy so I decided to relocate to where it was going to end up and run power down to there for assembly

I cut 3 pieces of 2x2 (50mm x 50mm) for the ridge and base, these were 1700 mm long as this suited the combined length of the roofing iron and chicken wire.

I screwed the wood to the outside of the bottom of the shelter part and the inside of the top.

I then attached the 3rd "A" frame

Another 2 pieces of 2x2 with a 45 degree angle at the top were put in, one right at the front and one about halfway along to give a wind free space for roosting.

These were them panelled out with cedar T&G left over from my shed ceiling.

The observant among you may also notice that I took out the roofing screws from one end to allow me to attach the chicken wire.

I attached chicken wire to the slopes and one end, I found a piece of angle aluminium to support it in the scrap bin at work (to be fair I threw it in the scrap bin earlier!!). The chicken wire was a free end of roll that was being thrown out

The other end I panelled with cedar T&G and then cut out a triangular door. The hinges were salvaged from a broken shed in a skip, as was the catch

The door/entry ramp was reinforced with a couple strips of scrap wood that were the separators for some decking timber.

I bent a piece of scrap for the roofing ridge on the bending machine at work

Finally I put a couple of finishing pieces at the roof bottoms to tidy it all up.

So added the ridge and finished off, filled the bed with shredded paper and put Duke in there.

The only bits I had to buy were a few screws and staples, though even all up I guess the materials would be less than $100

I may add some wheels later for ease of movement (I just have to find some free that have been chucked away by someone!!!)