# COOP BUILDING MATERIAL - don't pay full price!



## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

i thought i would start a thread to help those looking to get started building their first coop or adding on and renovating their chicken condo.

i recently took on the project of rebuilding my coop. to build what i was looking to build it would cost me around $1000 to complete. i had a hard time justifying that much coin for something that was going to be deficated on...non-stop! lol so over the course of the past 4-5 weeks, i have bought all of the lumber and material needed for around $250.

here's the secret sauce...all home improvement stores(Home Depot, Lowes, local building supplies stores, etc) have what they call cull lumber or scrap lumber. you will find anything from plywood, busted bags of cement, damaged/returned hardware and lumber of all sizes. most of them go through every morning at open or at close in the evening and gather all of the items that folks sifted through and throw it on a cart. about 25% of it is almost unusable but the rest will have either a slight bow in the wood, chip off of one corner or a splinter out of a side. depending on the store, it will be 70-80% off. just run by a few days a week and check. some days i would walk out with a couple 2x4s and some days i left with a trailer loaded down...it also helps if you become buddies with the guy that manages the cull material and he can call you to give you a heads-up  any store that mixes paint will also have "oops paint" that they mixed wrong and its normally at least half off as well.

just be patient and over a month or two, you can accumulate enough lumber to build something really nice for your birds.

other than repurposing materials, if anyone else has other(legal) tactics to save money, post here and help out others that may be looking to get into da chicken bidniss


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Good tips Rosco. I've seen those carts loaded with distressed lumber or culls in Lowe's, never gave it much thought honestly. I usually hit Habitat for Humanity restores, alot of good bargains on just about anything to build a coop. I bought a wood shipping crate for $25 off Craigslist earlier this year, perfect for my two Black Stars.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

haven't considered that...good info Dawg


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Huh, we have one of those ReStore stores local, now I really have to check it out.

I knew about those damaged sales at the big box stores, they just never seemed to have what I needed when I looked and since it's quite a drive to either one it just never panned out in the timing.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

My last coop cost me zero.

I watched the "give away for free" pages on Facebook and Craig's list. I also got a goodly amount if stuff from the construction trash area of the dump.

Also, behind my garage I store all good junk I find, rolls of wire, wood, pallets, shelving.

If you don't like the dump, also ask at any big construction site fir their scraps.

For windows, most window places take the fogged windows they get to the dump, stop by and ask for them. Fogged windows are excellent fir the coop, wind breaks in the run, and green houses or cold frames.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

those fogged winders could be real handy! even in building a small shop or such...(which is my next project)


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Free stuff is great. Sometimes you get lucky just driving around!


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