Moving to a new house with a couple acres tomorrow. The wife wants a chicken coop, she had one at a previous house but that was a while back.

I'm not a carpenter, don't have the tools to build one, and after buying tools and hardware to build one I figure it'd be cheaper to just buy one.

I looked at tractor supply and amazon but everyone I found basically said they fall apart after a year. Is there somewhere I can buy one in the 3-400$ range in central Texas that won't fall apart after some weather?

Ask the feed store or lumber yard near you.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_19/672683_May_I_see_your_chicken_coop_.html&page=1

show a decent carpenter any of these and ask them to replicate it.

Go to a fencing company, and tell them you want to build a chicken coop.  They'll hook you up.  

Chickens down here really don't need housing, it doesn't get that cold.  They need a way to get out of the wind, rain, and hot sun, but that's about all.

OP, there is a guy in my warehouse row who used to sell these but is now a wrestling coach, in his warehouse space.
PM me if you'd like me to contact him re leftover parts or plans.
I'm located in Cypress,  NWHouston.

thanks guys, and mikey I'm gonna try to do this locally (san marcos) but if I can't I may PM you.

Look on craigslist.  I see them there often.

 

I built one using a large shipping container. It was formerly used to transport V22 Osprey parts to final assembly! Crate was 4'x6'x6' and made of half inch plywood. I bought it for $40 at the Habitat for Humanity Re Store. I covered the top with tin and installed some vents, made a little sliding door in it and put down some tin on the floor. I made a nesting box and covered the tin floor with shavings. It saved me a ton of time and money!

We had a gigantic hail storm here about a year ago and there is plenty of decent roofing tin around for free if you know where to ask. When I get time I'm going to cover the whole thing-sides etc... in tin to keep the rain off the plywood. I figure the thing should last 10-15 years or more and I don't have $100 in it.

I live in Lockhart, I just looked on the an Marcos craigslist and there are several for sale on there. I built mine.

This guy wants way too much money, but here's an idea.

link

You could put these together with some screws and staple the hardware cloth onto the frame.

The shed at the new place is much bigger than I remember. I may just wall off a small portion with plywood and put a ramp down from the window.

Any tools you buy would be an investment.  It wouldn't take much.
































































 

To build off of this ...

I recently found a cool site called diyready that opened my eyes to using old pallets for project lumber. I'd never given them much thought, and assumed that they were all made of extra toxic, treated lumber, but apparently not. This handy article explains how to spot the safe ones while this gives some advice for sourcing them free.

So if you got the wood for free, scrounged or bought the wire and roofing, and spent the rest of your budget on tools, you'd come out well ahead in the long run, especially where future projects are concerned.

Also, if there were still any doubt about the coolness of that website, here's an easy way to hide guns all over your house while sprucing up your decor!

I have access to pallets through work. I've been using them as shooting targets for years. I always figured the material was super toxic low grade shit. Thanks for the links man, if the ones work gets turn out to be good wood this will be useful.

If you are close to Burnet or want a nice drive, look at Mobil chicken coops. They have a web site, just Google Mobil chicken coops burnet.

They are located on hwy 29 just west of the intersection with us281.

Good coops for ready made ones.