Shipping Crate Conversion Chicken Coop

This is the 36th post in my series on cool coop builds. I haven’t been looking for the biggest or best, but ones that express the heart and soul of the owners that have interesting backstories and might inspire my readers.

I’ve noticed more chicken keepers who repurpose materials to build their first coops. The results are so much more interesting and satisfying than buying a pre-fab coop or hiring someone to do the work for you. I’m hoping that their stories will inspire others to challenge themselves to do the same.

My husband, Francisco and I live in Missouri. We have had chickens for about a year and a half. The first round we got four chickens. One died unexpectedly and two were taken and killed by raccoons. We couldn’t just leave our last hen by herself so we bought some more. We now have seven hens and a rooster: a Polish and some black sex links. Not sure about the other breeds. Tractor Supply specials!

I am a broke chicken momma so I couldn’t afford a fancy chicken coop and couldn’t afford to build one from scratch. I still have stuff to finish on it but for what started off as a shipping crate I think it turned out really well. We don’t have any building experience so we just winged it. My husband has built some shelves in a shed but that is the extent of our experience.

I searched on Facebook for a chicken coop and couldn’t find anything that was big enough in our price range. I looked into pricing materials to build one but found it would cost two thousand or more. While searching Marketplace I saw an ad for a shipping crate for $100 and thought that would be a fantastic base for the start of a coop.

Both Francisco and I worked on the coop together. I did most of the cutting and he did the work that required heights and drilling.

We really only had time to work on it a few hours one day a week because of our schedules. It took a few months because of the heat and our kiddo going off to college.

Budget

We wanted to spend a fraction of what everyone was selling their builds for because I just can’t afford $2000 for a coop but I live in a neighbourhood where it had to look decent too. The shipping crate was $100. The most expensive material was the siding which was $200. Other costs included screws and extra wood to reinforce the walls. We bought windows for some ventilation. Total cost so far: $600.

Coop (without the roof): 85” x 45” x 87”

Features

Automatic door
Nesting boxes
Roosting bars
Vinyl floor for easy cleanup
Recycled coffee grounds for bedding

Plans for the future

Additional ventilation
Fans for the summer
Lighting
Coop camera
Moving to another location so we can attach a run

Currently our oldest hen has her own coop that we bought from Tractor Supply when we got our first four chickens. It isn’t big enough for all eight of them so the others are staying in our garage at night. During the day when we are not home they stay inside a dog pen area. They’ll be glad when they can move into their new coop.