These free chicken coop plans come with a full material list: pick a design below and its whole list is already worked out. An 8x8 walk-in needs 81 2x4s, 20 2x6s, 14 posts, 8 sheets of 3/4-inch plywood, 5 roof panels and 148 feet of quarter-inch hardware cloth. Every number in the table comes from that design’s own bill of materials. If your coop is not one of ours, the estimator further down gives a range from your footprint and tells you how wrong it can be.
Every design at a glance
| Design | Materials | Hours | 2x4s | 2x6s | 4x4 posts | Plywood sheets | Roof panels (26 in wide) | Hardware cloth needed (ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x4 starter | $1,650-$2,150 | 10-14 | 39 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 3 x 4 ft | 52 |
| 4x6 coop | $1,900-$2,450 | 18-26 | 47 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 x 4 ft | 68 |
| 4x8 shed | $2,250-$2,900 | 16-24 | 55 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 5 x 6 ft | 86 |
| 4x8 lean-to | $2,100-$2,750 | 12-18 | 45 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 5 x 6 ft | 84 |
| 6x8 coop | $2,700-$3,450 | 26-34 | 78 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 5 x 6 ft | 112 |
| 6x8 walk-in | $2,900-$3,750 | 30-38 | 76 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 5 x 8 ft | 129 |
| 6x8 modern | $3,600-$4,700 | 40-52 | 76 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 5 x 8 ft | 129 |
| 6x8 pallet | $2,850-$3,800 | 38-50 | 84 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 5 x 8 ft | 129 |
| 6x10 walk-in | $3,200-$4,100 | 36-44 | 87 | 21 | 8 | 8 | 6 x 8 ft | 148 |
| 8x8 walk-in | $3,200-$4,100 | 40-52 | 81 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 5 x 10 ft | 148 |
| 8x10 walk-in | $3,700-$4,750 | 46-58 | 91 | 23 | 16 | 10 | 6 x 10 ft | 170 |
| 8x12 coop | $3,950-$5,050 | 55-70 | 102 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 7 x 8 ft | 186 |
| 8x12 walk-in | $4,250-$5,450 | 60-75 | 104 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 7 x 10 ft | 208 |
| 8x12 insulated | $5,500-$7,100 | 78-98 | 106 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 7 x 10 ft | 213 |
| 10x10 walk-in | $4,150-$5,350 | 60-78 | 96 | 15 | 17 | 13 | 6 x 12 ft | 188 |
| 10x12 walk-in | $4,700-$6,000 | 75-95 | 108 | 16 | 19 | 14 | 7 x 12 ft | 230 |
| 8x16 walk-in | $4,950-$6,400 | 90-110 | 111 | 30 | 20 | 15 | 9 x 10 ft | 252 |
| 4x8 A-frame tractor | $675-$875 | 14-20 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 x 1/4in, 1 x 1/2in | 1 roll roofing | 26 |
| 6x10 A-frame tractor | $800-$1,025 | 22-30 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 x 1/4in, 2 x 1/2in | 1 roll roofing | 47 |
| 6x8 A-frame coop | $975-$1,275 | 20-28 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 4 x 1/4in, 2 x 1/2in | 1 roll roofing | 52 |
| 4x6 duck house | $2,150-$2,800 | 16-24 | 48 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 4 x 6 ft | 101 |
| 6x8 duck house | $3,000-$3,850 | 30-38 | 76 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 5 x 8 ft | 162 |
| 6x8 run | $850-$1,100 | 10-14 | 20 | 0 | 8 | - | - | 108 |
| 8x16 run | $1,300-$1,700 | 22-30 | 28 | 5 | 12 | - | - | 196 |
| 10x20 run | $1,900-$2,450 | 30-40 | 40 | 6 | 20 | 1 | - | 258 |
| 3-box nest bank | $240-$330 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | - |
Pieces are counts of the stock the plan buys: the 8x8 list is 4 twelve-footers, 5 tens and 72 eight-footers in 2x4, which is the 81 you see. The 8x12 insulated coop shows only its shared lumber here; its insulation adds sheathing, liner plywood and batts to the full list. The 10x12 and 8x16 walk-ins and the 8x16 and 10x20 runs have their plan books still coming, so they have free specs and no buy button. Prices are 2026 materials with no waste allowance; the cost breakdown shows what sits inside totals like these.
What if your coop is a size we do not draw
The picker is a table. For your own footprint, we fit straight lines to the nine single-slope coops from the 4x8 shed to the 8x16 walk-in, with footprint as the only input. That is not how the plans themselves are generated, which is from geometry, so treat the result as a range, and here are the errors on those nine designs.
| Item | Estimate from footprint (sq ft) | Worst miss on our nine |
|---|---|---|
| 2x4s, as eight-foot pieces | 41.9 + 0.689 x footprint | 8.3 pieces (14%) |
| 3/4-inch plywood sheets | 2.13 + 0.101 x footprint | 1 sheet |
| Hardware cloth needed | 46.1 + 1.571 x footprint | 15 ft (12%) |
| Materials, low | $1,511 + $27.06 x footprint | $141 (5.6%) |
| Materials, high | $1,946 + $34.74 x footprint | $170 (5.4%) |
A 7 by 9 coop is 63 sq ft. That gives about 85 eight-foot 2x4s, 9 sheets of plywood, 145 feet of cloth and $3,216 to $4,134. Our real 8x8 at 64 sq ft is 84, 8 sheets, 148 feet and $3,200 to $4,100, so the line holds near the middle. It does not hold near the ends. We do not estimate 2x6s or posts, because their fits miss by a third, and the estimator refuses footprints outside 32 to 128 sq ft.
An 8x8 run, since people ask for one
We have no 8x8 standalone run, but we have two that bracket it: the 6x8 (48 sq ft) and the 8x16 (128 sq ft). An 8x8 is 64 sq ft, a fifth of the way between them. Interpolating line by line gives about 22 2x4s, 9 ground-contact 4x4 posts, 126 feet of hardware cloth, 500 fender washers and a day and a half of work, $940 to $1,220 in materials. It is an estimate between two real lists and not a drawn plan. The 6x8 run and the 8x16 are the real thing, and the hardware cloth guide covers why the cloth total is the biggest line on any run.
How to read a cut list, and buy by stock length
Each step in a plan book lists parts as a letter, a quantity, a length, the stock and a note. On the 8x10 front wall, “A Bottom plate, 1, 113 in, 2x4” sits flat on the deck and is cut out at the doors after the wall is standing. Read the note before you cut. The totals are counted by stock length too: the 8x10 asks for 75 eight-foot, 12 ten-foot and 4 fourteen-foot 2x4s, so buy those lengths and not the cheapest per foot. The materials guide goes into grades and treated lumber.
Lines that never make a shopper’s list
Look at the 8x8’s list for the items that disappear from a rough tally: 592 fender washers for the cloth, heavy-duty staples, three tubes of exterior caulk, a gallon of primer and a gallon of paint, five two-action latches and ten hinges bought in pairs, drip edge and closure strip, and 9 cubic feet of gravel under the pier blocks. None of them is expensive. All of them stop a Saturday if you are out.