Reviews by JCaseyHammond

This is a brilliant article! In order to produce 5 colors of eggshells, I have to keep 10 roosters. One main breeder and a backup rooster for each color of eggshell (chocolate, mint, olive, blue, pink). 10 or 12 breeding pens with one rooster and 2 hens each is getting to be a lot to maintain past breeding season. I’m in the habit of letting them out of their pens to free range, but sometimes any of them don’t mind their own business and I have to break up squabbles. Breeds include Australorp, Ameracauna, Penedesenca, Marans, Naked Neck.

First of all, this is actually quite a functional coop. The chickens can eat grass and get sunshine and exercise, or run up to get shelter from predators and weather, and lay their eggs. The coop itself probably won’t stand up to a large predator attack, but it is protected by an electric fence. There are not any build details but was that a requirement at the time Hambone posted??? According to the BYC website, the user Hambone has been a member since 2009 and was last seen April 5, 2018, and all reviews on this coop are dated after that. It is not certain whether Hambone will ever return to provide more info. Therefore just look carefully at the photos provided. Some people (myself included) are not engineers yet build things anyway. There are two one star reviews and a 3 star review. I’m leaving a 4 star review because a coop similar to this without the electric fence worked well for years.

I like this coop because chickens can self-regulate to get exercise, sunlight and air. The slanted roof allows chickens to avoid getting chilled by rain and have a dry place to dust bathe. Half-inch hardware cloth will keep out rats and their fleas and songbirds and their mites. When a coop has a dirt floor, there is danger of rats or ground squirrels digging holes through the floor and bringing an infestation of sticktight fleas. However, this coop can simply be moved to fresh ground. It would need a layer of 9 gauge rabbit cage mesh to resist attacks from larger predators like raccoons, dogs and coyotes. Hawk damage seems unlikely. I like the fold down wall to reach inside and change the waterer and feeder, but I have found that hanging those on chains means they get bumped around by the chickens and the food and water gets spilled easily. Overall 4 stars for good design and construction.