What do you think of this coop?

Hi I am new to the backyard chicken world and would like some advice. I know many on here advocate to build your own coop but I don't really trust my Carpenter skills nor do I have a ton of time. I don't want to buy a cheap kit from China so I found a local person on Craigslist who makes coops. Since I am new to this I wanted to see what this community thinks of it. Here is the link https://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/5432452183.html

I wish you could see more pictures of the inside. I can't figure out if that white piece of wood inside is the roost--if so it's mounted narrow side up which is wrong.

And ventilation appears minimal/inadequate. You may need to modify a few things to make it workable for you.

I would ask for more inside pictures. There are a disproportionate number of outside photos

Thanks for the reply. I asked for more pictures of the inside and will post them once I have them. Also he builds these to order so I could probably ask for more ventilation.

I’ve experimented with tree limbs of various thicknesses, and 2x4’s narrow side up or narrow wide side up for roosts. My conclusion is that people care about this a lot more than the chickens do. But since it is custom built, you can ask them to lay it flat if that’s important to you. From what I’ve observed the chickens don’t consider either one right or wrong. At least the roost is higher than the nests. That is good.

I also have concerns with ventilation. I assume you are in the Sacramento area. Your weather doesn’t get that viciously cold, summer heat may be more of a concern for you. That roof does not have overhang. A real easy way to provide good ventilation up high is to have a bit of overhang and leave the top few inches of the wall open but covered with hardware cloth against predators.

I don’t like the way the roof slopes. Rainwater is directed straight to your run. You don’t want water going into your run, you want it flowing away from the run. I don’t think you can add a gutter and downspout to that design to get the water away.

I think you access the nests by raising the lid. I’m not sure how he flashes that to keep rainwater from getting into the nests but maybe he has that covered. But the run extension is shown under the nests. Will it be in the way of looking in the nests? Maybe you can talk to him about moving that run extension to behind the building instead of on the side? That could help with water running into the run also.

I also would like to see inside better. That poop tray that slides out can make cleaning easier but I’m not sure how necessary it really is. I don’t know why you couldn’t back a wheelbarrow or a plastic bin under that opening and just rake bedding into that when you clean. That may actually be easier if that tray gets in a bind or is hard to slide out. That could make it less expensive to build.

In general I’m not a fan of those pop door openings in the floor. They tend to take up too much floor space. But in your climate I don’t see that as a big problem. They should have all the run available to them whenever they need it. Chickens do not differentiate between coop space and run space. They just see space available, wherever that is.

Best I can tell he is using decent hardware, not the real flimsy stuff you often see. But those locks don’t look all that raccoon proof to me. Can you put a lock or some type of closure on there to really lock them closed?

It’s small, looking at coop plus run, assuming you get the run attachment. I would not put more than four hens in there.

Access to the run is OK but limited. You’ll do any cleaning in there on your knees. That run looks about two feet high. That’s plenty of height for the chickens but I hope you have a good back. Lots of people live with that though.

Those photos show two different kinds of ramps. I don’t know that one is any better than the other. They both should work.

I think he is avoiding a lot of the normal flaws with those online coops. You will probably get a pretty well made coop. Since it is custom built you might discuss some of this with him and let him convince you which way is best to go. He may have reasons I’m not thinking of to do things this way.

Those are all very good points and I don't particularly like the idea of cleaning out the coop on my knees. Here are a couple more options locally that have a nice height.

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/5439258645.html

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/5429628845.html

The one for $1050 is the best. Don't know what type of winters you have where you live but it looks like the "building" is open on one end.

Avoid the first one you showed. Too small and not nearly enough ventilation.

Of my 40 years of experience the biggest mistake beginners make is starting with an inadequate coop.

It is really discouraging to beginners when the coop is difficult to clean, it leads to health problems in the birds, it leads to cannabilism because its too small etc. etc.

If you want a few hens then my advice is do it correctly. Which obviously you do because you are asking.

Agrees with scooter...the first 2 are too small.

The 3rd one is pretty nice.
...but the roosts should be higher than the nests and the nests are oddly tall.
....and I'd opt for the 1/2 x1 wire...or 1/2" hardware cloth would be even better.
Would be wise to put a mesh apron around perimeter to keep predators from digging in.