We are entering the pre-fab chicken coop market and are looking for feedback!

Hello all!

My name is Hawk, and my dad just started a backyard chicken products business Our focus is designing sustainable and innovative products that help make the backyard chicken-keeping lifestyle more accessible and enjoyable.
He named the company "SummerHawk Ranch" after his ranch in Central California, which is named after my sister, Summer, and I =)

We already have some coops designed and are selling them at local pet shops and feed stores. We're also just got setup on Amazon and HomeDepot.com. HomeDepot has even agreed to let us do a 50 store test, so some of you may be able to visit our red coop in the building materials section of your HomeDepot)

As proud as we are of our initial designs, we know there is always room for improvement, and we're testing all kinds of new ideas. There are a lot of decent prefab coops out there, but there's so much potential for improvement, and we want to offer a coop that is first and foremost, safe for the birds, but also easy and even fun to operate for the family.

I was hoping it would be okay for me to ask all of you who have experience, What is lacking in the world of pre-fab coops?
Do you think they are acceptable? Too small? Cheaply made? too expensive? dangerous?

We want to know what you think should be improved on all the prefab coops out there (especially ours!) so we can start designing something even better.

Thank you so much! You can check out our three designs here:
http://www.homedepot.com/s/summerhawk%20ranch?NCNI-5

Most prefab are to small, difficult to clean and mine leaked. I like walk-in so coop and run secured plus allows for lots of ventilation a must in CA.

A lot of the prefab coops I've seen had used chicken wire where there should be hardware cloth. Any place you are trying to keep predators out should be covered in hardware cloth. Chicken wire covering a chicken coop is a sign of a poorly made coop.

My issues with pre-fab coops currently on the market are that they:

1)grossly overestimate/misrepresent the number of birds that the coop should house - because these coops are marketed to and appealing for first time chicken owners, this false representation is even worse as they don't know any better, and the manufacturer should!

2) the materiel used to construct them is not appropriate for the application - resulting in low build cost, yes, but a product with no longevity.
as an example - picked up a Precision Pet coop this weekend (with full understanding of the issues of pre-fab coops - this is being used strictly as a grow out setup for new birds purchased each spring to maintain the laying flock) that is a year old, had been used for 6 months by a little old lady housing a couple of pet birds (mentioning so that it is understood it was LIGHT use) and sat unmoved from the location it was used in until I purchased it - the "wood" it is constructed of is not able to hold the screws that were used (supplied by manufacturer) to assemble it and it will require bracing and brackets to keep it together for further use. This is a product that was assembled in one place, sat for about a year in that one place and on being moved from that one place is coming apart - it has not had heavy use, lots of wear and tear or been moved around multiple times (which would have challenged the integrity of the structure and make weaknesses more expected for me).
Also in the category of materiel is the use of poultry netting vs. hardware cloth - sure it's cheaper (so I get why a builder would opt for it), but going back to the intended/likely purchaser it is even more important, imo, that the product be built right for the sake of a new/first-time owner and the birds they will be responsible for.

3) poorly ventilated

I just had one delivered yesterday. It was the best rated among all that I researched and I spent hours checking out reviews and websites. $450 for just the coop for 6-8 chickens. What a piece of crap! I'm new to chickens but for $450 I'd expect it to be stronger than a doll house. Too expensive to ship back and start over. I love the Amish built ones but they are too expensive. From all of my research everyone loves the material s and design of the smaller ones which still has room to walk in and clean.

what's lacking in prefab coops? quality!!.. period...businesses cut corners to maximize profits.. coops made of 2x4's or 2x3s, plywood (real plywood) are costly....you get what you pay for,, or just build it yourself......

Besides the obvious and previously stated low quality wood and hardware, lack of adequate ventilation, and overestimated capacity already mentioned, there are design issues in many pre-fabs that make no sense to me.

Pull out poop trays that are so shallow that when you try to pull them out any uneven litter jams it up. I've seen one manufacturer that has a pull out drawer and it made so much more sense. Those shallow trays aren't secured against predators either.

Too narrow roosts. Maybe manufacturers do it so the perception is that there is more room in the coop, but none of my birds would be comfortable roosting on the toothpicks they call roosts. Use at least a 2x3 please.

Oh, and I have a theory as to why they use such flimsy materials. Yes, it costs less to produce the item but my guess is that better wood and hardware would make it weigh so much that the cost of shipping would be exorbitant. No one is going to pay an arm and a leg to ship a shoebox, even a well built one.

hmm...noted your coops appear to overstate general accepted capacity...and would not meet our county licensure requirements. That is my main issue with all others that I have seen. Also note that the main supports of most seem to be 1x4s whereas home built seem to be 2x4.

To meet our minimum licensure requirements a coop for 4 with run should be ~4'x10'x6'. With the coop being 4'x4' of that raised 2' off the ground; pen being 6x4.

Spot on Talk about the weight of the coop....that has much to do with it no doubt. I began building mine in the garage in march,, 4x4 bases, 2x4 frame, joists, 1/2 plywood floor, (real plywood). that alone was about 100lbs...I framed it up, rafters done, no siding yet or roof.. had to use a John Deere tractor with bucket and staps to pick it up and place it in yard.. it was a beast!, tried to put wheels on it to pick up one end, no good.. now with roof on and finished product, likely over 500lbs now.... no one wants an extra $200 in shipping charges to move it, prefab products are junk, 1x3's, flimsy garbage... light and easy to ship...

I concur with all the feedback from other users based on my shopping experience finding a suitable coop design. You may consider some mobile options. The ones out there that I found wouldn't house 30 chickens. I wanted a walk in mobile coop that I can move around and that would hold about 30 chickens and anything out there like that on the market was extremely expensive. Especially considering I could build something much better in the range of about $200. Mobile coops have to be built especially tough and lightweight to withstand being moved 1-2 times a day on uneven ground. But still heavy enough not to get blown away with a good 50mph gust.