A visual - adult chickens in Producer’s Pride Sentinel Coop

[alinas2010]

That's what I've been doing with the one my broodies are in during the day. At night, it's cooler so I don't worry as much. Plus their coop doors all stay open 24/7 anyways, so it's not completely sealed

Ah, it is a nice haven for a broody to have and raise chicks! I actually like when the girls lay in here vs their big coop because it’s a little cooler in there.

This is a great post. Short, full of pics, and a valuable information for any new chicken owner—kudos to you!
Consider making it into an article and enter it in article writing contest.

Thank you, that is very kind of you to say. And a great idea. I may have to do that!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Just wanted to share pics for people who need a visual of how many adult medium-large sized chickens ~really~ fit in this coop.

My chickens do not live in this, they have a 8x8 shed converted into a coop with an attached 7x18 (ish?) run. We do keep this coop around because it is in our back yard where they”free range”. The door to this coop stays open and it serves as a place to lay when they’re in the back yard and to run for shelter if they see a hawk. I think it would be a great isolation ward, too.

It was a good grow out coop for them but as you can see from the size, it would not be large enough to keep them in as adults. As they grew only 2 would roost inside and only 2 outside - meaning it was too crowded for them all to roost inside.

I had a hard time finding pics of adult chickens in this coop when we got these ladies, so I hope this can help someone.
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Oh I like that roost bar idea in the pen. I might have to steal that for my 3

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thanks! They actually used that pretty often when they were little. One of them jumped up and sat there for a moment today, now that I think of it

Two of mine have the one that came with it for the interior, but they could always use one in the pen too. I know my birds in my grey prefab use their run roost a lot

 

[leah0222]

Just wanted to share pics for people who need a visual of how many adult medium-large sized chickens ~really~ fit in this coop.

My chickens do not live in this, they have a 8x8 shed converted into a coop with an attached 7x18 (ish?) run. We do keep this coop around because it is in our back yard where they”free range”. The door to this coop stays open and it serves as a place to lay when they’re in the back yard and to run for shelter if they see a hawk. I think it would be a great isolation ward, too.

It was a good grow out coop for them but as you can see from the size, it would not be large enough to keep them in as adults. As they grew only 2 would roost inside and only 2 outside - meaning it was too crowded for them all to roost inside.

I had a hard time finding pics of adult chickens in this coop when we got these ladies, so I hope this can help someone.
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That's a great visual! That size of coop is advertised to hold 6, and that is only realistic for bantams or chicks. It would serve as a nice little nursery pen, or isolation. I currently have a wounded roo living in my green house ...he has a make shift cage that I cover and lock him into at night because the greenhouse is bare ground so I don't consider it predator proof.

 

[Se7en]

That is a great post. When we started out we looked at those coops and thought no way for two reasons. 1. It looks too small and I wouldn't be able to add more. 2. In Louisiana with hurricane weather it just wouldn't last.
So we built a large coop and run thinking it would last a while for growth but it didn't. Chicken math started with four and is now at twenty-seven. We now have two large coops and runs and am so glad we didn't get those prefab ones. We have two large dog crates that we use for isolation when necessary.

 

[alinas2010]

Before my chickens even went outside from their indoor brooder, I modified the roost bar inside to make two bars instead of 1 and cut into the “run” area to extend it. My 2 Orpingtons and 2 satins fit fine in here as only the orpies use the roost bar. Later, I added another small coop for 3 bantams and connected the runs. They free range all day and put themselves to bed at night.

Your set up looks nice and sounds like it works well for your flock. I wish I would’ve seen more modifications like this for the coop, also. I think the breeds of chicken play a huge role in how well this works. Our ladies were just a little too big. The climate is another issue for us with this coop, although with the right modifications it could work.

Have you considered putting a foot or so of clear plastic around the outside of the run to help keep some snow out?

I actually really didn’t until it physically snowed this year. Stupid, I know, but I thought the roof would keep a lot of snow out. Obviously that didn’t work.

It became a moot point once there was just way too much snow to even let the girls over into the yard. But this year, I’m hoping for a more temperate winter, and I may end up wrapping it if they end up being in the yard a lot more.

As I said above, I wish I had seen some more modifications to this coop; i think it has some possibilities. Maybe sometime down the road I’ll get a wild hair and want to convert it into a little more than it is.

 

[alinas2010]

Two of mine have the one that came with it for the interior, but they could always use one in the pen too. I know my birds in my grey prefab use their run roost a lot

We can never give them enough to do, can we? Lol

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I use them for bantams and grow-out coops. They can host a modest flock of bantams comfortably.

 

[alinas2010]

I still need to figure out how to put vents in mine. I've thought about just replacing one of the coop side doors with hardwire cloth and a movable cover.

There’s not a lot of options for where to add ventilation; we struggled with that too. I ended up propping open the nesting box lid a few inches permanently as well as adding the circular vent holes up top on either side. Fortunately we didn’t have a ton of predators to worry about in our back yard with the nesting box lid open.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Same thing we had to do! Ours were in this when they outgrew their brooder, probably sometime in June or July to mid September last year and they were out alll day. We realized it wasn’t gonna work for winter here as there would be days the snow would be too deep to come out. I think it’d be a great one for a few bantams, too. They definitely try to oversell these a little IMO. It is a great isolation/jail, I agree!View attachment 3611904View attachment 3611905View attachment 3611905View attachment 3611906

Have you considered putting a foot or so of clear plastic around the outside of the run to help keep some snow out?