This article is about a flatpack coop taken to bits after almost a decade of use.
Lots of people buy these flatpack coops and the model I’m going to write about is a popular style option in the UK, made by various companies. It’s a generic style and most look identical from the outside, while some have slightly different arrangements for roosting and nest box style.
This is the style.
https://thechickenhousecompany.co.u...ouses/products/6-to-12-hen-chicken-coop-cc058
It’s walk in if you're less than five foot six inches, any taller and you’ll be bent over once under the run roof.
There is only the window you can see in the picture for ventilation, unless one includes the various gaps around doors and roof to wall join. The coop I’ve taken to bits doesn’t have a pull out tray.
As can be seen from the pictures in the link, the coop has human front and back access, plus limited access through the nest box with the lid open.
This is the coop as I found it when I started to look after the chickens that were housed in it. The roof had been blown off twice and badly repaired and in general the maintenance had been minimal.
There were 26 chickens roosting in this coop at one point.
The coop.
Inside the coop. Picture taken through the nest box opening after roosting time.
Outside roosting.
The inside after a sweep out. Picture through nest box. There are a couple of sheets of cardboard underneath the straw. Picture through nest box opening.
The ground.
Construction.
Materials.
The timber used for the coop is rot treated deal/pine. The mesh is adequate but not heavy gauge. The coop floor is a sheet of coated steel and there’s a plastic mat that fits on top of the floor about one eight of an inch thick. Standard roofing felt has been used to make the coop waterproof
In use.
There is only one adjustable window vent. It just doesn’t have enough ventilation and it would be easy to make vents under the eaves and at the gable ends. You can get more air into the coop by leaving the pop door open. The bedding in the coop tended to stay damp and condensation could be seen and felt on the roof interior.
Every door and the joints around the nest box top and bottom produced draughts at roosting height. Not something one would notice unless one had built a few coops perhaps but the chickens will notice. The main human access door at the front and back didn’t have a jam on the inside and when the wind blew the doors rattled.
The roost bars run the length of the coop and are too close together. The roosting bars are removable and there are sockets on one of the walls and a removable partition at the other end between the main coop and the nest box with a further pair of sockets. The roosting bars are much too low and with a half inch of bedding material on the coop floor the chickens drape their undersides in any poop on top of the bedding. The removable partition between the coop and nest box is fiddly and a source of draughts due to it’s bad fit and placement.
Egg box.
The egg box floor in this model is on a slight slant downwards away from the coop. The lid hinge leaked and broke after a couple of years use apparently. The replacement leaked too.
General.
Access is quite reasonable assuming you can get to both back and front of the coop.
The run would be okay for two chickens. The three sided enclosure under the coop is where the chickens went in high winds and driving rain.
There is room to hang a feeder in the run and pipe feeders, or other types could be fixed to the run walls without much problem.
One possible advantage is the entire coop and run could be moved to fresh ground with a bit of care assuming the coop was maintained.
Below are some pictures of the coop being taken down.
The thing I want you the reader to notice is that every joint and every butted section has got dirt/dust/dander on/in and had when split...BUGS. Not all were bad bugs, but if bugs I can see can get in such joints, then so can mites and this in my opinion is the biggest problem with flatpack coops like this. If mites move in it is almost impossible to completely rid the coop of them. One would have to dismantle the coop.
You can reasonably safely state that if you keep chickens eventually they, or their coop will host mites.
It’s one of those when, rather than if problems.
Nest box join to coop.
Nest box end arrangement for locating roost bars.
Henry and Fret wondering what's going on.
Pop door side coop wall off.
Both side walls off.
Removing nest box end side wall.
The floor.
Henry inspecting again.
Stripping the roof.
Taking the roof off.
Various panel edges.
My opinion...
The ventilation could be easily adjusted with some hole in the gable ends, or even a full cut out covered in fine quarter inch hole mesh.
The space; well it depends on how the chickens are kept. If this was to house a contained group then in my opinion it isn't fit for even one chicken. Not because of the coop size, but the run. It's not even close to acceptable in my opinion.
All the openings need draught blocking framework on the inside so the wind doesn't howl through the gaps and the door fits tightly into the frame, just like a household door.
The roosting bars would need to be raise; I try to keep roosting bars at jump height (no more than a foot heigh from the platform beneath, be that the floor, or an elevated structure.
Whatever one may think of prefabricated coops this coop has done really well given the neglect, the damage, the overcrowding. At current prices you get the chickens housed for around $/£50.00 a year.
The main problem with the coop is the way it's been constructed more than the design. Tongue and groove planks are an invitation for parasites to take up residence. They also warp so what was a tight joint one day, isn't the next.
Next there is this unfathomable habit of people automatically it seems cladding coop frames on the outside rather than cladding the inside and thus keeping frame timber end grain etc outside the coop leaving far fewer joints for mites to take up residence in and allowing for cleaning with a blow torch, which is without doubt, given the right style of coop, the best way I've found of keeping coops clean and pest free. Everything should be removable in the coop, leaving just walls, floor and ceiling. The fewer nooks and crannies the better. Occasionally I see internally clad coops on BYC but usually the grand designs are all internally framed and often built with planks rather than sheet material.
Outside framed sheet built coop.
Flatpack coops such as this are rarely recommended on BYC. Those who enquire about coops are usually advised to build their own. However, a lot of people do buy these coops because they are few construction skills involved and they are relatively cheap and functional. Given the right keeping circumstances I think they're a realistic option for many people who may have limited room and free range a small group of chickens in a secure back yard.
Lots of people buy these flatpack coops and the model I’m going to write about is a popular style option in the UK, made by various companies. It’s a generic style and most look identical from the outside, while some have slightly different arrangements for roosting and nest box style.
This is the style.
https://thechickenhousecompany.co.u...ouses/products/6-to-12-hen-chicken-coop-cc058
It’s walk in if you're less than five foot six inches, any taller and you’ll be bent over once under the run roof.
There is only the window you can see in the picture for ventilation, unless one includes the various gaps around doors and roof to wall join. The coop I’ve taken to bits doesn’t have a pull out tray.
As can be seen from the pictures in the link, the coop has human front and back access, plus limited access through the nest box with the lid open.
This is the coop as I found it when I started to look after the chickens that were housed in it. The roof had been blown off twice and badly repaired and in general the maintenance had been minimal.
There were 26 chickens roosting in this coop at one point.
The coop.
Inside the coop. Picture taken through the nest box opening after roosting time.
Outside roosting.
The inside after a sweep out. Picture through nest box. There are a couple of sheets of cardboard underneath the straw. Picture through nest box opening.
The ground.
Construction.
Materials.
The timber used for the coop is rot treated deal/pine. The mesh is adequate but not heavy gauge. The coop floor is a sheet of coated steel and there’s a plastic mat that fits on top of the floor about one eight of an inch thick. Standard roofing felt has been used to make the coop waterproof
In use.
There is only one adjustable window vent. It just doesn’t have enough ventilation and it would be easy to make vents under the eaves and at the gable ends. You can get more air into the coop by leaving the pop door open. The bedding in the coop tended to stay damp and condensation could be seen and felt on the roof interior.
Every door and the joints around the nest box top and bottom produced draughts at roosting height. Not something one would notice unless one had built a few coops perhaps but the chickens will notice. The main human access door at the front and back didn’t have a jam on the inside and when the wind blew the doors rattled.
The roost bars run the length of the coop and are too close together. The roosting bars are removable and there are sockets on one of the walls and a removable partition at the other end between the main coop and the nest box with a further pair of sockets. The roosting bars are much too low and with a half inch of bedding material on the coop floor the chickens drape their undersides in any poop on top of the bedding. The removable partition between the coop and nest box is fiddly and a source of draughts due to it’s bad fit and placement.
Egg box.
The egg box floor in this model is on a slight slant downwards away from the coop. The lid hinge leaked and broke after a couple of years use apparently. The replacement leaked too.
General.
Access is quite reasonable assuming you can get to both back and front of the coop.
The run would be okay for two chickens. The three sided enclosure under the coop is where the chickens went in high winds and driving rain.
There is room to hang a feeder in the run and pipe feeders, or other types could be fixed to the run walls without much problem.
One possible advantage is the entire coop and run could be moved to fresh ground with a bit of care assuming the coop was maintained.
Below are some pictures of the coop being taken down.
The thing I want you the reader to notice is that every joint and every butted section has got dirt/dust/dander on/in and had when split...BUGS. Not all were bad bugs, but if bugs I can see can get in such joints, then so can mites and this in my opinion is the biggest problem with flatpack coops like this. If mites move in it is almost impossible to completely rid the coop of them. One would have to dismantle the coop.
You can reasonably safely state that if you keep chickens eventually they, or their coop will host mites.
It’s one of those when, rather than if problems.
Nest box join to coop.
Nest box end arrangement for locating roost bars.
Henry and Fret wondering what's going on.
Pop door side coop wall off.
Both side walls off.
Removing nest box end side wall.
The floor.
Henry inspecting again.
Stripping the roof.
Taking the roof off.
Various panel edges.
My opinion...
The ventilation could be easily adjusted with some hole in the gable ends, or even a full cut out covered in fine quarter inch hole mesh.
The space; well it depends on how the chickens are kept. If this was to house a contained group then in my opinion it isn't fit for even one chicken. Not because of the coop size, but the run. It's not even close to acceptable in my opinion.
All the openings need draught blocking framework on the inside so the wind doesn't howl through the gaps and the door fits tightly into the frame, just like a household door.
The roosting bars would need to be raise; I try to keep roosting bars at jump height (no more than a foot heigh from the platform beneath, be that the floor, or an elevated structure.
Whatever one may think of prefabricated coops this coop has done really well given the neglect, the damage, the overcrowding. At current prices you get the chickens housed for around $/£50.00 a year.
The main problem with the coop is the way it's been constructed more than the design. Tongue and groove planks are an invitation for parasites to take up residence. They also warp so what was a tight joint one day, isn't the next.
Next there is this unfathomable habit of people automatically it seems cladding coop frames on the outside rather than cladding the inside and thus keeping frame timber end grain etc outside the coop leaving far fewer joints for mites to take up residence in and allowing for cleaning with a blow torch, which is without doubt, given the right style of coop, the best way I've found of keeping coops clean and pest free. Everything should be removable in the coop, leaving just walls, floor and ceiling. The fewer nooks and crannies the better. Occasionally I see internally clad coops on BYC but usually the grand designs are all internally framed and often built with planks rather than sheet material.
Outside framed sheet built coop.
Flatpack coops such as this are rarely recommended on BYC. Those who enquire about coops are usually advised to build their own. However, a lot of people do buy these coops because they are few construction skills involved and they are relatively cheap and functional. Given the right keeping circumstances I think they're a realistic option for many people who may have limited room and free range a small group of chickens in a secure back yard.
