General Information
- Brand
- Producers Pride
- Manufacturer
- Tractor Supply Company
- Model
- Walk‑In Chateau
- Product Price
- $900 - $1199
Something important to know if you are just starting out with hen-keeping is that there is more than one way to skin a chicken, if you will. There are 60-acre farmers and urban backyard hobbyists, free-rangers and confiners, homemade organic whole-grain scratch chefs and they’ll-eat-the-bugs-and-weeds-and-like-it feeders. Aside from sad battery cage farms, no one way is objectively right or wrong, but the combination of your decisions about such things make up your chicken-keeping persona. When you are looking into hen housing, it’s good to know who you are. Different housing types suit different needs and wants.
I myself am a backyard hobbyist keeping hens for the compost, the eggs, and the company, in that order. Chickens are an engaging and useful factor in my organish™ garden, identifying more livestock than pets. They have names given to them by my 4-year-old, but I always forget them.
When looking to purchase my second coop, the following factors were important to me:
What I Like
So - for me, the Producer’s Pride Walk‑In Chateau Chicken Coop from Tractor Supply has been a dream. I got it on sale in November 2024 for $900, down from its regular price of $1200. It’s both adorable and highly functional. The crisp white and blue finish gives it a charming, cottage-style feel. A corrugated plastic roof covers the good-sized run (preschooler for scale) and walls are made of wood and steel mesh. It feels sturdy (see photo of my husband up on the roof), it has a person-size door for easy access, and a side door into the coop itself for easy cleaning of the roosting area. Throw down some Sweet PDZ for odor control and maintenance is truly painless.
Modifications
The only modifications we made were:
For the size of my flock, I don’t consider this a downside, but although it touts itself as having a 14-hen capacity, I’d personally limit this coop to 7-8 birds so they have a little room to stretch their wings. We have seven (five regular, two bantams) and that seems about right given that they only get supervised free ranging after work and on the weekends.
If you are looking for a well-built, aesthetically pleasing coop for a small flock, and don’t have serious budget constraints, take a look at the Producer’s Pride Walk‑In Chateau. It’s been a great fit for us.
I myself am a backyard hobbyist keeping hens for the compost, the eggs, and the company, in that order. Chickens are an engaging and useful factor in my organish™ garden, identifying more livestock than pets. They have names given to them by my 4-year-old, but I always forget them.
When looking to purchase my second coop, the following factors were important to me:
- A forever coop that I wouldn’t have to replace in 5 years
- Well-thought out design requiring little to no modifications
- Raccoon-proof
- Covered run
- Easy to clean
- Cuteness
- Budget - I have reached the place in life where I’m willing to invest in a coop that is easy on the eyes. As my main source of peace, the garden has never been purely about function for me; I like things to be pretty.
- Expandability - we have reached capacity for chickens in our smallish yard.
- Extreme predator resistance - There just aren’t bears, foxes, or coyotes in my semi-urban neighborhood.
- Ease of assembly - that’s why I got married. It took him about 6 hours solo.
What I Like
So - for me, the Producer’s Pride Walk‑In Chateau Chicken Coop from Tractor Supply has been a dream. I got it on sale in November 2024 for $900, down from its regular price of $1200. It’s both adorable and highly functional. The crisp white and blue finish gives it a charming, cottage-style feel. A corrugated plastic roof covers the good-sized run (preschooler for scale) and walls are made of wood and steel mesh. It feels sturdy (see photo of my husband up on the roof), it has a person-size door for easy access, and a side door into the coop itself for easy cleaning of the roosting area. Throw down some Sweet PDZ for odor control and maintenance is truly painless.
Modifications
The only modifications we made were:
- Added carabiner latches to each doorway and the nest box to keep out the raccoons.
- Added a hardware cloth footprint/skirt around the bottom for the same reason.
- Installed a roost from a fallen branch into the run for enrichment.
- Repainted the whole thing. The finish was "painted" but with a patchy, primer-type product. I used basic exterior paint to help protect the wood finish and changed the trim from a soft blue to a sage green to match my raised beds.
For the size of my flock, I don’t consider this a downside, but although it touts itself as having a 14-hen capacity, I’d personally limit this coop to 7-8 birds so they have a little room to stretch their wings. We have seven (five regular, two bantams) and that seems about right given that they only get supervised free ranging after work and on the weekends.
If you are looking for a well-built, aesthetically pleasing coop for a small flock, and don’t have serious budget constraints, take a look at the Producer’s Pride Walk‑In Chateau. It’s been a great fit for us.
