A misguided buy :/

[LiLRedCV]

Mother Earth News August/September 2011 issue, page 97, had a great idea for building a coop out of a metal shed. You could probably find one of the old metal sheds on Craigslist for free or extremely cheap. Don't need to worry about the side panels so much as long as the roof is good.

Here's a link to their Clever Shed-to-Coop Conversion

 

[LiLRedCV]

You could even cruise your local area's FreeCycle group to see if anyone is offering an old shed up (it's ALL free with them) or post a request for one...

 

[TheJuan-n-Only]

Just a thought....you could enclose the little run area and make the entire thing the coop since you already have a 10x10 run...that should be plenty of room for 3 birds!!!

 

[Honeysucklefeathers]

Sorry for your trouble

They shouldn't advertise as they do. You really need to let them know how unhappy you are with it and call to their attention all the "discrepancies" in their advertising

 

[cottagechick]

I just received an order of chicks from MPC. Every time I spoke to them they were very helpful. I believe that it says on their info that it can take two business days to answer an e-mail. I e-mailed them asking them about swollen eyes on one of the chicks. I e-mailed them to tell them one of the chicks had died. Both times they e-mailed me back w/in 2 business days. They refunded the $ for the chick that didn't make it - no questions asked. I didn't look at when you posted this. But if they consider Monday a holiday you may have to wait an extra day for an answer.

 

[BarredCometLaced]

They replied back:

Thanks for writing My Pet Chicken with your concern. I can see where you got a little confused. None of our coops are meant for full time confinement. You will remember that from reading it here on the Saltbox page:

http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Chicken-Coops/The-Saltbox-Coop-with-Run-3-4-chickens-p697.aspx

Designed for up to 4 chickens
With plenty of roosting and nesting space, you can happily house up to four standard-size chickens, or up to six bantams. Keep in mind this coop, like every coop we sell at My Pet Chicken, is NOT intended for full-time confinement. The run is convenient when you can't let your flock roam freely, but make sure your flock has several hours per day outside.

The area that chickens have during times when they are confined needs to be about 4 square feet per bird, more or less. This coop has roughly 20 square feet. Remember that they have space not only within the coop and run, but also beneath the coop. Make sense? They have the indoor coop space as well as the enclosed outdoor space, including the area beneath the indoor space. So, 20 square feet is about what you want to see for four birds (around 16 would be fine). And 20 is what you have with the Saltbox; that would give four of them 4 - 5 square feet each. With three birds, you have nearly 7 square feet each--plenty for their confined area. Just make sure they have the choice of several hours outside each day as we recommend (in inclement weather they may not want to go out).

I see you're confused by the roosting poles, too. If indeed you have just enough space on each roost for all your chickens (at the least for regular large fowl breeds you want about 8 inches each), then the perches further apart so they could all fit. But in fact, you have two roosts, each with roughly 28 inches. Four could all fit on one roost, with room to spare. The extra space offered on the roosts just gives them room for preference. The same goes for the nests: you have two nests, enough for 8 - 10 birds! This allows them to choose their favorites, and gives an option if you should have a girl go broody and want to stay in one for a while.

I think most of your confusion stems from reading our coop and care recommendations and taking them as absolute, incontrovertible law. They are good, basic recommendations, but just as there are many different ways to properly care for your cat or dog, there are many ways to care for your chickens. For instance, I use 2 x 4 as the roosts in my own coop. My friend uses 2 x 2s. That doesn't mean one of us is wrong and one is right. It more or less means that he had 2 x 2s when he was building his coop, and I had some 2 x 4s. The chickens will use either. A few years ago, I was using some very large pine branches securely attached. I wasn't wrong then, either, and the branches weren't exactly so far apart and exactly so tall, but the chickens loved them. Make sense? Our care recommendations aren't laws, they are just general advice on what seems to work for many.

Similarly, if a friend was explaining kitty care to you and suggested a cat bed beside a window, that doesn't mean you can't properly care for a cat if you don't have a cat bed or a large window. It doesn't mean your friend was misguiding or misinforming you!

And if someone was explaining basic dog care to you, with general space recommendations, how much time and attention they needed and so on, your needs might be very different from theirs. If one dog owner uses a harness and another a leash, that doesn't mean one dog is not being properly cared for! For instance, if you had a mastiff and lived in Minnesota, or if you had a toy poodle in New Mexico, or a if you had a greyhound in a New York apartment, all those dogs will have different needs given their situations. With chickens for instance, many people in northern climates have much, much smaller indoor spaces so the birds can keep warm more easily (the smaller spaces stay warmer just from the birds' body heat), while many people in desert climates opt to have three walls and secure wire rather than a fully enclosed coop (for ventilating excessive heat). Some who have very little space for a coop might opt for a tractor style coop (like the Eglu), where the chickens are moved to fresh ground every day. These need far less space than permanently-sited coops do, since the chickens always have access to fresh pasture and therefore don't denude their run and get agitated with boredom. There are many choices for providing good chicken care, just as there are with dog or cat care. Make sense?

Just as there are no absolute rules about how much space is needed for dogs or cats, there are no absolute rules about how much is needed for chickens. As a courtesy, we offer basic care guidelines and suggestions for people investigating keeping chickens as pets, and many different coop choices, from small inexpensive starter coops like the Saltbox hat are good for three or four birds, to big Amish made coops like the Craftsman for larger flocks. Which coop you choose depends on your needs. If you have three chickens of a breed that tends to do well in confinement--we mention in the breed description if a breed tends to want more space than usual--then they will be just fine in a Saltbox. Our owners have kept chickens in a Saltbox coop for several years. They wanted to test it in real life with their real chickens before we sold any, and they loved it so much they kept it!




Although they had a lengthy letter, they failed to excuse sending me the wrong coop

 

[calista]

Time for you to insist upon speaking to the Manager of Customer Service and reiterate that you want refunds on both your purchase and shipping prices, thank you very much.

That letter looks like an attempt to bury you in verbiage, in hopes you'll be so confused you'll eventually decide you must be in the wrong.

You're not. Their "guidelines" are very misleading for a newbie to chicken-keeping.

 

[stoopid]

I was tempted to purchase the SAME coop from MPC. NEVER did I see the "not intended for full-time confinement" clause anywhere. I suppose you have to read all the fine print thruout their entire website. I am still waiting for an answer from them regarding Marans eggs I purchased from them back in MARCH. Oh well, they got their money....

 

[Tracyree]

That lengthy letter irritates me. I would send a simple letter saying "thank you for all the information. I would like to return the coop for a refund as it is not as described".

 

[boogiedog]

I agree - I think another contact made to MPC would be appropriate. You clearly got a coop different from what you ordered. My experience with them (baby chicks) has been very positive.

I have heard, BTW, that WARE brand coops are not so hot and not built to last.

You may want to look at wooden sheds, children's playhouses, garden sheds at your local OSH, Home Depot and Lowe's. Some of those prefab sheds can easily convert. I'd be careful of metal sheds in areas with extreme temp swings - they can really heat up in the summer and freeze in the winter.

Just my $0.02.