Afraid I made a mistake with a PP Defender coop/run...?

[Thomaswgordon]

Our was too! Even with the flake. I have read that the fine shavings are better at breaking down for deep litter, only reason I went with fine vs. flake. Not sure if it even matters. I am probably going to start throwing some grass clipping in there too. I hear vegetation can help speed up the composting process.

Ah interesting your going to try deep litter? Are you planning on adding wood or something to side doors to keep bedding in or just moving it away from the doors a little?

 

[Thomaswgordon]

Oops I never saw these responses. We have 5 in total, 2 RIR and 3 barred rocks.

How many?

And it was fun to build, huh? We did it in 95 degree heat with barely any breakfast. Not a winning combo. We literally ran out of gas on the last roof panel. Had to stop. Finished it yesterday, much less hot and we were easily able to adjust the one misaligned roof panel and get it all finished up. Felt great to have it DONE and move them out! I also watched them catch their first bug and play chicken football with it!

It was good to finally build and have done. Little hiccups and fine adjustments as well. They are pretty funny to watch go after eachother when they find bugs!

Did you ever end up adding the flashing tape and/or did you ever figure something to do with the door seams? We had a big storm yesterday and the entire bedding on bottom level is soaking wet. I’m planning to caulk around all the metal joints. Will maybe try some flashing tape around the roof if I figure out how and then also need to figure out flashing of some sort on the run roof so it doesn’t all run right down the face of the coop door side.

 

[Magda12]

I just wanted to update this post and say I am 100% happy with my purchase of this coop. We have had the girls in there for several months now (they're fully grown but not yet laying) and they are happy as clams. When I go out each night to close the door (the door sucks BTW! more on that in a sec), they are all cuddled up on the roosts. Sometimes all 10 of them are on 1.

My biggest concern, after reading a bunch of stuff on here, was that the coop would be too small... Luckily, most of my girls are smaller Easter Eggers, so they fit perfectly fine in the coop (even the few times they've been "cooped" up longer than usual because *someone* slept in).

It wasn't necessary, the 10x10 run was perfectly sufficient for them, but we extended a chicken wire run off the side, it's about 10x30, so now that have a 40x10 area to run in most of the time.

Maybe my girls just all get along really well, not sure, but I have had zero issues with fighting or bullying. They do their normal pecking order posturing, but 99% of the time they are hanging out together peacefully or curled up together inside or under the coop. No roosters, btw!

Anyway, I just wanted to update this thread because I was really having a freak out after having paid so much for this thing that it wasn't going to be big enough. It's totally fine and it's a well made coop. It was worth is for the enclosed walk-in run, alone.

I also want to add that I got an Omlet automatic door. We are LOVING it. This coop has a horizontal slide door. The handle for the door is held to the door rod by a crappy metal pin that kept falling out. Long story short, we lost the pin, hubby ran over the metal pull with the lawn mower and we had to open and close the coop door with a rake. Not the mention, shavings getting stuck in the tracks. Automatic door solves all of these problems. I went with the Omlet one literally only because it was the only horizontal door I could find.

 

[Magda12]

Ah interesting your going to try deep litter? Are you planning on adding wood or something to side doors to keep bedding in or just moving it away from the doors a little?

I haven't really had a ton of issues with this. My bedding is DEEEEEp, like probably too deep. I'll end up taking some out when we turn over the garden just to make room for fresh shavings. I get a few wet spots here and there, but we've had some pretty significant storms and I have yet to have a situation where I thought the bedding got too wet. When I see wetness, I just use my rake and mix it into the rest of the bedding. If there's more than a little by the doors, I just rake it out onto the ground.

Did you ever end up adding the flashing tape and/or did you ever figure something to do with the door seams? We had a big storm yesterday and the entire bedding on bottom level is soaking wet. I’m planning to caulk around all the metal joints. Will maybe try some flashing tape around the roof if I figure out how and then also need to figure out flashing of some sort on the run roof so it doesn’t all run right down the face of the coop door side.

I would figure out where the water is coming in. Like I said above, we haven't had any major issues with water getting in. Flashing tape is an AWESOME invention