Am I Making a Mistake?

[Glitterik]

I am purchasing a small tractor coop that I thought would be all I needed ... but from lurking through this discussion group I see it may be too small for my four standards. The tractor coop I am thinking of is the small red and white one (second from top) at
http://www.mobilechickencoops.com/Coop_Designs.html.
If I get this coop rather than the next bigger one, I could turn the scrap of yard behind my guest house into one big daytime run (about 25' x 6') for use during the day, and use the tractor coop for nights, inclement weather and lazy mornings. Plus, I think the larger coops may be too hard for me to move myself and to top it all off my yard is TINY - divided into two with a guest house on one side and a laundry room and patio slab on the other. Please weigh in with suggestions as to whether this will be adequate if I add a run. Got to decide fast - delivery is in 2 or 3 weeks. Yikes. dianne in Houston

 

[DarkWolf]

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At the size stated, it's big enough for 2.25 birds. This estimating that the actual coop section is 3x3, since it only gives the total measurement of the coop and run as 3x6.

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I'm wondering about even moving this thing by yourself. It seems very heavy built and might be quite the chore to move, unless you have a riding mower that can pull it.

Being in Houston, I'm guessing the winter weather isn't that bad? No clue what you all get.. But if the weather outside isn't bad, you can squeeze in more birds since they will be less likely to "hang out" in the coop except for rainy weather.. and when they do go to sleep.

The cost surprisingly isn't that bad.. I'd seen those things over priced into the 8-900 range for about the same thing.

If you have a place in your yard which you can convert to a run, I would personally just set that up and find a building that could act as a full time coop, as apposed to a tractor.

Since they are close to you, I'm assuming you actually went to see the shop and coops? Did you try and move one?

I would really recommend checking it out in person to see how hard it is to move if you're interested in them.

 

[Glitterik]

Thanks for weighing in! The ground footprint for the coop is 6x3, and the actual enclosure is above that. But that is, of course, very small for 4 chickens - 18 square feet of scratching space. I have that useless strip of property behind the guest house that would be perfect for a chicken run - no one wants to go back there and mow, etc. I like the idea of a tractor being my "permanent" coop so if necessary I can move it. Maybe I should just spring for the 8x4 coop? That's 9 ft. each for 4 standards underneath, plus the enclosure/nests above. It might be cheaper than adding the additional run. I can always add it later, but with the small coop I would have to add it asap. It really doesn't matter whether I can move a tractor myself. There are lots of great teenagers in my neighborhood. I can always bribe the neighbors with eggs ....