Amazon.com Pre-Fab Coops

[heyheypaula]

Welcome to the wonderful world of raising backyard chickens. May I offer some advice from an incredible salesman, Zig Ziglar. It is always better to spend a little bit more than you can, for you will get something a little bit better. You see, the coop you are looking at is very attractive from a price standpoint; $280.00 including shipping. However, you will be restricted to two , full size chickens. The run is terribly small as well.The history of these imports having leaking problems is well documented. You will need to reinforce the structure after a year or two. Is the hardware cloth "chicken wire" or 1/2' hardware?
My suggestion is to look at : My Pet Chicken who has 3-4 different manufacturers who are reputable. They have a model similar to the one you are looking at, but look at the difference in theirs and yours.

Also, look at Green Chicken Coop, Horizon Structures, Sheds Unlimited, Coops 4 U (New York),Clark Farm (Ct.) Agway, etc.Yes, you may spend twice the $280.00, but you will have a quality product. We all try to save on purchases and get the best product for the money, but sometimes spending a little is like throwing it away because you may need to replace the product soon after the initial purchase.

Thank you for all of your suggestions! I will definitely be looking into them. If I do buy the amazon coop I would like to reinforce the structure immediately, preferably as I am assembling it. Do you have any suggestions on how I could go about doing that? If I had known better I would have asked for plain cash as opposed to gift cards for Christmas! I am kicking myself now a little, haha.

 

[heyheypaula]

Hello HHP.....

I was looking at the same coop on Amazon as you are; for me the price is right. I've been looking around for coops on Craig's List and there are a few, but here in Colorado they are pretty darned expensive, plus no one seems to want to deliver. I have no way to get a coop home. I am a 'handy' kind of gal so with the help of my son I can put it together, but yes, the run does appear to be a bit small. I have a fairly large sized backyard but also have a variety of predators (stray cats, hawks, skunks and owls...haven't seen any raccoons....YET) so I want them in an enclosed run.

I am only going to have 3-4 hens, so this size may work. I have been told that although it gets pretty cold here, the chickens will do fine, staying huddled together. You want to watch their combs however as they can be vulnerable to frostbite....(so I've been told).

I do have the good fortune to have a neighbor that lives up on the corner from me (I live just outside the city limits but in a suburban area) and he has 2 hens and a huge tom turkey. His name is Dave and he builds coops!! He has offered to build one for me for a reasonable price and work with me on payments. WHOOT!

So I think that's the route I'm going to go. He's going to build me a "tractor" coop so I can move it if necessary. I have a 17' x 6' dog run (no dog) that I am going to fortify with chicken wire and they can jaunt around in there....I just have to figure out how to join the coop to the run as it is made of chain link fencing.

Good luck!!

You're so lucky! I would also need an enclosed run, I am going to try and figure out how to build a larger one I can attach to the existing structure. Maybe if I can save up a little bit more money in the next month or so I could buy a coop off of craigslist or have someone make it for me but right now it seems like the best solution is just to fix up the amazon coop. So far my plan is to paint it, add shingles and maybe add insulation to the inside of the coop itself and then build a larger run to either place around it or add to the existing run. I have a couple months to keep doing research and figure it all out luckily. Thanks for your input!

 

[1muttsfan]

General recommendations for standard fowl coop and run space is 4 square feet of floor space per bird of coop, and 10 square feet of run.If you provide 4 square feet of coop space per chicken, that coop is big enough for 2 standard fowl. Considering the size of the coop and run together, trying to squeeze more birds in there is going to crowd them, increasing the risk of picking and other health issues, and make the setup harder to keep clean.