Anyone have experience with The Briar?

[Markp1964]

It looks like just what we need-has anyone ever seen one up close?
http://www.greenchickencoop.com/Our_Coops.html

 

[canada-goose]

It looks nice. The run is a little silly but that's okay. For that price, you could get an Eglu Cube though!

 

[Georgiapea]

It's really cute. However.................that folding entry door might be difficult to navigate into and close behind you without chickens escaping. You'll be going into it several times a day to feed/water not to mention cleaning. Or you could put the feed/waterers close to the door and just lean over or kneel. I would probably lean over, lose my balance and fall headfirst into the thing, probably taking out the framing as I went!

Georgia in Alabama

 

[joletabey]

I like it, but would modify the door a bit- perhaps not having it full length, and having two feet or so that I stepped over? How tall are you?

 

[PortageGirl]

Well, they look pretty solid which is more than I can say for some of these kinds of deals. It says right out the roof is 3/4 inch plywood with roofing paper and shakes on it, that alone is better than most of the bare plywood tops I've seen on these, and the whole thing seems tight.

The pens are simple and while I could see how they might be a bit awkward, they're still utilitarian. I kinda disagree about ease of putting in feed etc, I think I'd stand within the door to do that which means you'd be ok balance wise, but I do agree about hens getting out very easily when you do so. I guess since you could only have a few hens at a time in any of these, it'd be easier to manage, but I only have 12 at the moment, and mine can be quite a handful if they want out the door badly enough. I don't normally care if mine get out, but in a city situation where you don't want escapees, of course they WOULD be making a break for it at every chance, that's just what they do!

The bigger thing that would worry me about the pen though is it looks fine for keeping the hens in, but really, a dog that wanted IN, would get in just by jumping against it hard enough.

I'm looking at these and thinking how easy it'd be to build these in a modular sort of way... Even with my very modest carpentry skills, I could do this I think, and I think I will use some of the concepts I see here to assemble a duck house which I want for this spring... there's really no way I'd pay this kind of money for one of these, that's just me though in my situation. If I had more money than time instead of the other way around in my case, I really might go for one though, they seem pretty ok to me!

Hope this isn't too rambly to be useful, I was sort of brainstorming while I typed.

 

[NGT ANGL]

I have the Victoria and had the A-frame run as well but have replaced it (the run) after less than a year (more on this in a minute).

First, the positives. I live in Virginia and the shipping of the house and run went very well via LTL carrier - it was cheaper to ship to a business than my rural home so I had it shipped to where my hubby works plus they had a freight dock and forklift which made it easier unloading. The people at Greenchickencoop are really wonderful to work with. They use "green" materials which appealed to me in many ways. The coop has very easy access and seems to be well vented. The craftsmanship is in my opinion, very nice. I ordered mine unpainted as I stained it when I got it.

Now the negatives. For shipping purposes, the run is really innovative - because of the hinges, it folds flat. For cleaning and upkeep, it was a bit hard to fit my 5'7", 150 lb. self through the small doorway! If I was trying to catch one of the chickens in the run, again it was difficult. I stained the coop/run and I believe the coop will be okay although I did shorten the legs and add some pressure treated lumber to the underside of the coop to be on the safe side and give it more longetivity (chickens can't get under the coop). Even though I stained the wood on the run, since it isn't pressure treated, it started rotting - it was sitting on dirt. I didn't order any predator protection so I had to dig a small trench around the run and bury wire.

All in all, I am very satisfied but if I did it again, I would only order the coop and build a run myself like I ended up doing anyway.

 

[elmo]

Um, where's the ventilation?

 

[NGT ANGL]

Right above where the nest boxes extend out from the back, there is a little plexiglass window that can be opened or shut. The roof peak also has a small space that would allow for some ventilation as well.