Buying a Coop

[cariboonies]

Originally I had intended to diy some kind of moveable coop when we were ready to get chickens. But my mother has offered to buy us one for Christmas (we can pick it out) and I hate to turn down a good offer. Problem is, I have no idea where to buy one or which is any good.

We are a family of 3 (soon to be 4) on 10 acres, so I was thinking of getting about 20-25 chicks and expecting 5-10 hens. Anyone have recommendations on store-bought coops that can be moved around? For safety's sake, I intend to let them forage within electric fencing which will be moved every week or so.

Thanks so much for helping a newbie!

Edit: Forgot to mention we are in Canada and it gets fairly cold in our area... a few days of -40 cold. So we'd probably need to insulate anything we buy.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What's your budget? Most premade coops are too small and too expensive. Be careful too as they always severely overestimate how many birds can comfortably live in it. I personally would buy a decent sized storage shed and add windows, as well as everything else.

If you decide to buy, buy as big as possible. 10 chickens need at minimum 30-40 square feet for a coop, and 100 square feet for a run.

@aart will correct me if I'm wrong on those numbers.

 

[rosemarythyme]

A shed would honestly be the best option for that number of birds and the most cost effective, though it can't be moved around. More expensive would be to buy a trailer and then build a shed type structure on top of it, so that could be towed around as needed. Or there was someone on here who managed to build a true super tractor that could be dragged around via truck, but that's not something you could buy premade.

 

[aart]

I think you will put hard put to find a portable coop that will house 10 birds and be adequate to handle your winter climate.

 

[ChickenLeg]

As above posters said, for 10-12 chickens most premade portable coops are expensive, like $1000 expensive for quality. Cheap store bought premade coops just aren't worth the money IMO they are usually cheap quality.

Your local craigslist will be your best bet for finding anything local premade, or search if you have any amish or custom built coop builders near you through google.

For much cheaper you could get your mom to buy materials and build your own nice hoop coop or chicken tractor.

You can even build two of them for less than you could buy 1 premade quality coop. It would be easier to maneuver 2 coops and you could split up hens and have a different rooster covering each group.

Hope these thoughts were useful, Cheers!

 

[cariboonies]

Thanks so much everyone! Great advice. I had looked but couldn't find what I want at any kind of reasonable price...guess that's because it basically doesn't exist.

Think I'll ask my mum to buy us the birds themselves or something like that.

Edit: Maybe we'll modify one of the old sheds on the property first and then build a chicken tractor or semi-mobile coop later once we know what we're doing.