Buying Coop - Need Advice

[CityChook]

Pineapple - there are several dog house conversions on this coop forum. Do a search. I thought this one was quite impressive -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=341286

 

[sharol]

I notice that the Binsters are made of cedar. Would that be a problem? I know chickens can't handle cedar litter, how about the walls and stuff. This from a newbie with no chicks until Wednesday. Just asking.

 

[my3chickens]

I just went through the same thing a couple of months ago. I was frantically searching for a chicken coop for my chicks who were quickly growing and ready to go outside.

I don't have a handy significant other in my life or a handyman so I ended up purchasing a small coop very similar to the playhouse coop (under small coop designs). It fits 3-4 chickens and has an enclosed run attached, $650.00. The one thing I am soooo glad I did was purchase one that I don't have to bend over to clean and can actually stand up in the run when I walk in, makes things much easier.

The one you are looking at does seem a little pricey..

Choosing a coop was much harder than finding a house to purchase!! Best of Luck...

 

[pdxblossom]

For the rainy Northwest cedar holds up really well. From what I understand, cedar is bad for chickens if the cedar comes from the juniper family - which is what cedar shavings are made of. The cedar lumber is a different variety and is fine for chickens. Also, cedar lumber releases much fewer gases - while shavings release a ton and the chickens could very well eat them. I've driven several builders crazy asking about why they use cedar. It wasn't until I found one who had a very solid explanation that I finally decided cedar was fine.

We're having a local Coop tour next weekend. I'm gonna go look and see what suits my tastes and budget. My two neighbors each have chickens. One has a coop that I'd be perfectly happy to live in myself. The other coop looks like a Beverly Hillbillies reject and I have to stare at it from my kitchen window. I'm so tempted to buy them a $800 coop so I don't have to look at it anymore. Kidding. But I AM going to plant a scrim of bamboo to block it from my view.

Then next weekend is the big Portland Tour de Coops. I'll go to see the great coops and gardens, get ideas and hoepfully pull the trigger.

I can't believe how much time I've spent second guessing the coop decision. I want my girls to be happy hens! They are so darned cute. A co-worker asked me today "Seriously, what is with the chickens?" I couldn't really answer without sounding like a crazy woman.

 

[hokankai]

Hooray for Portland! We're in the planning stages of our coop, but I don't think we're using cedar, just because it's more expensive

. I think we're just going to seal everything and paint it to protect it from the NW rains, haha.

 

[DerbyChook]

For what it is worth, my friends just built a similar coop and spent $500 on supplies alone, so the coop you linked to is probably not overpriced when you consider the amount of labor that went into it.

 

[CityChook]

PDX, I just took a look at the link with the photos of the coop in question. It does seem a little on the small side, but looks to be well built and uses high quality materials. It's quite amazing what lumber costs these days. And cedar - gads, I don't really even want to consider that one.

Anyways, last year we built a coop for a friend (4x4 coop, 4x8 run) that has a similar playhouse design. We used pressure treated lumber, 2x4 welded wire, R13 insulation, an upcycled window, asphalt roofing and hardwired electricity and we had $600 in materials into the project. I don't think that $800 is unreasonable. You'll want to check into how you're going to transport it as it will be remarkably h.e.a.v.y.

When we built our coop, I genuinely believed that it could be done for $3-400, but I was too picky about how I wanted it to look and perform. And for the most part, we bought retail materials. Let's just say that it ended up costing considerably more than $400...

Playhouse Design:

My coop: