Coop advice?

[Silexian]

So I don’t have my chickens yet, I’m still researching and getting prepared. I’m hoping to raise Australorps or Buff Orpingtons as I want chickens as pets as well as egg layers.

I was looking at some pre-fab coops, but I know you have to be careful because sometimes the capacity size advertised is aimed at the “factory farmer shove them all in a tight space” type, and I don’t want to do that to the poor things.

I’m looking to possibly get six chickens to start.

The two that I was looking at are these. I’m hesitating on the first one because the run is separate and costs about as much as the coop. The second looks well made and comes with the run as well.
I know they’d both have to be predator proofed and possibly
Insulated and I’m prepared for that.

coop one: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/overez-chicken-coop-medium?cm_vc=-10005
(Or the large one. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/overez-chicken-coop-large?cm_vc=-10005 The price on this one is….extreme but looks well made)

coop two: https://www.urbannorthern.com/colle...cken-coop-barn-red-dark-brown-and-clear-stain

thanks so much for any advice/

Used car ports make awesome coops. It doesn’t take much to enclose the coop area. I used the 3 rib metal sheets like the roof already had. I even added a feed/supply room and a brooder room. To the one I had at my previous place. It easily housed 20 chickens. I let them out every evening to free range also. The run area is already covered. Even after modifying it, to what I wanted. Welded wire for the run, foam board insulation for the roof, a window, door hardware, etc. The cost was about the same as buying a large OverEZ coop and building a run. I got quite a bit more space for the money.

 

[3KillerBs]

Used car ports make awesome coops. It doesn’t take much to enclose the coop area. I used the 3 rib metal sheets like the roof already had. I even added a feed/supply room and a brooder room. To the one I had at my previous place. It easily housed 20 chickens. I let them out every evening to free range also. The run area is already covered. Even after modifying it, to what I wanted. Welded wire for the run, foam board insulation for the roof, a window, door hardware, etc. The cost was about the same as buying a large OverEZ coop and building a run. I got quite a bit more space for the money.

This property came with a single-car carport that I wanted to use for a chicken coop.

Alas, my sister-in-law, with whom we share the property, wanted to park her car in it.

 

[Silexian]

This property came with a single-car carport that I wanted to use for a chicken coop.

Alas, my sister-in-law, with whom we share the property, wanted to park her car in it.

I feel your pain. There is a vacant property near me, with a double carport on it. I approached the owner about buying the carport. He said that he had plans for using it. Five years later. You can barely see it for the brush growing around it.

 

[Fashionfrank]

I have a large OverEZ and they are ridiculously expensive (although when I had to build a coop this spring, it turned out the lumber prices had tripled and even with free labor and some salvaged materials, it was still Way Too Costly). I bought OverEZ off used Craigslist for $600 and added my own run. My run's not lovely, but it's not too expensive either.

The OverEZ is incredibly sturdy. Most people want to add some ventilation, and there are several ways to do that. My coop, as seen in my avatar, honestly only houses six birds, and I think that's the most I would ever consider in it. It has two roosts that run the full length, so I guess that's where the sellers think they can convince people it will house Many More Birds. There are also five nest boxes, but only two ever get used. Chickens!?!

I figure about four square foot per full-sized bird. All of mine also have runs and/or get to run around in the yard all day.

I don't have any experience with the Urban Northern Coop, so no opinions there.

I just started a Tread asking about that very same company as I can’t find a lot of useful reviews about them but hey do appear to be better than all that cheap Chinese thin wood stuff out there