Coop From TSC

[DonyaQuick]

This is what's in my little coop right now. It is being used by a vision-impared rooster. He could probably deal with something a little higher at this point, but he likes this one so I'm keeping it for him. It's just some spare pieces of 2x4 I had that already had kind of rounded edges and I just put 2 long screws into each side to be an I-shape. You can see how much lower it is than the original roost brackets.

This is what's in my larger prefab. It came with very low roosts that I used for 3 years (you can see the brackets sticking up on the left side) but the absolute chonk daddy of a rooster that was using that setup actually snapped one of those in two LOL. Hence why I upgraded to a hefty 2x2. He has very long fluffy feathers so that's why this one is sitting on top of the 2x4s on the side instead of in line with the top of them. I used metal right angle brackets to hold it on (they're on the bottom outside edge so not visible here)

And this is one I used to use in the smaller prefab when it had young chickens in it that were less hefty: two lightweight bricks with a garden stake and zip ties. Please excuse the hiddeous degree of muck on this one - that's why it's not in a coop right now! It was last used in a chick brooder and I keep forgetting to clean it. You could use the original roost that the coop came with to do something like this design; just sand the edges to be smooth if they're hard right angles like mine were.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I'm going to assume that your chicks are not yet full grown.... ? Because I think you will call that "roost bar," a "stick," unless you have chicks or bantams. If you can replace it with a 2x4 you might have a chance at teaching them to roost. More importantly though, that roof is not going to make it. I have that coop, used as a jail/hospital under a metal woodshed roof because I know what happens with it gets wet. It's going to separate, mold, leak and disintegrate. It's not that these coops are unpopular on BYC, it's that you have many people who have been there and are trying to help you learn from their mistakes. When you say you can't/won't do any construction or modification, that's fine but definitely start thinking about what you can do creatively to improve upon it. Maybe even a slanted tarp protecting it from weather would help.

 

[The Coop Crew]

I'm going to assume that your chicks are not yet full grown.... ? Because I think you will call that "roost bar," a "stick," unless you have chicks or bantams. If you can replace it with a 2x4 you might have a chance at teaching them to roost. More importantly though, that roof is not going to make it. I have that coop, used as a jail/hospital under a metal woodshed roof because I know what happens with it gets wet. It's going to separate, mold, leak and disintegrate. It's not that these coops are unpopular on BYC, it's that you have many people who have been there and are trying to help you learn from their mistakes. When you say you can't/won't do any construction or modification, that's fine but definitely start thinking about what you can do creatively to improve upon it. Maybe even a slanted tarp protecting it from weather would help.

It’s not that I won’t make modifications. I’m not sure if you read the whole post but I’m obviously upset about these things. I contemplated posting because I didn’t want to have to defend myself.
We plan to build a coop. We wish we could do it now but unfortunately we aren’t rich and we have other expenses that take priority at the moment.
Our girls are 14 weeks. We have modified the roosting bar by sanding down/rounding the edges.
If we still have this coop when winter comes we plan to insulate with straw bales all around covered tightly with a tarp. Which should help with the water issue as well.
I guess the bottom line is, we are doing the best we can with what we have. I know my girls are happy and healthy. The breeder we bought them from actually stopped over the other day and commented on how good they look.
This is all a learning process and I’ve done HOURS of reading to educate myself.

 

[The Coop Crew]

This is what's in my little coop right now. It is being used by a vision-impared rooster. He could probably deal with something a little higher at this point, but he likes this one so I'm keeping it for him. It's just some spare pieces of 2x4 I had that already had kind of rounded edges and I just put 2 long screws into each side to be an I-shape. You can see how much lower it is than the original roost brackets.
View attachment 3912536

This is what's in my larger prefab. It came with very low roosts that I used for 3 years (you can see the brackets sticking up on the left side) but the absolute chonk daddy of a rooster that was using that setup actually snapped one of those in two LOL. Hence why I upgraded to a hefty 2x2. He has very long fluffy feathers so that's why this one is sitting on top of the 2x4s on the side instead of in line with the top of them. I used metal right angle brackets to hold it on (they're on the bottom outside edge so not visible here)
View attachment 3912537

And this is one I used to use in the smaller prefab when it had young chickens in it that were less hefty: two lightweight bricks with a garden stake and zip ties. Please excuse the hiddeous degree of muck on this one - that's why it's not in a coop right now! It was last used in a chick brooder and I keep forgetting to clean it. You could use the original roost that the coop came with to do something like this design; just sand the edges to be smooth if they're hard right angles like mine were.
View attachment 3912535

Thank you for this! I will get something figured out tonight! We have some spare wood around so I’m sure I can come up with something. I appreciate your kind words and all of your help

 

[DonyaQuick]

If we still have this coop when winter comes we plan to insulate with straw bales all around covered tightly with a tarp. Which should help with the water issue as well.

If you can keep those metal-to-wood joins along the side of the roof covered while leaving some airflow on the sides, it should really help the water issues that have been eating away at my roof. For my winterization I cut up clear shower curtains from the dollar store to make windbreaks and attached with zipties while leaving a decent sized strip of ventillated area around the top of the run area. I should've wrapped the roof somehow too...oh well. I perhaps could've done that with another cut up shower curtain to span it and overlap the edges while still letting the nest box lid open freely.

 

[The Coop Crew]

If you can keep those metal-to-wood joins along the side of the roof covered while leaving some airflow on the sides, it should really help the water issues that have been eating away at my roof. For my winterization I cut up clear shower curtains from the dollar store to make windbreaks and attached with zipties while leaving a decent sized strip of ventillated area around the top of the run area. I should've wrapped the roof somehow too...oh well. I perhaps could've done that with another cut up shower curtain to span it and overlap the edges while still letting the nest box lid open freely.

That’s a good idea too! I’m hoping we can have something else built by winter
We also don’t plan to live where we are much longer (hopefully) so that plays into all of this too.

 

[KimbosKluckers]

I'm going to assume that your chicks are not yet full grown.... ? Because I think you will call that "roost bar," a "stick," unless you have chicks or bantams. If you can replace it with a 2x4 you might have a chance at teaching them to roost. More importantly though, that roof is not going to make it. I have that coop, used as a jail/hospital under a metal woodshed roof because I know what happens with it gets wet. It's going to separate, mold, leak and disintegrate. It's not that these coops are unpopular on BYC, it's that you have many people who have been there and are trying to help you learn from their mistakes. When you say you can't/won't do any construction or modification, that's fine but definitely start thinking about what you can do creatively to improve upon it. Maybe even a slanted tarp protecting it from weather would help.

Oh yeah that’s the first modification we did too. Trash the roof it came with and made our own (hubby is a roofer by trade)

 

[Chicken Heel]

I have bought three of these TSC coops for primarily keeping hens with chicks in them. As someone noted above, the plywood over the run part of the assembled coops rots fairly quickly. And the hardware on the lid over the nest box area is flimsy as hell. Other than that, they work great.

 

[The Coop Crew]

I have bought three of these TSC coops for primarily keeping hens with chicks in them. As someone noted above, the plywood over the run part of the assembled coops rots fairly quickly. and the hardware on the lid over the nest box area is flimsy as hell. Other than that, they work great.

Sounds like I’ll need to do something for the roof for sure. I’ll have to see what my husband and I can come up with when he gets home from work.
I’m just ready to build our own

 

[Chicken Heel]

I have bought three of these TSC coops for primarily keeping hens with chicks in them. As someone noted above, the plywood over the run part of the assembled coops rots fairly quickly. And the hardware on the lid over the nest box area is flimsy as hell. Other than that, they work great.

One more thing, the last one I purchased a year or so ago came with two vents in the housing section which was a needed change. It is also holding up better from the plywood rotting standpoint than the first two but tropical storm Debby's pending deluge will most likely change that quickly. But the hardware on the lid over the nest box came loose after only a few weeks.