Coop / lumber$

[HiEverybirdy]

Very low opinion. This sort of coop is not only teeny; they're panned for being made of thin, fast-rotting wood. Big waste of cheddar, and you're still "building" (assembling) it when the pieces are delivered.

Some people are very happy with 4 chickens But you won't be happy with that coop. You can do so much more by being brave enough to DIY. If you search this site for terms like "lumber" or "creative coop," you can excavate all kinds of cool threads about affordable material and different coops.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/discount-lumber-at-stores.1436064/#post-23755473
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sky-high-lumber-prices-thinking-outside-the-box.1468656/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/creative-coops.1184660/#post-18695779

 

[CluckerFamily]

So we only wanted 4 chickens and we started with 6 (that’s the minimal poultry purchase from TSC in our state whether it be chicks, ducklings, etc). We lost 1 in the first few days and then 1 went to freezer came in January for making bad choices... so we have 4.
With that being said, my husband designed and built a tractor (which imo is really too small for the 4 we have, but I digress)

the website says the Gambrel Roof XL has these dimensions Hen house: 62" wide x 48" deep x 34" high. Assuming thats the rio coop portion it’s roughly 5ftx4ft so 20sqft. If you follow the 4sqft/bird rule you can fit 5 (unless they’re bantams)

for our duck house I managed to repurpose wood I found around our yard and in the shop left over from previous owners/tenants.

if you could find someone (craigslist, next door app, etc) that has scrap wood or pallets etc that they’re getting rid of free and/or cheap, you could make something better suited .

It would be less than 5 because you have to subtract the nesting boxes from the square footage (nesting boxes don’t count)

 

[PoultryCQ]

Thanks and from the education that I have gotten so far I don’t think I would start off with any less than eight,if you loose a few at the start and have a half a dozen that grow together that would do it for me.
im not so much “ afraid “of doing my own build but with the price of lumber I was hoping to find a balance but the trade off seems to always be low price=inferior product,build your own = high price of lumber

Lumber prices are high, but you may have luck kn Craigslist. Thats better than a small prefab coop in my experience. They are like a doll house, with thin wood that splits easily...

Prefab coops are a waste of money in my opinion, especially since chickens keep adding up. I recommend just go with something that would last. Prefab coops are only great for bantams or quail in my opinion, its just too small for standards. The photo tried to make it look larger than it is.

 

[PoultryCQ]

Very low opinion. This sort of coop is not only teeny; they're panned for being made of thin, fast-rotting wood. Big waste of cheddar, and you're still "building" (assembling) it when the pieces are delivered.

Some people are very happy with 4 chickens But you won't be happy with that coop. You can do so much more by being brave enough to DIY. If you search this site for terms like "lumber" or "creative coop," you can excavate all kinds of cool threads about affordable material and different coops.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/discount-lumber-at-stores.1436064/#post-23755473
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sky-high-lumber-prices-thinking-outside-the-box.1468656/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/creative-coops.1184660/#post-18695779

I agree, I got one before and it broke really quickly, first the door, then the ramp, it was a mess...I am so glad I invested in a solid coop.

 

[Salixx]

The lumber bubble has burst, give it another month or two and prices will be back to ‘normal,’ heck, they are already getting there - you can find some thinner sheets of OSB for under $50 again! In my area, HD had 2x4x8s for almost $8 a month ago and now they are less than $5.

Another option is building with pine shiplap. S/O and I were (and are) in the middle of remodeling an old small engine shop into a tiny home when the prices really skyrocketed. The shiplap ended up being cheaper than OSB. Get yourself a can or two of Olympic water guard and you’re good. When I build my duck house in a couple weeks I’ll be using the shiplap to make a miniature version of our house.

My chicken coop is made out of pallets and reclaimed material. I named it “Frankencoop.” It’s ugly as all get out and the interior looks like a jigsaw puzzle but it gets the job done. It’s still a work in progress too. I think once I am done with the exterior and put a coat of paint on it things won’t look quite so creepy shack in the woods.

 

[3KillerBs]

Rules of Thumb

• If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suitable for toy chickens.
• If it's measured in inches instead of feet it's too small.
• If your walk-in closet is larger than the coop-run combo you're thinking of buying think carefully about whether you have an utterly awesome closet or are looking at a seriously undersized chicken coop.
• If it has more nestboxes than the number of chickens it can legitimately hold the designer knew nothing about chickens' actual needs and it probably has other design flaws too.

How many chickens do you want? And where, in general, are you located? Climate matters.

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop,
• 10 square feet in the run,
• 1 linear foot of roost,
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

There are a lot of better options than those flimsy, little prefabs.

 

[citymeetscountry]

It would be less than 5 because you have to subtract the nesting boxes from the square footage (nesting boxes don’t count)

Doh! You’re right. I forgot that they weren’t protruding so would be included in the total sqft.

 

[Fashionfrank]

I dont recommend getting those. They dont last very long and dont fit very many birds, they are cheaply made as well.

Thanks for the advise I’m thinking exact,y what you just said !

 

[Fashionfrank]

Very low opinion. This sort of coop is not only teeny; they're panned for being made of thin, fast-rotting wood. Big waste of cheddar, and you're still "building" (assembling) it when the pieces are delivered.

Some people are very happy with 4 chickens But you won't be happy with that coop. You can do so much more by being brave enough to DIY. If you search this site for terms like "lumber" or "creative coop," you can excavate all kinds of cool threads about affordable material and different coops.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/discount-lumber-at-stores.1436064/#post-23755473
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sky-high-lumber-prices-thinking-outside-the-box.1468656/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/creative-coops.1184660/#post-18695779

Thanks for the response and links I’m already swayed away from that junk everyone is confirming what I suspected