Coop sizes for purchased coops

[LoneCowboy]

Ok, so I have a question. I'm building a coop to sell. It's 4x4 and I figure it will hold 4 chickens. But I was looking at coops for sale, to kinda get an idea of what I can charge and they are selling coops that are 4x4 and saying they can handle 10 chickens. How do the get away with that? Then I saw another on Ebay that's way way smaller and they say it can handle 3/4 bird. Every coop I've seen for sale, says it can handle more birds than it possibly can even if they were bantams. Seems like false advertising or animal cruelty.

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, that bugs me, too. I don't know why they'd say that, but they do all the time. Somewhere, I think in the UK, they were selling 4x6 coops and they said it would hold 20 hens or some ridiculous number. Here's one: http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/wycombe.htm

 

[Scrambled Egg]

You know it's all about making a buck for them, not at all about making a proper habitat. I posted pics of mine on the "post your coop pics here" post somewhere on this board --but we used alot of 2x4's,shingles, chicken wire and corrugated plastic, including the extension, walk-in part we just added with the nesting boxes, we have $800.00 - 900.00 in ours, easy - maybe more. If you are making a nice one that is realistic size for the number of chickens, you should charge for your materials and your labor. Someone wanting a good place for their chickens to live will pay it. Good Luck.

ps--maybe you should make some portable pen/runs with wheels too -- I need one of those myself, haha!!

 

[LoneCowboy]

I've actually made a chicken tractor. Thought the girls would like to get out, but they don't want to be in the tractor. I've been letting them free range now when I'm out there.

I'll be doing some meat birds in the spring, so that will be perfect for them.

My coop is 4 X 4 easy access, easy clean. the roof lifts up, the back drops down. Nesting box on the outside for easy access. All double wall construction, Roof is insulated. It'll be up off the ground by 1', Has a roost, dropping pits. the windows will have shutters that slide. Exterior paint. Light tan/yellowish, white trim, green door and shutters. It's looking really good. I'm waiting until it's done to post pictures. It's a lot nicer than the ones I see that are 1/8" plywood single wall construction and they are charging an arm and a leg for.

I guess, I'll have to post it and get everybody's input. I'm building it to help pay off some of our chicken bills, so I'd like to get a fair price. I've got a lot of time into it too. So I don't want to sell myself short.