coop stress: will this work for 4?

i'm not sure you want to buy a coop with an attached run. That's a mighty small run, unless you plan on letting them free range during the day. With the area you're going to be using, it would be easy to add chain link fencing panels on the remaining side, as others have mentioned. Then put hardware cloth or corrugated roof panels over the top.

i'm not very handy, and the thought of building a coop was beyond me. But i can do little things, modifications. The first coop i bought was the chick-n-barn. It was about $325. But i needed to add a floor, and then raised it on posts about 3 feet to create more room for my girls. It's pretty flimsy, but we don't get too harsh a winter here.

After that, the rest of my coops are kid's wooden playhouses from craigslist, Lowes, or ToysRUs. Much better construction that most of the prefab chicken coops you can buy on Amazon or ebay, or in feed stores. You still need to add a floor, 1/2" hardware cloth over the windows, latches on the door, roosts if you have birds that perch at night, and prefab next boxes. i did score an incredible playhouse on craigslist built by a contractor for his kids for only $400. It was built like a regular house, with flooring, dual pane windows, the whole nine yards. That is my favorite coop.
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Here is the last playhouse i bought, from ToysRUs: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4400914 It's only $250 and free shipping. i was using for my ducks until just recently when i moved them out to a bigger coop and pen. It has a large back window that needs to be covered in the 1/2" hardware cloth, and then for winter you would want to cover it in plastic, and you would need to add a floor. But it's fairly sturdy and would easily house 4-6 standard size chickens.
 
we were going to order one of those coops online but when we saw them in person they were NOT what we wanted. Alot smaller and the quality is not great. We are using alot of materials around the house like old fenceboard to build a bigger and better coop and run.


i am always amazed that they say 3-4 full size chickens can fit in the box when they are actually quite small.
 
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I love this playhouse. Is it too big to raise it up off the ground? Do you have a picture of what you did to yours?

I can make modifications; that's fine. I actually already have a playhouse that I let the babies run around it outside when it's warm. But it's plastic and seems like it will be cold in winter? I think I'd rather have a wood one. My daughter, owner of said playhouse, might agree...
 
i actually haven't done much with it, as i was keeping ducks in it until just a couple days ago. i just set it on our back patio and put hardware cloth over the windows and locks on the door and shutters. But now that i plan on using it for chickens, i will put a floor in it, low roosts, and nest boxes. i'll be keeping silkies in there, so won't raise it, but you could. i would think you could use 2" x 2" posts on each corner to lift it up. It is much better quality than the chick-n-barn and cheaper, too.
 
Oh, and on the plastic playhouses, those don't really work well for a chicken coop. Too cold in the winter, too hot in the summer, and i would think it would be difficult to secure hardware cloth over the windows and add latches. We have one that we gave our goats to play in. Now it's in our duck pen for them to hang out in. They don't sleep in it, they have a secure coop. But it's a fun playhouse for them.
 
As other's have mentioned those coops/hutches as seen on Amazon and other places are not of lasting quality. I have two rabbit hutches, one is a Ware, the other by Trixie. They will NOT stand up to being out in the weather. The wood is cheap and light weight. My two are in a barn otherwise they would have fallen apart the first winter. Unless you will have a roof over it you will be spending the money only to have to replace it very soon.
 
I found a very good book on the subject. Try this out.

3dc23bprl42x6n7bshg9lcnfaz.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=NO1 (Copy & paste it, don't forget to put 'http' first)

It is a great resource for anything chicken, and includes many coop designs of various sizes.
Following this book and video guides will give you a much better and long lasting coop.
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Is that your garage in the picture? Looks to me that 1 easy solution until you upgrade or change would be to put them in the back of your garage--they only need a small part of it for 4 chicks. Then I would make a "pop door" in the back to open up into a 10x10x6 foot dog run (or chicken run.) Then add the 1/2 inch hardware cloth to the sides 3 feet high and you have your coop. Then I would put chicken wire or hardware cloth over the top so that hawks couldn't get them.
 
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I'd also like to see pictures of how you converted this! It's cute.
 

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