Did you ever buy a prefab coop? Give a review!

[BDutch]

If you ever bought a prefab coop, please give a review and tell the world what happened with it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/categories/coops-runs-housing.15/
Purpose: prevent others to make mistakes in choosing a coop.

 

[Brizi]

The Gambrel Roof XL (My Pet Chicken)

Pros
- It's about 18 sq ft inside.
- It's got about 8 ft of roosting space.
- The roosting bars are at a decent height.
- It has very roomy nesting boxes.
- The pull out tray is awesome if you're not using the deep litter method.
- It's one of the better priced prefabs for its size.

Cons
- It lacks ventilation, like most prefabs.
- It's definitely not large enough for the advertised 9-12 chickens. I personally wouldn't put more than 4-5 (standard-size) in here, even if you added a bunch of ventilation.


In Conclusion
This coop served its purpose for the time we had it. I'm sure that some modifications could be made to make it much better, like adding more ventilation. That said, I'm not sure that it's worth the $1,000 price tag. I got it for a cheaper price years ago. If you really want to go the prefab route, I'd strongly suggest checking places like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. For example, there's a guy in my area that sells nice 6x4 coops for $700. I wish I'd have bought that or built my own instead!

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I have and 8x8 and a 10x10 as coops, but we bought this prefab for our little bunnies short term.

NO NO AND NO


It came out of the box cracked. You could tell they did a quick and awful paint job. They stuffed it in the box so fast off the line the pieces mustve still been wet bc they stuck together. Never could I imagine putting even 1 chicken in there, let alone the 2-4 it suggests. I was shocked and surprised and the carelessness that went into building it. The hardwire cloth on the run wasn't even attached in some areas. It had like 2 feet of roosting space, the nesting boxes looked super cramped. (although we eliminated them for more space for our bunnies short term) We took it back. I didn't expect a lot but I expected better for sure.

 

[Red Horse]

I'm a first time chicken owner and I used info on BYC to help me get started, especially with predator proofing. I knew I wasn't going to convince my husband to build a coop for me because he didn't even want chickens, so I did the legwork and picked out the most solid prefab I could find. I knew that it would probably need some extra work and I wish I had thought at the time to take pics of what we did.

The manufacturer seemed to design the coop maybe based on other designs they saw or maybe what they thought a person would want, but without real husbandry in mind. The number of chickens they recommended it for was definitely not realistic (14). The roost bars were very skinny and uncomfortable also, and too high up. We had to make major predator proofing changes with everything from adding a second lock to each door, to welding feet onto the steel frame for stakes and attaching one solid continuous sheet of hardware cloth to the bottom of the run with an apron on the outside. We don't have bears or big cats so keeping out dogs and coyotes are the biggest things we have to worry about. We filled the inside with a couple tons of limestone screenings to weigh it down.

The ventilation isn't as bad as it looks since there are major gaps at the top of the roof (which also had to be covered in hardware cloth) and big ones around the nest box door, but the design renders the cute little glassed-in window unusable or there wouldn't be enough airflow inside. Using curtains or zip tying a thick piece of cardboard placed low enough over the window that there is a gap for airflow seems to be the way to go to keep blizzards from blowing directly on them... the window is facing North so unless we have crazy wind they're pretty sheltered even with the window uncovered.

There is a single flimsy latch holding the door closed that doesn't even lock, so I found these bike locks on Amazon that make it easy to cinch the door closed at both the top and bottom so raccoons can't squeeze their way in.

It's been almost a whole year and so far my only problem with it is that on the solid wall of the coop the wood has warped pretty bad. Not bad enough that anything can get in, but I see us having to replace the wood later this year. The metal frame is holding up great so far, although we do have to keep the hinges on the door greased well to keep them from rusting. We had our first major digging predator incident last night and they couldn't get between the bottom of the metal frame and the hardware cloth in several places. Raccoons keep unhooking the useless carabiner clip at the top of the coop door where the window would lock if we did use it and it makes me chuckle everytime I see it laying on the ground... the actual doors are padlocked.

 

[RoyalChick]

When I first got chickens it was following a school project. The kid built a coop to a design similar to many prefabs. It was 8’x4’ with an elevated coop and a ramp.
The kid got 4 chicks to live in the coop.
At the end of the school year I had agreed to take on the chickens and their coop.
I had no experience with chickens but even at 8 weeks old it was obvious that they needed more space to run around.
It was also obvious that I needed more space to interact and enjoy being with them.
I went all in and now they have a 14’x10’ hen house with four attached secure runs (10’x12’, 8’x12’, 4’x12’, 4’x12’), they also get to ‘free range’ most days within a roughly 350’ electric fence.
Watching their behavior I have concluded that I have finally hit their comfort zone in terms of the space they actually use.

 

[Perris]

I bought one of these
https://nestera.co.uk/
and am entirely happy with it; indeed, as the flock has grown I have bought two more of them.

My principal reasons for choosing this material, design, and manufacturer are
1. essentially no mites. The interior surfaces are smooth plastic, so there is almost no-where for them to hide. When red mites arrive (as they do, especially when it's located under a tree) they are easy to remove; see 2.
2. It is trivial to clean with water, no chemicals needed. The whole thing disassembles in about 15 minutes, can be power-washed, and reassembled.
3. It is mobile. I move them to new ground regularly, so there is no build up of disease in and around where the flock roosts and lays.
4. It is rat- and predator-proof, at least for the predators we get here. The thick plastic is at least as tough as the sort of wood I usually see used to make chicken coops.
5. It is made of recycled plastic, so good for the environment.
6. It holds its value so when I have to stop keeping chickens I will recoup most of the capital investment made at the start of my chicken-keeping journey. This make rarely appears on the second-hand market, and when it does, sells fast, despite being priced close to new.

 

[RoyalChick]

I bought one of these
https://nestera.co.uk/
and am entirely happy with it; indeed, as the flock has grown I have bought two more of them.

My principal reasons for choosing this material, design, and manufacturer are
1. essentially no mites. The interior surfaces are smooth plastic, so there is almost no-where for them to hide. When red mites arrive (as they do, especially when it's located under a tree) they are easy to remove; see 2.
2. It is trivial to clean with water, no chemicals needed. The whole thing disassembles in about 15 minutes, can be power-washed, and reassembled.
3. It is mobile. I move them to new ground regularly, so there is no build up of disease in and around where the flock roosts and lays.
4. It is rat- and predator-proof, at least for the predators we get here. The thick plastic is at least as tough as the sort of wood I usually see used to make chicken coops.
5. It is made of recycled plastic, so good for the environment.
6. It holds its value so when I have to stop keeping chickens I will recoup most of the capital investment made at the start of my chicken-keeping journey. This make rarely appears on the second-hand market, and when it does, sells fast, despite being priced close to new.

I think you also free range (do I have that right?).

 

[Perris]

I think you also free range (do I have that right?).

indeed, no run here. They only sleep and lay in the coops.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Aivituvin 78.4 inch coop

I regret buying this because for the nearly $300 I paid, I could have put that money toward a better coop, since I had to replace this one anyway.

This coop is made of extremely cheap wood that was even splintering as we screwed the pieces together. You can really only fit 2 standard sized birds in there, and even then it's not great because there is really nowhere to roost. The "roosts" are about an inch from the bottom and my chickens just preferred to sleep in the nesting box. That meant daily nest box cleanup for me, and a better possibility of mites/lice for my chickens since they weren't roosting.

The run is too small so I had to purchase a "run" (I know now it's better to just build all this stuff myself), which gave them more space but was an absolute piece of crap. The "man door" was barely big enough for an oompa loompa and I was always hitting my head. The door always got jammed.

Also, I'm happy we got a new coop before winter. This thing would have been way too drafty and I bet I would have seen more illness and frostbite. Especially with the lack of ventilation.

I'd say the only good things about the coop were the nesting box and the little spring loaded locks on the doors. Besides that, complete crap. Save yourself the money.

Advice I wish I would have listened to before buying this:
Don't rush into chicken keeping with one of these coops or you're just making more work for yourself down the road. Do it right the first time and be set for years to come.

 

[Shadrach]

I bought a prefab coop. It's been great. I've rolled it around most of the allotment now. Try doing that with yer average wooden prefab! Chicken love it but I do keep getting left notes from the chickens asking if a can put it the other way up.

I've got a lot to write about prefab coops (there's a surprise) and I have two almost completed articles on this very subject (yet another surprise; the almost complete bit anyway).