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

[JacinLarkwell]

I have caved and ordered a dinky prefab. :/
My kid is bringing home at least one chick from school in 2 weeks.
View attachment 3438351
My big diy coop that we made sans actual plans/skills is in need of serious first season revision. I don't want to detract from the main money sink.

Hoping it isn't a total turkey and that it will go in the run and be sufficient for integration/isolation with a minimum of modification.

I'm going to elevate it for sure and probably do some work with hardware cloth.
And of course buy more fencing bits so I can make a run within a run to keep a separation for a month or 3.

Actually a cute coop

 

[TimonHens]

Actually a cute coop

Ya, if I ever actually get the large coop functionally done the outside would also come out to green and white.
And I appreciated the acknowledgement that it was a 2 bird coop in specs.

I think the most frustrating is the amount of extra work to get all of them up to safe standards, nevermind personal preference for cleaning or roosting.

Hopefully the kid doesn't volunteer too many of her classmates birds!

 

[rosemarythyme]

My kid is bringing home at least one chick from school in 2 weeks.

2 or 3 chicks would be better, to make it easier to integrate them into the flock later.

The prefab should be fine for chicks through the integration period, so I wouldn't sweat that part of it.

 

[BDutch]

I have caved and ordered a dinky prefab. :/
My kid is bringing home at least one chick from school in 2 weeks.
View attachment 3438351
My big diy coop that we made sans actual plans/skills is in need of serious first season revision. I don't want to detract from the main money sink.

Hoping it isn't a total turkey and that it will go in the run and be sufficient for integration/isolation with a minimum of modification.

I'm going to elevate it for sure and probably do some work with hardware cloth.
And of course buy more fencing bits so I can make a run within a run to keep a separation for a month or 3.

I do hope your kid is bringing two. The teachers should not give away one single chick to any scholar, because they are meant to live in groups.

 

[TimonHens]

The teacher knows we have birds at home. I'd be more worried about other kids taking home their lonely only. Especially since the since school spans at least 3 different zoning bands. How many more might be going home to an Amazon coop?

 

[laboroflove]

We have a coop we purchased from tractor supply. It works for our four bantams but we did buy a fence extension so they would have more room to roam.

 

[fuzzi]

Was in Lowe's last weekend, and saw a couple chicken doll coops on display.

I just checked their website, the dimensions of one of the coops are:

Actual Height (Inches)
11.5
Actual Length (Inches)
65
Actual Width (Inches)
23

 

[SueT]

This is the ecoFLEX Fontana Chicken Barn. It is made from a wood polymer blend, and will be rot-proof. It's quite sturdy. Got it from Amazon For about $150. You do have to put it together, pieces fit together like Lincoln Logs. We added door latches and we put mesh in the corner vents. We also put in split log pieces for roosts. I use it for broody hens, as the chicks can go in and out easily. The door doubles as a ramp. We've used it for isolation of an injured bird as well. I've had it 3 years now, completely dry inside, and no sun damage.
I like it a lot but it is very small. If it were your only coop, I'd say 3 or 4 bantams max. 2 Standard size chickens.

• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 34 x 47 x 24.5 inches; 58 Pounds

 

[TimonHens]

This is the ecoFLEX Fontana Chicken Barn. It is made from a wood polymer blend, and will be rot-proof. It's quite sturdy. Got it from Amazon For about $150.

Good to know that it has worked for your bantams and those modifications look reasonable. I didn't check your geography tho.

After my first winter I really wonder about balancing ventilation with insulation on subfreezing days.

 

[TimonHens]

Well, no need to worry about balancing ventilation with winter for my prefab. It is entirely non existent!