Help Me Decide

[FluffyandGinger]

I cannot for the life of me decide on a coop.... never having had chickens before I'm not sure what would be best for my two chicks.... what do you recommend? We have a large garden (on quite a slope) so I wouldn't be moving the coop around, and I plan on them having free range of the garden during the day.




Or

Thanks for your help!

 

[kaybee123]

Are you buying one of those or building yoir own? Do you plan to have more than two (chicken math)? Where do you live (weather wise)?

 

[FluffyandGinger]

We are in Australia, and 2 chicks will be all we will have. Unfortunately I'm not handy (and my husband is too busy) enough to build so I'm going to be purchasing a coop.

 

[kaybee123]

Then I would say cottage and as tall as you can get it.

 

[graciesmum]

I have that exact coop (bottom one) and what I
will say is, go for a bigger one I struggle to crawl in and out of it to clean the run and to catch them to check them over, so you would be better with one you can walk into, also chicken math does take over, you may say now that you only want 2 but so did I, and I am currently upto 9, and its only been 5 months, I never thought I would fall in love with my fluffy butt friends but I have, so the bigger the better in my opinion

 

[FluffyandGinger]

Thanks all for your help. Wow .... chicken math, great term - I can see how easily this would happen, they are such adorable pets.

 

[Ashburnham]

Never build a chook house you cant stand upright in. lol

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

If you get any snow where you are, they need to be able to stay indoors for extended periods of time- chicken tractors are not good for that.

If you have digging predators, you will want a hardware cloth apron along the bottom so they can't dig down.

Having to choose between the two, I'd choose the bottom one (however I would not prefer either one actually). Also, the coop kits are less durable than if you make it with lumber and sturdy materials yourself. The weather eventually destroys them.

I love shed coops!!!

 

[Diggidy]

I recently had the same delima. I bought a kit like the cottage you have on the bottom. Its not easy for me to clean and is flimsy. I wish I would have built a coop. If you are not crafty there are plenty of directions and videos online. If you really want to buy I strongly suggest you look at the cottage in person. Or check craigslist to see if someone in the area makes them.

 

[FluffyandGinger]

Thanks for all your help - I have bought a cottage style one (but different to the pic) and it's on the way in the post.

Now.... does anyone know about automatic door openers that aren't just the up and down ones. The doors open outwards on the one I'm getting. I don't think I'll need one urgently but it might be a good thing to have if I'm going to be home late from work.