How to improve the coops4you.com portable coops?

[hcammack]

I just looked at the website again and I am not sure that greg and cheryl run the company any more the contact info is Ken Bell ! HMMMM

 

[greginshasta]

Well, it's Ken Bell, and he is a business associate of their. I did some work on that web site and that is the guy who first talked them into going online. The name was there long ago. I'm sure it is still Greg and Cheryl.

 

[hcammack]

ok thank you

 

[brookwoodpat]

I looked at their coops when I was looking for an inexpensive tractor (not wanting to spend 1300$ for one of the broughton ones). To me, theirs was not something that looked like it could be left out at night in the yard -- it seemed to me a racoon would make short shrift of it. Or a snake could get under it. And there were so many "add ons" I grew dizzy trying to calculate the final price. They might consider bundling some options. And truthfully, it just looked like a box with some wire screening and a perch in it that could be easily made by anyone with no special skills. I ended up buying the chick-n-barn, and while i'm not completely happy with that -- I wish it had a floor kit, and a tractor frame kit, with wheels, so you could roll it around the yard -- it seemed like a better deal.

I do wish someone would put out a lightweight, reasonably priced and attractive tractor in the US. There seem to be so many choices in the UK, and we have very little here.

 

[greginshasta]

<<<me, theirs was not something that looked like it could be left out at night in the yard -- it seemed to me a racoon would make short shrift of it. Or a snake could get under it. >>>


I think I can easily reassure anyone that this unit is heavy enough that it's not going to be successfully attacked as you suggest.

Is it box-like? Yep. Is the chick-n-barn cuter? Yep. Is the chick-n-barn better built? Not so sure about that. Greg uses good materials on these.

Could it be easily replicated in the same form as the production models? I'm not so sure about that. I DO have good construction skills and unless I simply had more time than money, I'm not sure I'd want to build this as an alternative to buying it.

Relative to the chick-n-barn, which I have seen in stores up in Medford, and assuming you add the "yard" to the chick-n-barn - this is probably comparable - at least in terms of floor space. There's a perch, a nesting box, an easy-access door to get eggs, and an area for them to walk around in. And when the chickens are old enough to free-range, the door at the end will let them come and go. The "tall" version is probably what I would want if I were to do it again so that the girls would have more head room.

And again, relative to the c-n-b, I think this is actually wider. It's certainly no lighter, and having the wheel and handle-bar, that's a nice feature.

So let's say someone was willing to distribute a tractor, such as those available in the UK. Which? Have a link?

 

[brookwoodpat]

I went back and looked at their website again. And experienced the same frustration, in trying to decide if I wanted to order one. It isn't very complete. It mentions a predator kit for $20 extra, but there's no information on what this is. It mentions an accessory door, but no mention of what that is. It doesn't show pictures of all their models. It claims there are yard extensions for all models (heights) but only seems to show prices for the 2' height one, not the 3'. It doesn't say if the long tall, for example, has a yard extension, or if you buy the wheel kit, if you can move the long tall, with the extension, with the wheel.

The smaller one doesn't look big enough for the number of hens (five?) that is claimed it can hold. I don't know, as I'm not very knowledgable about that.

A peaked, angled or at least pitched roof, with some sort of waterproofing cover would not only be much more attractive but also seems like it would be much more functional, if not necessary, for rainy climates. And would it really add that much more to the cost to put some sort of angle on the roof?

I confess, when I first looked at these, I thought -- these may be all right for their climate, which may not be so rainy, or may not have raccoons, but I didn't get a feel that it would be very predator resistent (esp since they sell a predator accessory, but don't say what it is for) or that the bare flat top would be good in non arid climates. I'm not saying that it is or isn't, just that, looking at the website, and the item, it didn't seem so to me. OTOH, a complete tractor is a nice idea and having just bought 5 more chicks, I need one. I just wished their website was more complete, addressed some of these reasonable concerns, and that the condos were just a little nicer looking.