How to make (the factories) improve the flaws in the DIY chicken coops. 🤩

[janiedoe]

Neither inches nor feet make much sense to people who aren't American. Most people use centimetres or metres. This map shows the three nations still on the imperial system of measurement in red and those using metric in blue.

Please, please don't make me learn metrics at my age.
We Americans just have to be difficult, I guess.

 

[NatJ]

Please, please don't make me learn metrics at my age.
We Americans just have to be difficult, I guess.

Very basic summary: 100 centimeters = 1 meter = close to 1 yard
(Americans use a yardstick to measure some things, other people use a meter stick which is just a little longer.)

That's been accurate enough for almost everything I've ever had to convert

 

[janiedoe]

Very basic summary: 100 centimeters = 1 meter = close to 1 yard
(Americans use a yardstick to measure some things, other people use a meter stick which is just a little longer.)

That's been accurate enough for almost everything I've ever had to convert

My cell calculator converts. As long as there's no test, I'll be ok.

 

[BDutch]

I don't understand exactly to whom you'd be giving this feedback.... If you order a coop from a big re-seller like Amazon or Wayfair, they are the 3rd point of contact. The origination of the coop is a factory in China. Then it's comes to the Seller and the Seller sells via the re-seller. So while it's a nice thought and you can certainly write reviews on the Re-Seller's website, I see it going straight into the ether. On the flip side if you find a coop that's made in the US and likely is not sold by a re-seller but instead the maker, THEN yeah, but in general those coops are already better than the coops I think you're targeting.

Even if all the poor prefab coops come from China, there is a shop or a chain store that buys and sells these coops. If a lot of people criticise the coops and give a reasonable feed-back of the flaws and how to improve the coops , to the shop were they bought it, it might help.
The chain stores often have or can have contact with the factory abroad. The buyers in big chain stores can demand to adjust the ventilation, the hinges, the roof or whatever is the saddest part of the sell.

You also can address the flaws in the info in the advertising about the size and the number of chickens that should / can fit in. Especially in online feed back.
I do hope it might help to reward stars and feed back on the online platforms and shop platforms. If people read the evaluations of the lesser quality coops , they will sell less, the good and more honest ones will sell better. (I hope).

 

[BDutch]

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/373419728969
https://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/e...8&pm=1&ds=0&t=1659327436000&ver=0&cspheader=1

Would this be an example of a bad coop? Does This company need to be emailed? If they made them properly, they could be the possible reseller here on this forum ?

As other people told you. It’s too small. Maybe its big enough for rabbits. And might be okay for a bantam broody with young chicks?

BYC is not a reseller. But we might have influence on the resellers as a huge community??

 

[BDutch]

I have noticed that the plastic prefabs seem to be more solidly built than the common wooden ones -- especially the ones Americans can buy at Tractor Supply and like chain stores.

I’m not sure about this. I bought a cheap wooden prefab about 11, 12 years ago. It needed a new larger roof after 3-4 years . I made the coop bigger for more bantam chickens. I painted the wood with a preservative.
Making adjustments was quite easy. Wood is a good building material that is much more sustainable as new plastic.
The recycled plastic is a better choice as new plastic of course. But there are still two things that make me choose for wood over recycled plastic:
1 - recycled plastic coops probably will wear out quickly in the sun, rain , heat and freezing cold (outside climate ),
2 - I don’t like it if small plastic particles come into the environment. This will happen if the plastic gets older.
3 - the looks

 

[3KillerBs]

I’m not sure about this. I bought a cheap wooden prefab about 11, 12 years ago. It needed a new larger roof after 3-4 years . I made the coop bigger for more bantam chickens. I painted the wood with a preservative.
Making adjustments was quite easy. Wood is a good building material that is much more sustainable as new plastic.
The recycled plastic is a better choice as new plastic of course. But there are still two things that make me choose for wood over recycled plastic:
1 - recycled plastic coops probably will wear out quickly in the sun, rain , heat and freezing cold (outside climate ),
2 - I don’t like it if small plastic particles come into the environment. This will happen if the plastic gets older.
3 - the looks

The common wood prefabs in the US are extremely flimsy. Sometimes just thin pressboard that will quickly succumb to humidity and weather.

 

[21hens-incharge]

The common wood prefabs in the US are extremely flimsy. Sometimes just thin pressboard that will quickly succumb to humidity and weather.

Yup. So soft you could carve it with your fingernail. They tend to be extremely thin wood too. I have seen many under 1/4" thick or under 6.35mm.

 

[MaryJanet]

The common wood prefabs in the US are extremely flimsy. Sometimes just thin pressboard that will quickly succumb to humidity and weather.

Yup. So soft you could carve it with your fingernail. They tend to be extremely thin wood too. I have seen many under 1/4" thick or under 6.35mm.

I'm surprised people buy these flimsy coops. Surely it's wasted money?

 

[21hens-incharge]

I'm surprised people buy these flimsy coops. Surely it's wasted money?

It is. The unaware first time chick buyers see the cute design and the tiny chickens in the bins and don't know what a properly sized or ventilated coop look like.
They are the unfortunate ones who buy them.