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

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Most of these prefabs are made in China. They only care about putting out a good enough ad to get the sale. If they improve the product, the price will have to go up, and people will likely opt to pay just slightly more for a locally-made coop. I don't see this going anywhere. Your intentions are good, OP, but I just wouldn't hold my breath on these companies.

Sincerely,
Someone who was dumb enough to buy a prefab coop and is now having to spend more money and time to make/buy a new coop

 

[Shadrach]

The UK, I believe, is more chicken loving than the US. I think y'all have better prefab offerings than we do. They may not be perfect, but they are better.
I wish we were more concerned with animal welfare, here in the US.

I don't believe Americans are any less caring about animal welfare than anywhere else in the world. America has a terrible habit of getting politics and religion mixed up with issues that might be better dealt with without these compliications.
America has animals welfare concerns but they are unfortunatley often seen as government or crooked private enterprise intefereing in peoples rights and one of those rights it seems is to treat the other creatures on this planet as they see fit.

 

[Shadrach]

Most of these prefabs are made in China. They only care about putting out a good enough ad to get the sale. If they improve the product, the price will have to go up, and people will likely opt to pay just slightly more for a locally-made coop. I don't see this going anywhere. Your intentions are good, OP, but I just wouldn't hold my breath on these companies.

Sincerely,
Someone who was dumb enough to buy a prefab coop and is now having to spend more money and time to make/buy a new coop

Why does it matter where they are made? It's the product that matters, not the place of manufacture isn't it?

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Why does it matter where they are made? It's the product that matters, not the place of manufacture isn't it?

I think it does matter in this case. China is notorious for products that don't cost much, and the way they maintain low costs is through use of inferior materials, low wages, and poor working conditions. Are there some really high quality products made in China too? Yes, of course. But we are talking about prefab coops here and many of these come from China and are made to be shipped across the world and still make a profit - hence cheap and lightweight materials.

 

[DickMidnight]

We could review more flimsy coops in that BYC section. Even if we have no experience on having one.
Seeing a flimsy coop in the shop or at a fair we can review it because we can predict what the problems will be just seeing it.

reviewing products you don't have personal experience with is a slippery slope.

while it doesn't quite satisfy the conditions for libel, it toes the line.

i could definitely see a company issuing a cease and desist to BYC for these kinds of reviews.

IMO it's not worth the potential headache.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I think a better solution than trying to make companies do better, is for someone to just make their own company and do better. But I think many of the people complaining here would then realize why things are the way they are. Companies like Over EZ made a high-quality prefab, but the price is pretty high. You just can't make a quality coop that can be mass produced and sold for as cheap of price as some of these coops we have been discussing are. Especially now. If someone wants to make their own company and prove me wrong, more power to ya.

 

[3KillerBs]

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

It is, but people new to chickens don't know any better.

That's why I said that consumer education is the only thing that will change the situation.

You just can't make a quality coop that can be mass produced and sold for as cheap of price as some of these coops we have been discussing are.

Exactly.

Think of the cost of a Carolina Coop.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I’m not sure what is the best, but I think the prefabs don’t ‘florish’ between the coops people build themselves.

A separate section with a picture, making it as important as chicken breeds, would get more attention and surely would grow in contributions too.

Great feedback and ideas, thanks!

We probably won't create a separate section for Pre-Fabs (for reasons mentioned earlier), but there are some other things that could be done:

1. Any "pre-fab" coops in the various coop sections could have a consistent "TAG" added (maybe "pre-fab"?) and then it would make finding them a little easier throughout the various size categories.
2. A new coop-article could be made with links to some of the "best" coop articles on different pre-fab coops
3. ... or both of those
4. ... or something else

 

[Shadrach]

I think it does matter in this case. China is notorious for products that don't cost much, and the way they maintain low costs is through use of inferior materials, low wages, and poor working conditions. Are there some really high quality products made in China too? Yes, of course. But we are talking about prefab coops here and many of these come from China and are made to be shipped across the world and still make a profit - hence cheap and lightweight materials.

I'll have to check where the coops are made in the list I posted above.
The coop I bought is made in Scotland. It isn't very well made. The material is good quality. It's the workmanship and to a lesser extent the design which while looking quite cool, makes me think it was designed by someone who doesn't know much about chickens, but knows how to make things out of recycled plastic. What is good is the idea. The coop is seriously strong. I did things to it getting it from the roadside into the run that no coop should ever be subjected to. If it had been a wooden coop it would have been matchwood by now.
The coop is very easy to clean, and I mean mite and pest free clean as well as the day to day stuff.
Once I've filled up the gaps where the side locating lugs go into the coop roof it will be waterproof and because of the rounded shape difficult for the wind to blow over.
I can see I'm going to end up writing an article on it.

Until fairly recently China has produced goods for the world under licence, or direct control of mainly Western nations, the US and Europe in particular. It's these companies that set the quality standards, not the Chinese. This has changed a lot in the last 20 years and more and more Chinese owned and controlled companies are now exporting to the US and Europe. I own a few of these hi tech, Chinese designed and manufactured products and they've performed very well at a fraction of the cost similar products made in the UK would cost.
I also own a similar hi tech product made in the USA by a small American company. It's an great product and somehow they managed to sell it in the British markets at a price near that of an identical Chinese version of the product. However most of the componants were made in China.

 

[BDutch]

reviewing products you don't have personal experience with is a slippery slope.

while it doesn't quite satisfy the conditions for libel, it toes the line.

i could definitely see a company issuing a cease and desist to BYC for these kinds of reviews.

IMO it's not worth the potential headache.

Many of us do comment on questions if someone who wants to buy a prefab (and posts a link to the prefab they might want to buy. It’s not that they tell untrue stories. They speak from experience in dealing with similar coops.

You are right if they would say the quality of the roof or wood is do lousy that it doesn’t last more than 1 or 2 years. Because thats quite impossible to see on spot in shop or a fair.

Some things are very obvious not right in some of these prefabs. Like the lack of ventilation. The size of the coop for normal sized chickens. The strange location of roosts. And sometimes the ridicule amount of nest boxes (like 4 nest-boxes in a coop for 4 chickens).