Hi Onstad1
Welcome to the forum and to chickens...you have such fun ahead of you!!!
Still trying to figure out just what you lost...LOL----
IMO your idea about a kit or prefab chicken coop is smart. Not everyone is a construction expert and...not everyone had the time to build it from scratch. There are a LOT of really nice coops, coop kits etc. that are on the market. Just think if everyone on BYC bought a coop kit--we would have room for more chickens, and the economy of the USA would thrive and ....the ripple effect would be tremendous, and what we spent would come back to us--- but I digress.
I have plastic kits -- Eglu by Omlet. I love that they are so easy to clean, I can assemble them easilyby myself, they are insulated, and the chickens are definitely, undoubtedly safe.
I got one of them on
EBAy, but -- they don't come up often on
eBay. I'm now thinking of expanding--and I'm looking at one by an advertiser here the YOlk system, and one at MyPetChicken.com under the plastic coops called the snap lock chicken coop for up to 4 chickens.... (so I will need to get a villiage of snap lock coops....) ;O)
Sometimes coops on
ebay etc. are smaller than they look....and sometimes the materials are very flimsy.....so sometimes you get what you pay for...in more ways than one.
email me or PM me if you want more details about the ones i have that you assemble your self.
Most of all -- get ready for the fun you will have with chickens...they are great.