Money poorly spent?

[nathana1984]

I recently bout a new home with a little land. I started becoming aware of how awful slaughterhouses are and made the decision to raise my own chickens for eggs and meat.

So i ordered a chicken coop from a company. I was curious as to what people with more experience thought of the coop i purchased.

editred by staff

 

[nathana1984]

This is a link to the coop i ordered.

http://chickensaloon.com/the-rambler-backyard-chicken-coop/


I know that it is probably way over priced now that ive read a bunch of posts here. But since i already ordered it just curious if it will house 4-6 laying hens in the future.

Any feedback is welcome.

edited by staff

 

[MoonShadows]

Nathana,

There are links to coops all over BYC. I'm sure your post will have no problem being approved. Most store bought/online coops are not well built and are expensive, and could be built more cheaply. Oh well, we've all made mistakes. Live and learn....

Jim

 

[nathana1984]

Thanks for the welcome moonshadow.

edited by staff

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi there & welcome!
Your coop certainly looks sturdily made. I believe the recommended perch room for a large chicken is about 10-12 inches/bird. Having said that, I have 8 girls currently and they all jam together on a perch 4 ft. long! So I don't think that 6 birds are going to be overcrowded especially if they have plenty of outside access. If you decide to add more birds down the line, that will be a problem, better to build a bigger coop if that happens.
Enjoy! Sue

 

[nathana1984]

Thanks sue for the response.

Yes i will defintely build a bigger one as needed. But not until i know i can handle a few birds. Want to make sure i understand everything about raising chickens before getting more then a couple.

When everything is set up and i build a run i will try to throw up a few pics. Thanks again for feedback

 

[bluefrog87]

It's not a total loss. If you cover it in pvc it could be a good sick bird coop/ broody bird coop. The reason I say cover in pvc/plastic containers is for the sick bird coop for good sanitation. Wood will never pass a sanitation test but smooth plastics do and are easy to get a hold of. . I might, at most, put 3 birds in it. I'd put 4 bantams in it.

4 sq ft - standard size
3 sq ft- bantam

For what your talking about you would need a larger flock

Unless you are constantly ordering from a hatchery (no rooster in flock)

in order to hatch your own eggs and raise a dual purpose (egg and meat) flock it be about 12 hens and 1 rooster and possibly a good brooder

A good coop would have 52 sq feet w/ 4-6 nest boxes and plenty of roost space (possibly bigger but not smaller)

However some of coop specs depend on where your from. I'm in an area where 100 degree temps are the norm for the summer. So 4 sq ft per bird is standard. In northern areas where cold is the problem, most go for 2 sq ft per bird.


I spend a lot on a brooder if you plan on raising meat birds. At 2-3 months you cook them so they don't really make it to the coop. A great brooder can reduce your fire risk and increase your survival rate


Other features you want to consider are ventilation and avoiding draft to the roost bar, Predator protection, Dropping trays under the roost bars, and Outside nest box access. Consider Wide doors for cleaning

 

[Beekissed]

I recently bout a new home with a little land. I started becoming aware of how awful slaughterhouses are and made the decision to raise my own chickens for eggs and meat.

So i ordered a chicken coop from a company. The question i have regards me posting the link to the product i bought here. (Not sure if thats allowed). Reading through the threads i could have made one cheaper but no looking back now.

I was curious as to what people with more experience thought of the coop i purchased. If im allowed to post link to coop please let me know. I read through rules but didnt see a mention of this.

I'm not sure how many chickens you are wanting but I'd place no more than 2 standard hens in that space as it's not of an adequate size for more birds to live in comfortably. The roost bars are on level with the nest boxes, which means your hens will likely perch/sleep in the nest boxes, pooping in them all night and making for a mess and dirty eggs. With it only being large enough for 2 hens, they could have provided more floor space by just having 1-2 nest boxes and used the rest of that space to expand the total living area.

The coop is not predator proof in any way as any coon will be able to lift those nest box lids open and slide right in or enter at the top sliding door. The coop also seems to be lacking in good ventilation unless that top door and the pop door are left wide open, which you'll not want to do at night or in windy, rainy or cold weather. This traps humidity and stale air in the coop and both are a death knell to chickens.

You'll not be able to raise meat if you only have two chickens and you won't be able to produce many eggs or reproduce their kind with those numbers so that you can have both meat and eggs, so the coop is pretty much a bust, I'm sorry to say.

And last, but not least....there's nowhere for them to actually BE in that house but the nests and the roosts as the roosts are so close to the floor and take up the whole space. I know people who've never had chickens think they just sleep or lay in the coops but that's just not so...they will have to spend a good deal of their time inside that coop during inclement weather or if you are unable to let them out for some reason. While they are confined to the coop in daytime hours, they cannot reach any food or water as there is no room to place either inside this coop.

You'd have to enclose this coop inside a very secure pen in order to use this coop for any kind of shelter for chickens and then you could keep the doors open at all times when the weather is fair and you could keep the food and water outside at that point.

In all honesty, if you have not taken receipt of this coop yet, I'd cancel your order and if you have already, I'd ship it right back. It has no practical application for housing poultry and will not help you in any way to reach your goal of eggs and meat. As someone else has pointed out, it takes a considerable flock to produce both eggs and meat for a household, so you may consider a flock of no less than 12-15 birds which would be the smallest I could imagine you could go with to produce both eggs and meat. You'd need a coop that was at least 8 ft x 10 ft to house that many birds comfortably and adequately.

Here's a link to a cheap and quick style of coop that is an easy build, even for one inexperienced with construction: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270088/permanent-hoop-coop-in-progress-update-see-post-34 I built one such coop for $205 and in about 10 days with minimal tools a couple of years ago...and I'm a woman by myself.

 

[Judy]

A rather standard rule of thumb on BYC is 4 sq ft in the coop, not counting nests, and 10 sq ft in the run, per large fowl. that can be reduced a little for bantams. These figures are intended to be the minimum needed to prevent overcrowding, pecking and possibly cannibalism. That coop has 9 sq ft of living space, so 2 large fowl is the prferred number, and 3, maybe. Of course, 3 only need one nest, so if you can convert one nest to usable floor space, that will help some. Figure 9-12" of roost space per bird; 9 is often enough.

Anti spam measures vary from time to time. One of them is holding links posted by new members for mod approval.

 

[nathana1984]

Thanks for all the answers. They were well thought out and exactly why new people should join a place like this read and ask questions before spending money. Again many thanks.