Prefab coop for brooder?

[Wise Woman]

I am planning ahead to next spring when I need to get more chicks. However, hubs has said no more chickens in the house and I have to agree with him. I don't have room in the coop or run to put a brooder and I don't have a garage or anywhere like that.

I would like to keep all the chicken mess in one area so I was thinking I could put one right outside our current run. I will be turning that area into a potage anyway and I could just fit the little coop in first and work my raised beds around it.

I would also come in handy to use as an isolation pen for sick or injured chicken or to separate a bully hen when necessary. It would be so much easier to have a permanent place rather than constantly trying to make something or dragging crates and cages around.

I was looking at a prefab coop from TSC. I know they aren't great, but I was thinking they might work for my purpose since chickens won't be in it full time. I also can't spend a lot of money on this as we put a lot into our main coop and run. I need to start saving now if I want to be ready for spring chicks. I was looking at this one.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-ranch-chicken-coop?cm_vc=IOPDP2

Anyone else do this or have a better idea? Thanks so much!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Should work fine, though if you're buying it strictly for temporary use, I would go with whatever's cheap that still had decent ventilation in the enclosed part and if possible, no ramp (baby chicks won't use it, probably a bad idea for an injured bird).

I simply removed the top portion of my old prefab and that became my in-run brooder and isolation cage.

 

[Wise Woman]

Thank you for the pictures. I can close the door on the coop when the chicks are small, but as they get bigger, this would give them the opportunity to be outside safely and then the big girls could see them as well.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would save my money, and be looking around for materials that can be repurposed. Pallets, doors, windows, a bit of lumber. You could make a coop with very little work. Do you have any power tools? For the price of a cheap chop saw and a drill, added to the cost of materials, you could build a nice little coop/brooder which would meet all of your current and future needs. If you're planning to turn that area into a garden, with raised beds, I'd start by building a raised bed frame. Then, build a chicken tractor that would fit over the raised bed frame. Make all your frames the same size, so you can move the tractor from one bed to an other. The birds will enrich your soil while prepping it for your crops.

 

[Wise Woman]

That is a really great idea, but it won't happen I am afraid. I have a health issue that prevents me from doing that type of thing and my husband won't do it. We paid a couple guys to have our current coop built and it was a bit of a nightmare and cost a lot of money. He will help me put something like this together, but he won't build anymore chicken stuff. So, I will have to do this as simply as possible and that means pre-built. I am scouring Craigslist as well in hopes of finding something on there that would work.

I was also thinking of converting one of those plastic playhouses and putting it inside a dog run. Any thoughts on that?

 

[aart]

I was also thinking of converting one of those plastic playhouses and putting it inside a dog run. Any thoughts on that?

Will take modification and construction.
Might get a prefab and put it inside your existing run....then no fabrication at all.