Producers Pride Sentinel Coop MDC 001

[Cyberboy]

Can anyone give me some feedback on this coop? I only intend on having a small flock of 4 chickens and this seems to be fairly well constructed unit from Tractor Supply and the price is right. I’m a newbie so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I know that ventilation appears to be the only negative issue that I’ve been able to find but I can always install a small fan to add ventilation.

 

[2ndTink]

I have the same brand but the largest one they make, I can't remember the name. The construction is decent, it will last longer if you paint the wood, it comes with more of a stain.

For this coop I wouldn't put more than 2, maybe 3 chickens in there. It is quite a small, it is showing 3 feet wide and I didn't see a depth of the coop (not including the boxes) but I'm guessing 2 feet. That gives you 6 Sq ft of floor space and ideally you would have 4 Sq ft per bird, then 10 Sq ft per bird in the run.

This is a coop I would consider as a temporary coop for a couple chicks (4 - 6) as they are growing and prior to transferring to a big coop. Then I would keep this for an isolation coop or for future chicks.

How many chickens are you wanting to have? Do you have a limit on the number you can have on your property or do you have a chance of being bit by chicken math? ie: we wanted 7 or 8 max and we now have 25...

 

[kkcowgirl]

We have two of those coops, hooked together at the ends of the runs to create an "L" shaped larger run. We have 7 hens (3 RIR and 4 BR), so 3 roost in one coop, and 4 in the other. 5 can fit on one roost, but it is a tight squeeze. As it is for the 4, and I make sure that it's four that like each other, otherwise there is a small amount of pecking and squabbling. The two mean girls and one friend overnight in the other coop, and even then there is some squabbling. We put remote control battery operated lights inside, so once they're all in, I turn the lights off and then everyone is quiet and nice.

I was surprised at the sturdiness of these coops. We had a couple of pretty good wind storms with 50 mph gusts and a good amount of rain, and I thought for sure the coops would be flattened or blown apart, or leaky. But everyone stayed warm, dry, and secure.

Our coop is inside a small fenced yard that is between our house and our pasture, which is nice because we have an electric fence for the horses on the pasture side. (No critters are going to access our yard from the pasture without hitting that hotwire.) Our hens are allowed to roam the yard during the day. I wouldn't keep 4 hens locked in this coop/run all day every day, I think it is too small for that. We do let them "free range" outside the yard if we're outside with them, and we lock them in the coop/run if we are going to be away from home and not return until after dark. It's been secure and safe.

For ventilation, we bought some 6" vents, drilled two 1" holes below the peak of the roof, and covered the holes with the vents. It's easy enough to remove the vents to add more holes...I'm thinking we'll add two more holes under each vent as it gets warmer.

I rarely bother with the slide out trays anymore. I do wish they were deeper. I use a good amount of pine shavings for bedding, and it makes it difficult to slide the tray out without all the shavings being pushed out to the run below.

I don't regret buying these coops at all, and they are working for us in our situation. But I have been thinking about adding a rooster to our group, and I won't do it unless and until we get a larger coop set up. Even though our girls are allowed outside during the day, I still feel like we are pushing the limit on size.

**EDIT** The roosting bars are way too small for full grown hens. We had to modify them.

 

[Cyberboy]

I have the same brand but the largest one they make, I can't remember the name. The construction is decent, it will last longer if you paint the wood, it comes with more of a stain.

For this coop I wouldn't put more than 2, maybe 3 chickens in there. It is quite a small, it is showing 3 feet wide and I didn't see a depth of the coop (not including the boxes) but I'm guessing 2 feet. That gives you 6 Sq ft of floor space and ideally you would have 4 Sq ft per bird, then 10 Sq ft per bird in the run.

This is a coop I would consider as a temporary coop for a couple chicks (4 - 6) as they are growing and prior to transferring to a big coop. Then I would keep this for an isolation coop or for future chicks.

How many chickens are you wanting to have? Do you have a limit on the number you can have on your property or do you have a chance of being bit by chicken math? ie: we wanted 7 or 8 max and we now have 25...

Actually I’m beginning with just two hens to sort of judge how it’s going to work out so I think that there will be enough room for them in the run and in the coop itself. I like the fact that this coop has a steel frame and not wood as wood touching the earth around where I leave does not last very long. I’m going to add a predator skirt around the perimeter as I’ve got lots of digging critters that live around my house whicH abuts conservation land.

 

[2ndTink]

Actually I’m beginning with just two hens to sort of judge how it’s going to work out so I think that there will be enough room for them in the run and in the coop itself. I like the fact that this coop has a steel frame and not wood as wood touching the earth around where I leave does not last very long. I’m going to add a predator skirt around the perimeter as I’ve got lots of digging critters that live around my house whicH abuts conservation land.

It sounds like it could work out for you then. I did like how easily ours went together and the metal frame is nice.

 

[black_cat]

Actually I’m beginning with just two hens to sort of judge how it’s going to work out so I think that there will be enough room for them in the run and in the coop itself. I like the fact that this coop has a steel frame and not wood as wood touching the earth around where I leave does not last very long. I’m going to add a predator skirt around the perimeter as I’ve got lots of digging critters that live around my house whicH abuts conservation land.

With two hens, there is a risk of a situation where one dies, and you're left with a lone chicken. Chickens are flock animals and don't do well alone. I'd advise against any prefabricated coop (prefab runs, when well built, are good).

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm sorry, but that coop is extremely small and utterly lacking in ventilation.

The usual minimum guidelines for healthy chickens are that each adult, standard-sized hen needs:

4 square feet in the coop,
10 square feet in the run,
1 linear foot of roost (which needs to be above the nest boxes),
and 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, which is best located above the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost. The pop door that is closed at night and any windows that are closed in the winter don't count.

My Little Monitor Coop is designed to meet the minimums for 4 hens. It's essentially a 4x4x4 cube and, IMO, no coop intended as permanent chicken housing (as opposed to a brooder, a sick-bay, or a broody hut), should be any smaller than that because it's almost impossible to meet those minimum guidelines without at least that much space.

 

[Jane4321]

With two hens, there is a risk of a situation where one dies, and you're left with a lone chicken. Chickens are flock animals and don't do well alone. I'd advise against any prefabricated coop (prefab runs, when well built, are good).

I just bought this coop for my first two chickens and 1. they won’t roost on the bar and 2. I am realizing the run is way too small. My chickens can be in the back yard 2-3 hours a day but they need a larger run for when they can’t be out. Any ideas about how to expand this run, or suggestions about a good pre fab run that we could attach?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I just bought this coop for my first two chickens and 1. they won’t roost on the bar and 2. I am realizing the run is way too small. My chickens can be in the back yard 2-3 hours a day but they need a larger run for when they can’t be out. Any ideas about how to expand this run, or suggestions about a good pre fab run that we could attach?

Simplest answer would be to get a dog kennel kit and put the entire unit inside it, no need to attach the two together. Depending on the level of security you want in your run, you may need to augment it with hardware cloth, welded wire, netting, etc.

 

[Ma_biscuit]

Simplest answer would be to get a dog kennel kit and put the entire unit inside it, no need to attach the two together. Depending on the level of security you want in your run, you may need to augment it with hardware cloth, welded wire, netting, etc.

This is what I do. I have 2 of these coops in a 10x10 dog kennel that I have wrapped with hardware cloth. Works great for my 6 chickens . 3 in each coop.