Ah. Thank you for your review! You just saved me $2k and a lot of anger. Also, you made it look so cute! I love how you painted and decorated it. your chickens are very blessed to have you as their TenderI never really found any good reviews on the Large OverEz chicken coop kit or anything that mentioned the issues I saw there would be after the birds moved in. I saw tons of reviews about the damage in transit but not really much to warn me of some issues I believe exist with it. I hopefully wont find more issues after I move the birds in this weekend. I really am wondering if I just got suckered and maybe nobody who has had chickens before buys a kit?! It sure does not seem like the builder of this kit has had chickens unless they are midget chickens!
Yes the kit arrived very damaged. It is stacked on a pallet so that the forklift is actually using one of the walls to lift up on it. So you will have forklift holes in your wall. Its just the panels stacked on top of each other with a loose plastic tarp on top and a little cardboard. The pictures/videos the manuf has online show screws but I think there were 6 screws total perhaps, the rest was bent nails and staples poorly done. The whole thing is very thin OSB and uses 2x3's. Staples were put in crooked and this thing seems like its really going to fall apart soon. The paint looked like it was done from an angle and the underside of the ridges didn't get to catch any, the whole thing needed repainted. There was overspray of red paint inside the coop just causing it to look messy as the inside was not painted. There was split 2x3s that we had to clamp and wood glue and screw to put back together. The roof was dented. There is NOT enough ventilation (we added and still have more to add) and there are DRAFTS. I'm talking big drafts! Gaps so big we have to stick weather stripping into such as the one that moves due to the egg door opening and closing thats at least half inch. That wont work in a cold state like mine! I had to caulk everywhere as they haphazardly ran a few beads of caulk without getting it where it needed to be. They are not making them like they do in the video, as apparent by the use of staples instead of screws which will not last. I could go on with little issues we have found and needed to correct. It is very drafty, flimsy, and is upsetting.
The biggest issues I foresee in the design is that it appears meant for tiny birds. When you measure the roosting bars spacing in between them it gives them 6-8". They would be pooping on themselves as they hang over the other bar plus their behinds would be pushed up against the back wall! They cannot fit! There is not even enough space to give 15 birds (their recommended number) the 12" of width on a bar. Also if you live in a cold climate you need to be able to turn the 2x4 wider so they can cover their feet which means even less space between the two bars. For reference on size it came with 2x3 and I replaced with 2x4. The nesting boxes are a joke, they are TINY I think I had measured 8". I had to knock some walls out and make 3 instead of 5.
We made our coop before and I had a husband who wasn't excited about making one in on this new property so I thought I'd make it easier on him and find a coop with great reviews, surely for $2,000 it would be decent, right? WRONG! Even in todays inflated times the materials on this are probably between $500 and put together so poorly it wont last. I will never buy a coop kit again!
I just feel very ripped off. We do a lot of projects ourselves and when I see just how careless and sloppily this is made, it makes me mad. I had called Tractor Supply who said they'd give me $150 off or try again to return and get a new one (which likely would have the same issues) I had spent more than $150 on 2 gallons of paint (red and white) and the brushes, weather stripping, caulk, screws, wood glue, etc.
I would not recommend this coop unless you really cannot build something yourself and do not live in a cold climate where drafts are an issue and you realize you are paying a lot of money for shoddy construction. Youll need to do some painting, there is too much OSB exposed to the rain. Dont put more than 6 birds in it as only one roosting bar is usable as its so close together with the other one and it has 73" which gives the proper 12" of space per bird.
I have 11 birds, about to move them in this weekend. I modified the roosting bars and am not happy that I will have to be cleaning more frequently because of their droppings falling now all over the whole coop floor but I'm hoping this works. I feel pretty dumb that I got this kit and am now about to try to fit 11 birds in it. We had to build a huge run to help with the lack of space in this coop.
Here are a few pictures of before/after I hope this helps you to make a good decision or know what you are getting into if you get it.
