Roosting issue + possibly broody hen

[lysanderish]

We had one similar to this. Once our four girls got bigger, i almost cried, there was no room, and yes - the roost bars are a terrible joke. We started saving up and bought a Wooden shed that we converted for them.
We were pretty uniformed as well

We're keeping the prefab coop only because it'll be nice to have for when we Get more chicks.

If you can, build a nice size run around it. We did that for them to have a little more room until we got the new coop built

I don't even know if this one will be sufficient to make it through the winter because I don't know if it's water-proof enough. We don't get snow and it doesn't get cold, but it rains 3-4 times/week around here from late October through April and I don't imagine moisture in the coop is going to be good for my ladies.

We have a large run fenced in but they usually just get to roam the entirety of the back yard / garden at will. We might change that next year, since bf doesn't like bird poops on the patio (he's more the only one) and they killed some of my garden plants this year (not that I *needed* those cucumbers anyway, but still).

 

[shelby h]

I don't even know if this one will be sufficient to make it through the winter because I don't know if it's water-proof enough. We don't get snow and it doesn't get cold, but it rains 3-4 times/week around here from late October through April and I don't imagine moisture in the coop is going to be good for my ladies.

We have a large run fenced in but they usually just get to roam the entirety of the back yard / garden at will. We might change that next year, since bf doesn't like bird poops on the patio (he's more the only one) and they killed some of my garden plants this year (not that I *needed* those cucumbers anyway, but still).

If you can afford a shed, go get one. Our winters are very wet, and I'm pretty sure or little coop would not have lasted. We got ours at Lowes for about $500, which was about what we would have paid in materials alone. If you fork out a bit more, they'll build it for you. It took hubby and i about two days to get ours done.

 

[lysanderish]

If you can afford a shed, go get one. Our winters are very wet, and I'm pretty sure or little coop would not have lasted. We got ours at Lowes for about $500, which was about what we would have paid in materials alone. If you fork out a bit more, they'll build it for you. It took hubby and i about two days to get ours done.

I gotta go to Albany to renew my dogs' licenses in the next few days anyway, so I'll have to look at what's available at home depot (we don't have a lowes). It's too bad I can't just convert our old shed; it's neither wooden or water tight.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

There's my coop, complete with convenient Cookie dog (she's a border collie mix, so she's a little larger than a purebred) for scale. We were just so uninformed when we bought this. *cries*

The nesting box is actually sagging so we had to prop it up. This piece of trash has only been put together since April at the earliest.

Count us among the uninformed as well... we bought a prefabbed coop the same day we bought our chicks. Before they were even moved outdoors we realized our mistake. Luckly we had a unused shed on the property and hubby converted to a coop and added on a run. We sold the prefab coop on Craigslist. There are many great coop idesa on this site, some using pallets and other scrap lumber.