Salesperson and coops!

[Dixiedoodle]

My neice has wanted chickens since I started keeping them 2yrs. Her husband is not handy so she chose to purchase a coop at the local feed store.. It cost her 800$ --It's cute, it's 2x4 w/ an attached run that is 4x4 and the 2x4 foot area under the coop.. It has a 2 foot roost, two nest boxes and about a 2x2 floor space... WELL, the salesperson assured her it would hold 8 adult hens!!!! EIGHT hens... The roost is right in front of the nest box... I had given her my " Chicken...for Dummies " book.. She has her heart set on at least 6 heavy breed pullets, that she is going to go buy tomorrow...

Isn"t this gonna be a problem????

 

[speckledhen]

That's way too small for that many hens, yes. It would hold two or three at the most in my opinion.

 

[ChickenboyNmom]

That is smaller than the chicken tractor/coop I have for 4 bantams and a sex-link full size.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I didn't want to sound too negative but it must have shown in my voice... I suggested she get no more than four bantams OR two standard/heavy breeds.. I just think that it was a shady deal.. Poor chickens..

 

[farmer_lew]

That coop is the same size, if not smaller, than my BROODER.

All those salespeople are interested in is...sales. That's all, nothing else. Shame, too.

 

[momsflock]

I am a newbie, but have been researching coops to death! My Local feed store does not know anything about the birds or the coops They are very curious about my backyard adventure. When I only placed an order for 4 birds, they questioned me about my bckyard adventure. I live in a suburb, and wanted to start small. I stopped in recently and the owner was so excited he was going to carry coops, but knew absolutely nothing about them. I made the decision that I was going to build (Lord help me on this one!) and that it's better to go larger than smaller. I feel bad for yuor neice. I know how excited I am and I can only imagine how anxious and happy she felt when she receive it.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Well, she ended up w/ four very nice BO that are a yr. old.. They are very calm and healthy.. NO mites and clear eyes and no wheezing. She is thrilled and has contacted a builder/friend who is gonna come over and build on to the coop and run... She is kicking herself for not calling him first... and thanked me for being honest w/ her..

 

[Noymira]

She's lucky you were willing to tell her the truth and you were good to tell her. Hopefully she can get it modified to add onto if she wants more chickens in the future, it's hard being new and not knowing what you are doing! Hopefully it was a case of the sales person being uneducated rather than trying to sell something that did not fit her needs. I know I'll be doing lots of research here before building our coop!