Store bought coop and having issues with hens!

[aart]

Quote: You might be able to move the roosts up a few inches....just watch the head space.

 

[Herls]

I bought this same coop from TSC and it's so small. They advertise it for 4-6 hens and clearly the coop is not meant to hold that many. Since I am fairly new to this, my husband and I decided that we will be expanding this coop. Has anyone experimented with this before (expanding a store bought coop)?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I personally would just start over and build a whole new coop. Those coops are often not very sturdy and tying into it would be a pain. Also I like a coop I can walk into and a run that I don't need to crawl in. That set up I would keep for separating birds when necessary or letting young ones spend the day in.

 

[scooter147]

I think the issue is the height of the perch off the "floor". I've looked at the inside of these at T.S. and the first thing I noticed was the roosting bar three inches off the "floor".
To be honest I'm not surprised they don't use it. chickens like to be "high" (in there minds anyway) and with the perches in these prefabbed coops basically sitting on the floor they probably to feel safer "hiding" in the nesting box.

you are going to need to figure out a way to prevent entry into the nest boxes to get them to stop at this point in my opinion.

 

[MrsMommaB]

I have this exact same coop. It's been ok so far. I built a big run though because it's definitely not large enough on it's own. I did get 6 chicks though. I'm honestly not sure how the roosts are going to work out when they're bigger. They do huddle in a nest box right now as well but I actually thought it was because they were still little.....

 

[argonne]

I bought a coop from mypetchicken, built it and hated it. I don't have the time to build my own, so I bought one from a local shed company. It's much more sturdy than that flimsy thing I bought. It felt like it was made of balsa wood. That is not going to stand up to our predators and weather. It was also so small and they said it was rated for 6-8 hens. I wouldn't have felt good about putting 3 in there. I think it's worth it to invest a little more to get something substantial and big enough. Luckily, I was able to sell it for not much less than I bought it for.

In other words: store bought coops aren't great. They may be a temp stop-gap, but I wouldn't want my five hens living in it for an extended period.