Announcement The Coop Page / Article Rating & Review Project!

[Kiki]

(Sorry if this has been addressed and I missed it!)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/open-hardware-coop.63783/

I've come across a few coops that have links to an external site for the plans/details. I personally prefer not clicking on external links - should I just leave these for others to rate? Or is this something that should be reported?

Feel free to not rate all pages you open. It's ok to skip some.

You can report it too.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Well, we hit a bit of a snag with those crazy errors, but here's where we ended up today:

Coop pages with ratings:

#Coops - Ratings
1262 - 1 ratings
1302 - 2 ratings
238 - 3 ratings
56 - 4 ratings
27 - 5 ratings
18 - 6 ratings
3 - 7 ratings
4 - 8 ratings
6 - 9 ratings
4 - 10 ratings
2 - 11 ratings
2 - 12 ratings
2 - 13 ratings
1 - 14 ratings
1 - 19 ratings

Highest Raters:
978 - SavKel&RynKel
450 - BlackHackle
403 - KikisGirls
402 - PNW_Peepers
371 - Hope Hughes
335 - 21hens-incharge
231 - sumi
207 - Nardo
138 - Cyprus
129 - Tesumph
124 - casportpony
97 - Yorkshire Coop
88 - Thyme4Chickens
84 - ronott1
73 - Cryss
71 - OhZark Biddies
52 - platypusGold
47 - Rose Quartz
41 - Ms Biddy
40 - karenerwin
40 - littleprairieheartsfarm
40 - MROO
27 - Nifty-Chicken
25 - ECSandCCFS
25 - BYCforlife
21 - rjohns39

 

[Tesumph]

Question for the lovely voters..

I’m seeing a lot of renovation coops (dog run, horse barn, kids playset) that for the most part have low ratings. Or at least, I haven’t found one worth 4 or 5 stars yet, and for good reason imho. They’re generally kind of lazy and just show update photos of the progress.

How could a coop article that isn’t built from scratch, has no plans to speak of or accurate materials list, be worth 5 stars in y’alls minds?

Or, do you think those types are generally not helpful and not really worth an article?

 

[Ms Biddy]

Question for the lovely voters..

I’m seeing a lot of renovation coops (dog run, horse barn, kids playset) that for the most part have low ratings. Or at least, I haven’t found one worth 4 or 5 stars yet, and for good reason imho. They’re generally kind of lazy and just show update photos of the progress.

How could a coop article that isn’t built from scratch, has no plans to speak of or accurate materials list, be worth 5 stars in y’alls minds?

Or, do you think those types are generally not helpful and not really worth an article?

In my opinion a renovation or upcycled coop still takes a good amount of work. If they showed it in detail so another person could accomplish the same and know what supplies and tools are needed, I think it could be a 5 star article. Most leave out too many details, don't have close up shots, don't write lists etc.

 

[sumi]

When I rate coops I keep this in mind:

• A bunch of pics during and after construction

• A nice write-up of what the person did, what they liked, what they would have done differently, tips, tricks, etc.

• Plans of the coop are a big bonus!

Along with info. What I think of is "I want to build this coop. Is there enough pics, details, info, plans, etc in there to allow me to do so? Is this is good guide I can refer to?"

 

[sumi]

Just want to say a big THANK YOU! to everyone that is reporting pages with problems for us to fix and your great feedback. You guys are awesome

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

Question for the lovely voters..

I’m seeing a lot of renovation coops (dog run, horse barn, kids playset) that for the most part have low ratings. Or at least, I haven’t found one worth 4 or 5 stars yet, and for good reason imho. They’re generally kind of lazy and just show update photos of the progress.

How could a coop article that isn’t built from scratch, has no plans to speak of or accurate materials list, be worth 5 stars in y’alls minds?

Or, do you think those types are generally not helpful and not really worth an article?

Depending on how they've laid it out, I've been starting those out at 3 simply because there aren't any plans. They've taken something other people can buy and then modify it. I'll give extra points for detailed mods and updates, etc. But I'm my mind, they're eliminating the confusing/hard part for people that are maybe not handy/tool savvy. So to me it's a simplification of the process. Can I go out and buy/acquire that thing they are using and then construct it in the same way that they did based off their mods.
-sav
ETA- Ryn was in the middle of posting his own opinion but must of got busy. I'm sure he'll have his own response later.

 

[Tesumph]

Depending on how they've laid it out, I've been starting those out at 3 simply because there aren't any plans. They've taken something other people can buy and then modify it. I'll give extra points for detailed mods and updates, etc. But I'm my mind, they're eliminating the confusing/hard part for people that are maybe not handy/tool savvy. So to me it's a simplification of the process. Can I go out and buy/acquire that thing they are using and then construct it in the same way that they did based off their mods.

Good point. Part of my reason for asking is because my current coop build is an old dog run renovation. It’s not exactly something you can buy, but I guess I could lay out how I’m dealing with the rotten boards and poor construction problems.

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

Good point. Part of my reason for asking is because my current coop build is an old dog run renovation. It’s not exactly something you can buy, but I guess I could lay out how I’m dealing with the rotten boards and poor construction problems.

Yeah I mean, while it may be a niche thing, there's lots of people who have a dog run that they are trying to convert to a coop. I've seen quite a few. Which no you can't really buy but as long as the article has details that help other people in the same predicament, I don't see why it can't have 5 stars. If you can put any of your plans on paper, that helps in my mind. I give a star for plans cause some people will scale it to their own project if they're inclined. Also what's stopping someone from building what you already have if they have the space? I don't know. There's a lot of variables but I don't discredit cause it's a mod and not someone building from scratch.

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Could the coops be sorted into subcategories underneath the main Small/Medium/Large categories? Maybe a category for "starting from scratch" and one for "re-purposed structure"?