Thoughts on pre-fabbed coops?

[lpfdco237]

I'm looking to get a coop to house 8 hens. I'm limited in size by town ordinance and have basically zero construction skill, so building isn't an option.

I'm looking at these two from efowl.com. I didn't see any reviews of them in the review section. Anyone have thoughts on these? I would be using my VERY limited building skills to put a run in, so they have some outside space.

http://www.efowl.com/Family_Hen_House_Starter_Kit_Expandable_p/802-0003.htm

or

http://www.efowl.com/Gambrel_Barn_Coop_p/315-0004.htm

 

[Judy]

As a general rule, prefab coops will actually only house half the number of hens comfortably than they advertise, which would appear to hold true in this case.

A VERY general rule of thumb for the minimal space needed by adult hens to prevent pecking damage, feather picking and even cannibalism, is 4 sq ft in the coop and 10 sq ft in the run per hen. It is also true that they prefer a good deal more than this.

If you live in the more southern US, an enclosed coop is usually a mistake because it does not provide enough breee and can't be cooled enough. What works much better is a three sided structure with an attached outdoor area with hardware cloth for sides -- hardware cloth because it can ve constructed strong enough to keep most predators out. Your chickens will attract the city living raccoons, coyotes, etc., plus (usually the worst predator,) stray or unleashed dogs. Chickens tolerate cold temps much better than hot weather and can die at 100 degrees. In summer in most of the US, good shade and breeze are necessities, plus of course a dependable supply of water that is out of the sun. Even farther north these things become issues in the summer.

People often find that purchasing a new or used shed and modifying it slightly is much more satisfactory than these prebuilt coops, which are often not very sturdy and last only a few years, if that. I will give you a few links to give you some ideas. They generally wind up using their original small coop for a broody pen, a brooder, housing for a sick chicken, etc. Another source is Craig's list.

Also, especially if you live far north, check out the first two links in my signature line for two excellent articles written by a Canadian member. (You can add your location so that it will show under your member name by going to "my profile" and typing it into the location box.)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

 

[ChickenMammX4]

When we bought our chicks we bought a pre-fab coop the same day from the farm store. The coop was advertised big enough to house 6 chickens. We bought 6 chicks. Before the chicks were even out of the brooder tub in the basement it was clear the coop we bought was w-a-y too small. Those tiny chicks grew and grew!

After reading the predator section of the forum, it was also apparent that there was no way our chickens would survive in our area with raccoons, fox, opossum, weasel and coyote.

We ended up selling it on Craigslist, refitting an existing shed and building a run.

If you must use a pre-fab coop, only get about 1/2 the number of the advertised chickens. Also, try to get a coop humans can stand up-right in. Crawling on your hand and knees through chicken poop to retrieve chicks is not fun

 

[snowwhitejen]

I bought a prefab. Way way to small for my 5 chickens. Sadly it was not returnable, so we have our girls in it temporarily until we get the new one built. My girls are 7 weeks old. If you buy prefab, buy one double the size that you think you need.

 

[Oliver Douglas]

We bought a Precision Pet coop rated for up to four chickens. Since we can only have two in this town, it will work out okay, I don't think it would comfortably house more than two of the heavier breeds. I would suggest fortifying the structure, since most are made of fir wood and don't have any type of flooring. Hardware cloth should be attached to the bottom of the coop. In addition, the nesting box floor should be glued in place, and hardware cloth stapled to the bottom. Check the latches...they can be pretty flimsy, misaligned, etc...and you might not latch them correctly, making them easy to open by a predator. Place the coop on concrete paving stones to deter digging rodents. This coop took my son about an hour to put together. If you are not tool savvy, they are fine for a couple of birds once the necessary modifications have been made.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Most prefabs allot just under 1 1/2 square feet of "roosting space" (the "coop" portion) and 3 1/2 square feet of "foraging space" (the run portion) per bird - meaning that they allow around 5 square feet per bird of TOTAL space - which is barely more than the more commonly accepted space allowance for coop space alone (4 square feet per bird) and completely negates the additional recommended run space (10 square feet per bird). Using the commonly quoted minimum space needs you come up with 14 sq feet per bird - which is pretty nearly the entire space afforded by some of the smaller pre-fab units being marketed to house 4+ birds. Can they survive in that amount of space, of course- but I imagine your goal is to have them do more than to survive, that you want your animal charges to thrive.
So, that being said, I actually picked up a pre-fab from Craigs List this weekend - but I did so with specific intentions and full awareness of just how unsuitable it is for long-term housing of any number of large fowl birds. My intent is to use it as a transitional housing unit for chicks until they are at the size that I will integrate them into the big coop/run with the rest of the flock and, when not housing babies, to have it for use as an isolation unit for birds who I need to isolate for whatever reason. For those purposes, these sort of setups are not a bad idea - however, my next issue after the ridiculous size of them is the quality of the unit and the longevity you can expect to get from one. The unit I have is a Precision Pet Cap Cod unit - it was reportedly purchased less than one year ago, used for less than 6 months with birds in it and has sat empty, unmoved, until I picked it up on Saturday. The overall condition of the unit gives me no reason to doubt these assertions as it appears to be in very good shape. The issue is, the quality of the materiel used is such that after just this light use (it housed two silkies that were purchased as pets for an elderly lady) the "wood" used to construct is degraded. DS and I were able to load it, strap it in and get it home without too much issue (though I did note even at pick up that there were limited places one could use to lift/move the unit without feeling you were risking it breaking/coming apart) - when DH and I were unloading it, being mindful of the instabilities, the wood was unable to hold the screws in multiple locations and it nearly came completely apart. Fortunately it is all things that can be repaired and/or re-enforced and I have a handy husband who will do that for me, and I went into the purchase knowing it is designed and built as a 'disposable' product (imo) - but consider that less than 12 months ago someone paid $300 for this unit and it is essentially falling apart already. For that same $300 one could feasibly construct something of better materiel that offered better amounts of space for the birds to be housed...in fact, DH is already working out plans in his head because he sees the value I saw in having something *like* this - but also the value in having something that will actually hold up - and is anticipating building me an improved version in the next year or two and has said he can do it for less than what it would have cost me to buy new in the store.