To anyone thinking of getting one of those cute little coops….

[SourRoses]

I guess I am expecting too much out of educated people.

As the OP has said, it's really a matter of understanding what size the chickens will be when grown, most people making this error are newbies.
And how much more space is needed for the birds to move around and flap their wings.
Hatcheries list chicken sizes by the pound, not dimensions.

The unique nature of the chicken hobby leads to many people getting started while never having the chance to meet an adult bird (biosecurity).

What they are doing is causing a great deal of new chicken people, who think they are giving birds a great life, to actually be inhumane... while spending more than they have to.

But it's so much harder to admit a mistake when it's been going on for a while.
That means birds have to suffer these torturous coops long after the owners start to doubt the situation.

 

[Jenni Hen]

I forget which coop it was, but a while back one of our members caught on to the fact that the company had actually used toy chickens in the photos.

That really makes all the difference. It's sad, but I really don't think the majority of people that are first dipping their toes into chicken keeping do as much research as they need to do.

I did loads of research online but unless you can talk to real people with real chickens you are vulnerable to all the garbage that's fed to you. Poultry events have been cancelled for the last 3 summers (avian flu) so it's not been easy to find real chicken people to talk to. BYC is a refreshing change from the rest of the internet and I wish I'd found it sooner. I realised that what I read didn't chime with what I thought I knew and fortunately I ordered some old books on building chicken coops, that did make sense, and also the Dummie's guide. (And agreed that my other half could have a table saw for his retirement birthday even tho he wasn't retiring ...it nearly worked , he built a nice run!)
Most of the garbage is based on the agenda of persuading newbie, caring, chicken keepers that if they pass their money over they can have a lovely cute little coop, a beautiful lawn, happy hens and eggs forever.
Some of the information is factually misleading but cleverly phrased to avoid falling foul (!) of consumer protection legislation: eg on the Eglu Cube site, big eyecatching heading 'Houses up to 10 hens' but smaller print positioned to one side, saying 'up to 10 bantams'. Weasel words designed to deceive.

I agree that there's also the problem of whether people think they need to find out about how to keep chickens, and sadly that's also a problem for every sort of animal kept as a pet.

 

[rosemarythyme]

As the OP has said, it's really a matter of understanding what size the chickens will be when grown, most people making this error are newbies.
And how much more space is needed for the birds to move around and flap their wings.
Hatcheries list chicken sizes by the pound, not dimensions.

The unique nature of the chicken hobby leads to many people getting started while never having the chance to meet an adult bird (biosecurity).

Yeah I have to admit that although I'd wanted chickens since I was young (to the point that my parents even took me to visit a cousin who had a flock, though all I was allowed to do was throw them some scratch) I never actually touched a live adult bird until about a month before we were planning to buy chicks. Didn't realize how big some birds got, because my only reference for "chicken" was a rotisserie bird from the market.

I did do my research but we still opted for a prefab (a much higher quality one than most) at first, with plans to upgrade if we liked keeping chickens. After 2 years we decided to grow the flock and replace the coop as well. Pretty striking what a 4 bird prefab (on right) looks like next to a 12 bird coop (on left) even though both have 4 sq ft of floor space (per bird):

The prefab didn't go to waste - the top portion is still in the run as a brooder/isolation cage, the bump out on the right side still works as a rain shelter/feed area, and the remaining long wall is a compost sifter.

 

[alinas2010]

Yeah I have to admit that although I'd wanted chickens since I was young (to the point that my parents even took me to visit a cousin who had a flock, though all I was allowed to do was throw them some scratch) I never actually touched a live adult bird until about a month before we were planning to buy chicks. Didn't realize how big some birds got, because my only reference for "chicken" was a rotisserie bird from the market.

I did do my research but we still opted for a prefab (a much higher quality one than most) at first, with plans to upgrade if we liked keeping chickens. After 2 years we decided to grow the flock and replace the coop as well. Pretty striking what a 4 bird prefab (on right) looks like next to a 12 bird coop (on left) even though both have 4 sq ft of floor space (per bird):

View attachment 3415743

The prefab didn't go to waste - the top portion is still in the run as a brooder/isolation cage, the bump out on the right side still works as a rain shelter/feed area, and the remaining long wall is a compost sifter.

Aw I see you post a lot but I’ve never caught your set up before, it’s great.

We make use of our old prefab for them to use as shelter/feed/water station, also, for when they roam around the back yard. I think it’s sturdy enough that it’ll last a while, just not meant for full time living for our ladies. Sounds like we made the same decision as you. Chickens forever

 

[Brooks_]

I still keep my eyes open for an end of season, priced to move, markdown on one, but very much agree with the premise of the thread that these are not to be used as coops.

 

[alinas2010]

I still keep my eyes open for an end of season, priced to move, markdown on one, but very much agree with the premise of the thread that these are not to be used as coops.

Agree! I won’t say they don’t have use, they just shouldn’t be marketed the way they are. Nervous for this year, hearing about a lot of people wanting “cheap eggs”.

 

[Brooks_]

“cheap eggs”

 

[Chicken poppy]

The trouble is a lot of people aren’t educated. There’s tons of new people and/or trusting people who are just going to listen to the store employee or the manufacturer that this is the best coop to buy and buy it without knowing any better. My parents were those people. Despite me telling them all about them, they insisted we needed something “just for now” for the chicks which ended up being about 3 years before finally building something better. It would have been much sooner if it was up to me. We made it work but only because we put it inside a chain link dog kennel (it was NOT predator proof on its own) and some of them ended up roosting on the roof causes it was nowhere near big enough for 8. It also began falling after the first year and with our winters. By the third it was pretty much trashed even with a roof over the run. I would definitely not recommend it. But a lot of people don’t know better. And most aren’t gonna read reviews when buying chicks. They’ll just buy the chicks and then an employee will recommend this adorable coop to go with them and off they go.

Reminds me a lot of hamster cages. You can almost never buy hamster things in the store, it’s 10x harder then finding chicken things.
Basically EVERY cage sells it like hamsters are toys. One is a giant dinosaur with almost 0 living space and comes with a sticker pack and toys. Like its some kind of McDonalds meal for some toddler to assemble. Even the dust bathing products are wrong for them, really sad to see!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Reminds me a lot of hamster cages. You can almost never buy hamster things in the store, it’s 10x harder then finding chicken things.
Basically EVERY cage sells it like hamsters are toys. One is a giant dinosaur with almost 0 living space and comes with a sticker pack? Like its some kind of McDonalds meal for some toddler to assemble? Even the dust bathing products are wrong for them, really sad to see!

Yeah the state of small animals rn is so sad!!! Birds and fish get put in tiny tiny things too. Makes me really sad. Especially since something like goldfish can get to a foot long and live as long as a dog and they’re treated like trash.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Reminds me a lot of hamster cages. You can almost never buy hamster things in the store, it’s 10x harder then finding chicken things.

Rat stuff is equally hard to get - I was getting ferret stuff for them (or sewing my own), having to mix my own food, had to order a cage from a specialty manufacturer, etc.

Chickens (at least in my area) are easier in that 1) most folks in my area use deep litter which is essentially free because we have a lot of plant/tree materials around 2) a lot of people put out free junk piles by the curb, which means you can get free chicken toys or even building materials and 3) even some regular pet stores will sell or order chicken feed for you.