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

[alinas2010]

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 agree, also. We’re pretty guilty of trusting what the farm store sold us, as you said before. I try to give myself grace for the fact that we went in soo ignorantly, because in the end we were able to correct our mistake. And while i did do some research, a lot of the reviews on this particular coop were good, commenting on the sturdiness and it being made of metal, as sybonbon said. I think those reviews were all from new chicken people, too, tho. But that’s also exactly why I posted this, to maybe just help someone new see the reality of this coop in the winter.

 

[sybonbon]

Totally agree. I had one and the roost was (no joke) about a foot off the ground. What adult chicken would roost on that?? The nesting box is higher then that thing. The rod broke almost instantly and the luxurious “run” was about 3 feet. Horrible, the nesting box was worst. With a thin little rod jammed in the corner and my adult chickens had to hunch over because they couldn’t stand up.

I do not know what coop you are describing. The nesting box is level to the inside coop. There's no rod in the large nesting box.the perch is small but a 2x4 nailed to the top was an easy fix.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I guess I am expecting too much out of educated people. I bought mine knowing what I was getting and the metal construction was a super plus. I saw it at the store. I read all of the reviews. I'm not an impulse buyer.

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.

 

[alinas2010]

Just wondering, what breeds do you have?

We just have hybrids. One sapphire gem, 2 cinnamon queens, and a Rhode Island blue. The sapphire gem and one CQ are very large, the other two aren’t quite as large.

 

[sybonbon]

We just have hybrids. One sapphire gem, 2 cinnamon queens, and a Rhode Island blue. The sapphire gem and one CQ are very large, the other two aren’t quite as large.

Hybrids are great. I started out with 4 in a (different coop). I still have 1 left. She's 7 years old. Good luck with your chickens. Hopefully this post will help someone in making their decision.

 

[alinas2010]

Hybrids are great. I started out with 4 in a (different coop). I still have 1 left. She's 7 years old. Good luck with your chickens. Hopefully this post will help someone in making their decision.

Thank you, good luck with yours, too.

Aw that gives me hope they will live a little longer that I expect, I’m very attached to them, but i know hybrids run into a lot of issues.

I agree, I think it’s wonderful you were able to modify these to work for your girls, they all do look happy/healthy. Your set up is a great example for others that have this and need to make modifications. I would have loved to see more mods like yours when we were deciding what you to do with ours.

 

[fuzzi]

I love the sign @sybonbon has hanging above the coop on the right

 

[Rurumo]

Feed stores run on chicks. Chick related impulse buys make up a large % of a feed store's total business, and forces customers back each month for feed, and inevitably....more chicks. It would hurt their business to be honest about how much space Chickens need, and any coops that fit the bill would be priced out of reach for impulse buy customers. That applies mostly to big chain stores, I've found small local feed stores that don't sell coops are much more honest about their requirements-they want you to get hooked on chickens and keep them healthy for long term feed sales.

 

[alinas2010]

I love the sign you have hanging above the coop on the right

I bet you’re referring to sybonbon’s sign. I agree with you lol

 

[fuzzi]

A lady on Facebook market place had a very small one I’d say big enough for two chickens. The lady had ten poor chickens stuffed in there it breaks my heart that so many people don’t know

It's not just chickens. I've had aquariums for years, and people overload their tanks with too many fish, incompatible fish, and commit any number of errors that impact the health of their pets. I think it shows that most people don't consider doing research before acquiring livestock, but rely on the $eller$ to guide them with their impulse buy.