WHAT CAN I DO?!?!?!

[LeastinID]

Being new to chickening, I rushed into purchasing what I thought would be the right sized pre-fab coop for 6 chickens.
They were listed as being adequate for 4 to 6 hens and, since they had wheels, I thought tractoring would be a neat option.
Reality has not been kind.

Since discovering the wealth of knowledge and encouragement that BYC provides, I've come to think that I've made a big mistake.
Is there ANY way I can make use of these things.

 

[SilverBirds]

What are the dimensions? How many birds do you have and what breeds?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Yup those pre-fabs are deceiving, looks like you got 2 of them?
What are the dimensions?
Have you gotten your chicks/chickens yet?
Have you decided what breeds you're getting?

Depending on the breed you plan on getting and from what I can see of the size I would say 3 per. PreFabs do not hold up nicely with weather conditions, so maybe another coat of paint and raising it off the ground; place on blocks of concrete; hollow tile or bricks.

 

[springvalley123]

Some people can repurpose their pre-fabs as broody coops, etc. However, I'd suggest to use it as a predator proof night shelter (assuming you've got it appropriately reinforced for that), and either get some electric fencing, or a dog run, something to either butt up to it or surround it with, so the birds have a space that'll be safe during the day.

If you have a back yard with a wood fence, you can use pallets, scrap lumber, etc to build off of that. Even some framing/pallets and tarp would give them some space and shade. You'd need to enclose it with hardware cloth, assuming you have some predators.

A lot of people also build hoop coops out of cattle or hog panels. those are simple to build and don't require a lot of sophisticated carpentry knowledge.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Maybe you could take the door off one and a wall panel off the other and connect them that way? So the runs would be connected, but the coops wouldn't.

 

[Acre4Me]

Many people start with these! No, not perfect, but likely workable. We built our coop and it’s not perfect!

My neighbor started with one just like yours. He then built a very basic, but larger coop, and kept this one for introducing new chickens.

The chickens you have will be fine for now in this coop, once they are a bit bigger, but you might want to consider more options before winter. What are your winter temps/weather like? Snow load? If snow load, you will need a solid structure.

 

[CinnaBun]

There have been some good prefab coop renovations, here is one-
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-renovated-prefab-coop.1440258/#post-23876165

I would look at putting both coops in a larger run, dog kennels are often recommended.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Unfortunately, your predicament is common with new people.

Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing.

How many birds do you have?

Those are going to be harder to renovate than the model in the above-linked thread since the runs don't have a roof. What's your level of handyman skills and tool ownership? I can make some recommendations but some are easier and some are harder.

 

[Lor]

Is there a way to attach them together to make one larger coop and run?

 

[Battlepants]

I'd probably try to reinforce the bottoms a bunch and repurpose them as chicken tractors. Whenever you need to strip an old garden for replanting, drop in some chickens and park this thing over the garden for a few days. Fresh stripped ground that is fertilized!

As for the reinforcement process, some nice beefy 2x4s underneath the bottom rail would probably do it.