Oh, let me count the ways... first, got 2 pullets before I had a coop. they spent their first week in a dog crate in the garage at night, and a dog x-pen in the backyard during the day, while waiting for prefab coop to arrive. Well, prefab coop was sort of second mistake, really small but ok for 2 hens, but not walk-in, and short. Too much bending to clean for this old back. Attached run was too small, of course, so third mistake, spending too much time and energy making a PVC hoop tractor for variety for the girls, carting them back and forth to tractor and coop was not fun, cause they don't like to be caught. So more bending and crawling in the tractor to catch them.
. Fourth, deciding to just attach tractor to prefab run, more bending and crawling. Finally, I just built a bigger walk in run, and then I built a still small, but bigger coop, on legs, so I don't have to bend. Still, I don't really regret the prefab, as that gave me the knowledge of what worked for me or not. If I had tried to build a coop from the start, I wouldn't have a clue where to start. Prefab will be a great quarantine and intro coop when I do add a few more hens, so it wasn't really a mistake.
