With a little modification, how do you guys think this will work for a coop

[chicko]

so i bought this the other day and i was planning on getting 3 hens. I was going to make it more secure. Will this work for a coop? Any ideas or suggests of anything else i should do to it? Thank you guys in advance

 

[kellysmall87]

That will be fine as a coop. First of all, I would board half of it off, so it is sheltered, and needless to say remove half the mesh at the front in order to give some shelter from the elements. Put in food and water and away you go! Only big enough for a couple of chickens i'd say...

 

[rikithemonk]

Its a beginner coop. Its small and basic, but then chickens really dont use the coop except for sleeping or to get out of the rain. On that note, this design doesnt really provide much rain protection. What are your plans for rain, where do you intend to keep the coop?

Riki

 

[chicko]

I was planning on adding some roofing to minimize the effects of rain. Also, im going to cover a lot of the front mesh and reinforce it against predators. The coop is going to placed in the backyard, 40ft by 20ft yard with lots of trees for garden and a good area for them to range. I was hoping to get three chickens in my setup. Do you guys think that will work?

 

[Maev]

Where are you located? If you get a bunch of snow that will be way too small for 3 chickens. It's recommended that you have at the very least 2 square feet per chicken. If they're going to be spending most of the winter inside you need a lot more room. But if your winters are very mild and they can spend most days outside it might work.
I think it would also depend on the breeds you get. If you're planning on a mixed flock you might want to get more docile breeds. That way they would probably get along a little better. For example, I had Easter Eggers, Barred Rocks, and Rhode Island Reds in my coop, and the RIR would chase the lowest of the pecking order around and around the coop trying to peck them. Fortunately I had been raising them for a friend and they went to her home fairly quickly. My Easter Eggers and Barred Rocks get along great together.
Also I'm not sure how you would set up a roost for them.
Just my thoughts.

Good luck!

 

[chicko]

Thank you for your help! I live in southern California so the winters are not really an issue. I was planning on free ranging the chickens and just locking them up at night. I will definitely look into getting docile breeds. The coop comes with a roost, at least that what i perceived the middle bar in the picture to be. Am i mistaken or does it require modification? Again, thank you for your time.

 

[CorinneP]

I have heard 4 square feet for a standard chicken . Hens like nice boxes to have there eggs mine are usually about 12" wide .

 

[nurse_turtle]

It's way to small for 3 standard hens. Crowded housing leads to pecking, fighting and disease.

 

[Maev]

Thank you for your help! I live in southern California so the winters are not really an issue. I was planning on free ranging the chickens and just locking them up at night. I will definitely look into getting docile breeds. The coop comes with a roost, at least that what i perceived the middle bar in the picture to be. Am i mistaken or does it require modification? Again, thank you for your time.

Haha! Yes, that is the roost! lol I didn't see it the first time I looked at the picture.
CorrineP brought up another good point about the nesting box. Hens do like somewhere cozy and on the darker side to lay their eggs.
Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable locking 3 hens into that coop. It just looks too cramped for me. Because, unless you're getting up as soon as it's light outside, they are going to be in there when they're not sleeping. It's possible you won't have any issues, but it's also very likely that you will.
Maybe if you made a small predator proof run to attach to the coop so they could go out into that as early in the morning as they wanted to? That way they'd have the extra space until you got up to let them out into the yard.
Just trying to help you figure out a way to make what you bought work but not compromise the health and happiness of your hens.

 

[chicko]

Well I'm thinking now I'm going to do some work to coop. Remove the front hatch, extend the front two feet, redo the roof, and then build a new door for it. Hopefully it will be large enough for 3 hens that way.