Reviews by The Yakima Kid

The veterinarians like it, the birds like it, and it makes the eggs taste very good. We've tried other brands, and always gone back to Purina because the eggs taste better when we feed it.
We've fed both pellets and crumbles.

The fifty pound bags work well for us.

Expensive, but effective. Like peepers, birds tend to work them off; unlike peepers there is no risk of permanent vision problems. I suggest feeding crumbles or small pellets in a wider opening feeder so biddy can reach in and shovel feed out as the bit extends a bit past the tip of the beak.

This small, lightweight chicken house will accommodate three large dual purpose hens. I was impressed a how it stood up to the winds here in my East SF Bay area home. I brought it inside, installed an Eco-Clow brooder and used it to brood chicks. The coroplast serves as insulation in cold weather.

The drawbacks are that the ram is steep - I propped the end of the ramp on two stacked inexpensive stepping stones to solve the problem. To keep dogs and larger animals from knocking it over, I suggest building a run completely encircling it, with a anti-dig apron. Since the cheap wood coops require building an apron to keep diggers out, this isn't as big a drawback as one would think.

For the money, it is the best deal around. It has held up to the UV, and it fits three adult standard breed dual purpose hens.

Unlike the cheap wood coops, it is made in the US by American workers working in safe conditions.

4’ x 6’ pen holds 8-10 chickens - for overnight and laying purposes. If you have more than four, they really need an external run or yard. The size of the pen is understated since there are actually two levels, each approximating 4' x 6'.

It has an aluminum frame and a perforated plastic floor; the only construction material parts I don't like are the wood in the supporting members and in the nest box. The only real design problem is a poorly spaced and implemented roost design. We reconfigured our roosting approach. A raccoon can reach through the 1" heavy wire mesh sides but it genuinely frustrates large dogs used to knocking lighter coops over.

Raises up on four wheels, and rolls easily - it is heavy though, 375 pounds. Frustrated the heck out of a neighbor dog.

It latches into the up position when you engage the wheels, and it won't slip out of position - but when you want to disengage the wheels, it is easy to do so.

Two levels - the top has a perforated floor with wide enough spacing and stepping bars for heavy breeds to use without foot problems. The heavy plastic-type flooring has wide enough cross pieces to not cause foot problems. The bottom floor is dirt.

Sliding gate to give the chickens free range - the pophole is actually a little on the small side, still large enough for Plymouth Rocks. There is also a clever sliding door in he back for removing eggs from the nest box.

Corrugated plastic skirting for winter - one of the best features is how many ventilation options you have with this. You can have it entirely open on two sides, and open at the bottom on the other two sides in hot weather, or completely enclosed when the temperature is below freezing.

The roof is steel and insulated.

The corrugated plastic (coroplast) is 10 mm, a standard agricultural size. The areas that may be opened for ventilation are made of serious 1" mesh heavy wire.

I keep the perimeter of mine on patio blocks to discourage digging predators; I leave the interior of the run open to the dirt, and toss in wood chips or shavings. I use a pair of old boot trays under the roosts to collect the night manure because it is far less work to empty those twice a week than to clean the coop floor on a regular basis.

Cleaning involves moving it out place, raking out the litter from beneath, pressure washing or using one of those home car washing brushes and an application of "Poop - Off" to clean out the interior , spraying with neem insecticide, and putting it back in place after it has dried. Between cleanings I simply empty the boot trays I use as "plop boards" and regularly apply neem or pyrethrin as in any coop. Since most manure happens at night on the roost, this means there can be literally a month or two between rakings out, and six months between washings.

Professor James Dryden, NOT Horace Dryden, developed them; he began the groundwork at OAC, where his breeding program produced Lady McDuff, the first hen documented to lay 300 eggs in a year, and Oregona, who laid her thousandth egg at the beginning of her sixth year of lay. To this day the photographs of several of the outstanding birds bred by Professor Dryden are on display at Oregon State University.

Professor Dryden was probably the world's foremost breeder of poultry in the early 20th C.

Our Dominiques here at the Cirque des Poulets are referred to as the Unite Clown (Clown Unit) because of their antics, their cuckoo coloring, and the rose combs that look like little Musketeer hats, with the spike serving as the plume.

If you walk in with a feed scoop, especially one with treats, they will leap up and try to eat right out of it.

If you try to catch them, they flee as if the devil were chasing them. If you sit down, you may find the entire flock standing behind you, or even standing on you.

They are incredibly curious. Whenever we are working in the yard, run, or coop, they come over to investigate. I've found that if I'm on my knees cleaning out a waterer, I'm likely to have biddies on my back, shoulders, and even on top of my head!

If I open the back slider and shake the treat jar, they erupt like pheasants from the ground and fly towards the wonderful sound.

They are very busy birds, always active on important hen business.

When you're out with them, they like to talk to you; but other than that they are quiet, and their voices are soft and pleasant.

They are surprisingly heavily feathered - more so than one would expect just by looking because they have an enormous amount of down.

We thought we had cockerels instead of pullets at one point; their peck order fighting is very gamey - but despite the dramatic leaping into the air with hackles out like fighting cocks, no chickens seemed to be injured in the course of the battles.

The only drawback is that they aren't the best layers, and the eggs run small.

Our Barred Rocks are the most pleasant birds to have around. They talk to us; one even imitated the tonal patterns of human speech when she saw us.