New Age Pet ecoFLEX Fontana Chicken Barn, Jumbo

I got two of these off of Chewy for $220 ea, plus a $30 gift card back- so I felt very free to modify my less-than-$200-coops. I'm writing this from the perspective of having bought three other pre-fab coops in the past, so I'm aware of the range of quality and design issues that all such coops may face.

First, let's start with a few things I love: EcoFlex material doesn't rot, which puts it worlds ahead of most of the cheap tractor supply/rural king small-to-medium coops. I didn't need to paint it to protect it, unlike the interior of my high-end prefab.

I was able to slot everything into place as long as I worked on a level surface, was careful but firm, and re-evaluated my last actions based on current problems. (You can force the wrong pieces together, or force them together without lining up, but this will cause issues later.) I was able to dis-assemble each coop a couple of times, but I did eventually crack one board.

You absolutely MUST organize your pieces ahead of time. Putting together your first one of these is so slow, and organizing will save you. However, by the fourth assembly I could fly through in 30-ish minutes, despite pieces scattered everywhere.

People criticize, rightly, a lot about these coops. I've heard people complain about size, but the company is really conservative about how many full-sized birds should fit in it. I believe they suggest no more than 4. (My chickens disagree; with the layer flock having access to several coops, I've still seen 7 birds come out of this in the morning.) I wouldn't put my 6 bantams in here simply because I think it would do less to keep them warm at night than the much smaller coop from tractor supply. That's the only point on which I strongly disagree with other reviewers on other sites.

Let's face other issues from the bottom up:

This wants to be built on even, level ground. I tried doing so on rough, uneven grass and regretted it. However, these coops are heavy. I knew I'd want some flexibility in location, and ended up attaching wheels to both coops, which also helped by slightly elevating them.

For the first coop I stole wheels off of aluminum walkers similar to this which I had on hand. I drilled through holes in the aluminum legs, and then drilled through the small 'wing' on each corner of the coop. After that it was just a matter of bolting the wheels, still on aluminum legs, onto the coop, and making sure I had them all level. I added a grab rail on the front to use as a handle, and although all the wheels are dumb I only ever need to lift it a little while turning, which is easy enough. Probably would not enjoy using this setup as a tractor, but it was easy to set in place, and will be easy to move for deep cleaning a few times a year- or if I re-arranged the whole chicken village.

For the second coop, I decided to put it on casters similar to these, which took a few false starts. In the end I built a frame from pressure-treated wood, with a 2x6 on each side for the casters to attach to & the legs to stand on, and a 2x2 in front and back to connect the sides and hold the coop into place- no sliding happening here, even though the coop is just standing on the frame. It works very well for driveability, but is *very heavy*. I would be more likely to use this for a chicken tractor than I would the other design. It does make the door useless as a ramp; I built a ramp to stick on over the door every morning, but I'm already planning one with a hinge that would fold up into the coop. That will take some room away, which I don't love, but would be better for keeping the ramp in place.

I tried putting down a thin rubber mat in the first coop to make litter changes easier; it was a complete failure. I tried attaching the mat to two small pieces of wood roughly the length of the sides, but this wasn't a huge improvement. I like removable floor liners but I've given up on them for now. Will try again in the spring.

Next up: the roosts. They're easy to clean, yay! But the pockets they sit in are far too shallow; I am replacing them on the first coop every other morning. On the second coop, I attached small scraps of wood trim to the wall over one end of the roost pocket, and over the other end I attached the same size trim via hinges. These roosts have never been knocked out of place, but can be removed and returned to place with a 2-handed technique.

Roost height- on both coops I ended up swapping the roost pocket boards with the boards meant to be directly above them. This raised the roosts to about 6-8" off the ground, which all my chickens prefer over the 2" high roosts. This is easy and is one mod which you can make without physically damaging the coop. It does put the chickens closer to the ventilation panels, but I am prepared to cover these with plastic as needed.

Next up is the handle on the door; this is silly but I hate the 'use one of our plastic screws' method that it comes with! Instead I used a spare cabinet pull on the first (required a lot of washers because it didn't fit right) and then this pull, which fits perfectly and looks great, on the second coop. 10/10, no damage required, would suggest everyone make this change.

Next from the ground is ventilation. I see someone else used actual floor or wall registers to ventilate the coop; I considered that, but got my hands on some of these little cabinet vents instead. They fit neatly in the second-to-highest board on the side (the one that isn't a full board, but is more than a little triangle.) much modification needed here; I used a jigsaw to cut out the space, and drilled new holes in both the vent and the board it attached to. On the second coop I modified the vent a little to allow it to fit a smaller opening and have a broader attachment with multiple bolts. I'm pleased so far with the amount of airflow this allows, but I haven't taken through a full winter yet.

I don't like the use of a plastic bolt to secure the next box cover; it seems too fiddly. I put on a little gate latch, which makes my life easier. The security is 'meh,' a very determined or large animal could eventually pry the latch out .

That takes us up to the roof. I really want to try using pins or dowels to hold the roof in place, while letting me remove it for deep cleaning. Unfortunately, this project will need to wait until I've gotten other things done.

Overall, if you, like me, prefer composite to OSB, and don't love building from scratch but do love modifications, this could be a good coop for you. It definitely doesn't substitute for a barn or walk-in shed, but not everyone wants that.

Given the affordable price, eco-friendly construction as well as the solid protection, this chicken coop from New Age Pet is recommended for anyone that needs a durable house to place their chickens outside

Waited to review this product until having it for two years. First the summary, then all the details.

Summary: This is a good basic coop but it does need some modification because the design is just not that great. It's easy to modify with a drill, a saw and screws/zip ties. Assembly is a little complicated but doable if you follow the instructions. Parts break easily so you may need to glue some back together or ask the company for replacements. Has held up really well over two years. Fairly easy to clean. Houses 6-8 large hens. Overall a good item for someone without a lot of construction skills who doesn't want to spend a fortune.

Details!

I bought this coop two years ago when I was just starting out getting my first chickens (Goldie, Blackie, Fluffy, and Pretty Girl ). The price was okay, and I was already building a large run so I didn't want to build something else from scratch!

I knew at some point I'd want to expand my flock so I bought something bigger than I needed. This product advertises as housing 8-10 chickens (or 6-8 chickens depending on which part of the page you're reading) and for large chickens like mine (Orpingtons and Easter Eggers) I wouldn't go above 8.

Assembly:

Other reviewers on Amazon have had parts arrive broken--I only had one piece arrive with a tiny corner broken, so everything was still useable.

It took several hours to put the coop together following the instructions (I was working by myself). I did something wrong and had to backtrack at one point--the order and orientation of how you put the pieces together really matters! Read, read, read. Also there are a lot of parts so stay organized! I spread everything out on the lawn on a nice day and that worked well.

Just be aware that there are some modifications you'll want to do before putting the roof on! See the red text below for which ones those are.

Once assembled, the whole thing is pretty light. It's made out of this eco-plastic material and the walls are actually hollow, so it's easy to move if you have two people. It's not super sturdy though but it's stable enough to move gently.

Problems with the design and how I fixed them:







How it's held up:





Hope that helps you! Overall I definitely recommend this coop as a starting point.