What chicken coop?

[Nicole01]

Good luck! I agree with building one! It's cheaper and sturdier! My husband built my coop on the weekends and it didn't take long at all. My coop is 12x5x9 inside our garage and our run is 22x5x5.5 along side the house. Most our coop funds went in the run. We were only going to have 2-3 hens, but now we have many more!

I just lost hens while they were free ranging to coyotes. There is one coyote that's huge and not afraid of me or my dogs. I was face to face with him 3-4 days ago. We have fox, bear, hawks and especially roaming dogs. I even had a neighbors cat attack one of my hens.

Our run was first built with welded wire, but after a year of convincing hubby, he installed hardware cloth since we have weasels too. Nothing has gotten inside my coop except a gopher 2 years ago, then I covered the hole. We buried wire along side the run, but gophers are superior diggers.

Good luck! I hope your dad builds the coop himself or you can build one from a nice shed. Maybe there's a used shed or wooden child's playhouse that would work on Craigslist.

Having chickens is pretty awesome! Once we decided we were getting them for sure, it was a long years wait! I ended up getting my first chicks before the coop was built.

 

[nicalandia]

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[Nicole01]

If your dad says no to building, both the run and coop size is important where I live since it snows and gets below freezing quite often. We do cover our run in plastic and let the chickens have access all winter long.

If you don't have snow, I suggest the bigger run. Unless you can cover the run with plastic or even a tarp to keep the snow and wind out. They spend most their time outside.

If it is snowy and they won't use the run 5-6 months of the year, the bigger coop would be better.

If I had a choice between the two, I'd pick the top one and cover the run during the winter.

You and your dad will have to assemble this anyway. I hope he changes his mind and builds one. You can definitely get more for your money.

Good luck! This is exciting!

 

[chynasparks]

One thing I can share, is if you order one that says holds like 8 chickens, count on it really only being roomy enough for 3-4 chickens. I've heard of folks ordering a coop and doing some of their own"beefing up" to make them more secure. Read reviews on those websites and perhaps call them and ask about the wood they are using. If you buy one that seems a cheap price then it's probably not sturdy enough to last. Perhaps your dad can get you started with a cattle panel whoop coop and then build a nice one for you on his time. Google cattle panel whoop coops and see varies designs. It wouldn't cos near as much with your dad's experience he could put it together really quick and secure. We finally got a whoop coop chicken run up. My peeps can't free range. It took us 6 weeks to build the coop/run enclosure and a day to put up the cattle panel run. It will probably take you a little longer to enclose part for nesting and night roosting but still would be cheaper than ordering a poorly constructed coop. Good luck

 

[Biologrady]

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The coop above was modified from a shed kit, sold by a warehouse club store... Was 1,000 including delivery (we had the dog run part already), plus needed to buy about 100 worth of materials for base and roof. Cost us practically nothing to add a pop hole, some extra ventilation and nest boxes, and the thing is big enough to store food and gear inside, away from predators.
I also have a 6x8 Amish coop...cost about twice as much delivered, and I don't see it lasting nearly as long!