Buying Chicken Coop

[Marmalade56]

Would love recommendations of coops folks have bought and were happy with them. Thank you!

 

[Aapomp831]

Would love recommendations of coops folks have bought and were happy with them. Thank you!

I have never been happy with a prefab coop... they promise to be able to house 6 chickens and in reality couldn’t even fit 3 bantams comfortably. Plus they are expensive- ours was well over $200, could only hold 2 small chickens after promising 6, and we now use it as a hospital / separation house for one chicken at a time. You get waaaaaay more bang for your buck building your own or converting a shed.

 

[TooCheep]

****Warning****
The vast majority of commercially built coops (at Tractor Supply, etc) vastly overstate capacity. The vendors say they can hold X chickens, but that is based on factory farming numbers (far less humane than most backyard chicken owners would recommend). The first coop that I purchased was rated for 6 chickens, but is slightly undersized for 3.

Commonly recommended sizing for full-sized birds- Coop: 4sqft/chicken, Run: 10sqft/chicken, Roosts: 1ft/chicken.

Most people who are happy with their coops have actually built their own.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Just look for people giving out free wood such as fencing, wood pallets, 2x4's ect. There was a listing here for free fencing and there were tons! I already picked up some free pallets and made a coop out of it so didn't pick them up.... but they do appear every now and then so I would keep an eye out for it. Much better to build it yourself if you are handy with tools and have free time.

 

[ZANEYchickenguy]

If you would like a good premade coop, https://carolinacoops.com/ has ones made in America and look pretty nice. All of their coops are built for ventilation and the deep litter method. I recommend building your own chicken coop, but if you really want one, get one Made in America because they are always made to thrive in bad weather and such.

 

[ZANEYchickenguy]

I understand the time and wood skills it takes to make a coop and I didn't have any of those, so you can also buy a plan online and hire a carpenter to make it for you.

 

[ZANEYchickenguy]

The vast majority of commercially built coops (at Tractor Supply, etc) vastly overstate capacity.

I agree. Never trust how many chickens it says it will hold. My run is 25 square feet per chicken but you can also do 10 square feet per bird. Good Luck!

 

[TooCheep]

I understand the time and wood skills it takes to make a coop and I didn't have any of those, so you can also buy a plan online and hire a carpenter to make it for you.

Sure. Money can always be substituted for do-it-yourself.

For those who can't/won't do-it-yourself, spend some time on the coops section of this web site and get an idea of what you think will work. A lot of them include dimensions and some include full plans.

Once you come up with an idea, I recommend documenting it as best you can and start a new thread here asking for input. People will offer a lot of constructive (and some less than constructive) criticism to help you put together a good setup.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

The best way is to build your own. We started out with a (600$) chicken coop that we bought. Said it would hold 12 chickens. Maybe they meant woodpeckers or something. If it could hold 12 chickens, it probably would have been 1sq ft per hen. You could buy one, but make sure at least 4sq ft per bird. Also make sure it’s good quality. The nesting boxes literally fell off the coop. I’m not kidding. Anyway, good luck!

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't know of any prefab coops that meet the generally accepted guidelines for chicken keeping in a non-commercial environment.

Each adult hen needs:

4 square feet in the coop,
10 square feet in the run,
1 linear foot of roost,
And 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation -- the pop door that's closed at night and any windows that are closed in the winter don't count.

You need 1 nestbox for every 4-5 hens.

The roost needs to be above the nest boxes, the ventilation is best placed above the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

Some rules of thumb:

If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suited for toy chickens (one prefab actually used toy chickens in the advertising photos).

If the measurements are given in inches instead of feet it's too small.

If there are more nestboxes than the number of chickens the coop can house the designer knows nothing about chickens and there are probably other problems too.

Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters when choosing a coop design.

How many chickens do you want to have?

Are you in an urban/suburban area where it will be necessary to adhere to certain aesthetic standards?

My Little Monitor Coop illustrates the minimum space requirements for 4 hens in a design that is well-suited to a warm climate with significant rainfall.

This thread shows a coop designed for the brutal heat of Texas.