To anyone thinking of getting one of those cute little coops….

[NagemTX]

I'm getting a barn this year and chain link runs. Just have to find someone to build or help build. Not gona lie me and my bro have issue finishing what we start, lol. So we need a builder. (Barn is my part of the solar we are doing as the house faces the wrong direction for it.)

 

[The Birb King]

I made the mistake of buying one of those coops a few years ago. It was cute and red and I thought it would work well for a few bantams (knowing it was too small for full size chickens). It worked alright for about a year until a bear ripped the door off and killed my silkie hen. I gave it to my friend to fix it and got it back a few months later. It was better, but still not as good as it used to be. I decided to repaint it and the following year it was in pretty good shape so I housed one of my broody hens with chicks in there. A few months after I moved them out, the coop was just falling apart and rotting at that point so I just got rid of it. Would not recommend buying them they are made of thin wood and only last a couple years, not very predator proof, and too small for most chickens. It is best to just build your own coop.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Oh, I will also add my grey coop flipped over in the wind once and crashed into the sentinels. Was like a tornado in a trailer park. Everyone in it was fine though, just scattered between outside and in the debris

 

[Shadrach]

Isn't it the purpose of this thread to help potential buyers to beware?

I have considered reporting certain websites to the Advertising Standards Authority, because of the misleading nature of the information presented.

Therefore, I have searched for statements which are objectively untrue and therefore illegal, however, I can't find any. For example, there isn't a precise definition of 'foxproof' in relation to the wiregauge on a chicken run.
On these sites, the layout of information, in guiding the eye towards or away from content, is very cleverly devised to be persuasive and bypass human rational defences. Decisions are made by using emotions rather than logic. (Logic assembles the facts; emotion evaluates them; bypassing logic is the advertiser's aim.)

I suppose that is the intention.

https://thechickenhousecompany.co.u...ouses/products/6-to-12-hen-chicken-coop-cc058

Let me take this coop as an example. The style is common in the UK. I have some experience, little of it good, of this design.

The web site states it's good for 6 to 12 hens. The question one needs to consider is by whose standards? Here on BYC four square foot per bird in the coop is recommended. There is no legal limit (unfortunately) as to how many birds one can house in a given space unless you are a commercial concern and even then the standards are not stricktly enforced.

I can tell you that the 6 to 12 recommendation is a vast underestimate. I've seen 23 chickens housed in such a coop. Here's a picture.

Here's a view of the coop. As you can see, even in such a disgusting state. it's a the same style and size.

The person who was responsible for what you can see in the pictures considered this quite acceptable given they could come and go in a run that exceeds the BYC advised 10 square foot per bird and given these chickens are Ex Battery hens and rescues the person responsible will tell you it's better then what they had. They have a point.

Chicken keepers I know of my generation have usually judged their coops by one foot per bird roosting space rather than by over all square footage. I still do because the majority of my chicken care experience is with free range chickens who are out of the coop every day from dawn till dusk. They only use the coop to roost and lay eggs in.

The OP shows a picture of the coop they are saying isn't fit for purpose covered in snow and I assume pretty cold as well. I wouldn't even consider a coop like that or the one I've posted if I was considering the type of climate the pictures portray.
So, there are many things to consider when buying, or making a coop and the square footage comes a long way down the list.

Having had to deal with this type of coop for quite a few months before replacing it, and having now dismantled the coop, I can tell you there are much more serious problems with it than the floor space. However, it has stayed mostly in one piece despite having the roof blown off twice and it's lasted ten years.

The coop the OP posted is fine for 6 chickens in the right keeping circumstances and of course, the sizes of the chickens. I've had six chickens roost of entirely their own accord in smaller spaces but as mentioned above, they got out at dawn and only went back to the coop to lay eggs until dusk.

Yes, I agree that many of the marketing for these prefab coops can be misleading. That's what marketing does with products, not just chicken coops.
It's your job as the consumer to research the products you are interested in and for something like a construction of any sort, equip oneself with a tape measure and a calculator if necessary. Buying something because it looks cute has a short satisfaction life span in my experience.

These flat pack coops get a lot of flak. I'm not going to defend the poor design but the product allows people who may just want to keep three or four hens a reasonably economical avenue into chicken keeping. Not everyone can afford to build, or wants a chicken mansion in their backyard.

 

[NagemTX]

Lol, my friend that works at TSC called my hoop coop a chicken Taj Mahal. Granted its 24ft long by 9ft wide for 24 chickens. 16ft is covered by a tarp and the roost bars and nesting options are in there. During the winter the whole thing is covered by tarp due to winds and rain.

 

[SourRoses]

These flat pack coops get a lot of flak. I'm not going to defend the poor design but the product allows people who may just want to keep three or four hens a reasonably economical avenue into chicken keeping. Not everyone can afford to build, or wants a chicken mansion in their backyard.

I just want to point out that the coop you posted and the one in the OP are really different in size.
Yours has a run a human can walk into.
The TSC coop has a "run" that I couldn't fit in if I was sitting on the ground knees to chest and someone placed it over me from above.

Economy is about value for money... if it doesn't do the job, if it has to be replaced, it's not a budget item.

 

[Jenni Hen]

'the product allows people who may just want to keep three or four hens a reasonably economical avenue into chicken keeping. Not everyone can afford to build, or wants a chicken mansion in their backyard.'
This was my position. I wanted a pretty garden - for me and for the neighbours - I'm in a mid-terrace house and the gardens are only 16 feet wide; and I wasn't sure how much I'd like keeping chickens so I didn't want a big investment.

I arranged to get four bantams light Sussex bantams and a tiny coop from guys on the allotment who were getting desperate to offload them and therefore they and their mates (everyone within gossip-range) assured me that a run 8' x 2' would be fine. He was wanting me to take another 4 (3 x New Red Hampshire, 1 x Plymouth Rock), and the other guys were encouraging me to do so; from Gumtree I got another coop with an even smaller run plus a sort of rabbit hutch thing that I fettled.

In the meantime, I was Googling like crazy and getting info that conflicted with what I understood. When my neighbour's bantams arrived, I was able to watch them and see how they moved naturally. I was perturbed to see that they didn't have enough space to walk around in a natural and relaxed way and that in my run was smaller still.
People were saying '4 square feet in the run' as if it would be ok to keep one chicken permanently in an area 2' x 2'; and I was also perturbed that no-one considered a minimum area that would provide enough space for a single chicken to move freely.

Then I recalled the 'Gold Cockerel' series of books and ordered some, and in those older books I found advice that made sense.

The information-finding experience was very uncomfortable - it was like trying to keep my head against being brainwashed.

I took the Buff Plymouth Rock and one of the NRH, because someone who's been good to me was very insistent that I'd regret if I didn't, but I refused the other two because I'd worked out that I couldn't have enough space.
Despite my dream of a pretty garden adorned with cute coop and bantams, I created a total eyesore in which I thought the banties would be happy. Being in lockdown, I had to make it from whatever I could find. I used pallets, the wire-mesh fence we'd just taken out, shelves from old plastic greenhouses for the 'roof' and the cover from an old polytunnel to pull over if it rained too hard.
Then followed many more disappointing hours of browsing about prefab runs and withstanding misleading info. Eventually I felt that I knew enough to plan a better run myself and I got a local sawmill to make 6' x 3' panels of 2"x2" on which we put foxproof mesh, then bolted the panels together.

My professional background includes obtaining info and data and dealing with the conflicts and contradictions, yet my experience was nightmarish and that's why I'm sharing these details.
I agree that there are people who don't consider hen welfare and I'm now upset at a lot that I see.

On a happier note, I must give full credit to the firm I used for the mesh, Ultimate-1. On their website they indicate the suitable uses of each type of mesh. When I called to enquire, they put me straight through to someone who knew about chickens and fox behaviour and was happy to discuss which product would be the most appropriate.

 

[3KillerBs]

On a happier note, I must give full credit to the firm I used for the mesh, Ultimate-1. On their website they indicate the suitable uses of each type of mesh. When I called to enquire, they put me straight through to someone who knew about chickens and fox behaviour and was happy to discuss which product would be the most appropriate.

It's great to hear about a good company doing customer service right.

 

[Christie311]

Any new chicken tenders this year thinking of buying one of those cute little coops from Tractor Supply - DON’T do it!

We made this mistake and IMO it’s really easy to do. They’re cute and small, advertised for up to 6 chickens. You just don’t realize how big they will grow, they grow for almost a year! But other than that issue, check out what your chickens will be stuck in if you live in a winter climate.

Every day I am so thankful that we did something else for them. I will say this is a nice little grow out coop or isolation unit in the right temps!

I don't even have full grown chickens yet and I agree with you. I have this exact coop that I purchased last year for one of my rabbits that was not getting along with the others. Sometimes I wonder if it's even large enough for her LOL. I looked it over and over after I decided to get chickens and could not figure out how chickens would be kept in this. I thought maybe in a warm area where all they do is sleep in it at night?? even then I don't know how more than 4 would fit. I have a second "chicken coop" that is for my other rabbits an it's the same way even though it's a walk in.... I am glad to hear someone with experience say I am not crazy LOL

 

[NagemTX]

My coop when I first finished it! About 24ft long and almost 10ft wide.