Tractor Supply Co. Chicken Coop Reviews Thoughts Feedback - Why and Why Not ?

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Nifty-Chicken

Nifty-Chicken

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Dec 26, 2006
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My Coop
My Coop
I've had a few people recently reach out to me asking which coop I suggest they buy from TSC (Tractor Supply Co). I obviously have my own ideas & thoughts, but I worry I might also be biased. While I think some of the chicken coops at TSC are probably total garbage, I'm hoping others might be respectable options.

I thought I'd reach out to the hive... er... flock-mind and get a good discussion going.

Take a look at some of the coops at TSC, copy a handful of links to coops and post them here with your thoughts / comments.

Here's a direct link to their coops category: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/catalog/coops?cm_sp=Fly_-_-SubCategory-_-Coops

Some are as low as around $300:
... while others are a bit higher:
So, check out their site and post some links and comments. Hopefully we can help save some peeps some headaches and get them (and their flocks) to a happy-place!
 
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Nifty-Chicken said:
I've had a few people recently reach out to me asking which coop I suggest they buy from TSC (Tractor Supply Co). I obviously have my own ideas & thoughts, but I worry I might also be biased. While I think some of the chicken coops at TSC are probably total garbage, I'm hoping others might be respectable options.

I thought I'd reach out to the hive... er... flock-mind and get a good discussion going.

Take a look at some of the coops at TSC, copy a handful of links to coops and post them here with your thoughts / comments.

Here's a direct link: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/catalog/coops?cm_sp=Fly_-_-SubCategory-_-Coops

Some are as low as around $300:

... while others are as high as $1,400:
So, check out their site and post some links and comments. Hopefully we can help save some peeps some headaches and get them (and their flocks) to a happy-place!
Click to expand...
Honestly, I've never seen one that I could recommend in good conscience. They just aren't worth the money for the size and quality you get.
IMO, buying a shed then adding roosts, nest boxes, windows and ventilation is the way to go.
 
Heres my thoughts on these as a new chicken owner. A lot of these style coops are going to depend on where you live and how many chickens you have. For a family that just wants 2 chickens I can see one of these possibly working with a bit of improvement. But if you choose to have 4 or more chickens I dont think it's worth your time or money. The more expensive coops look like better quality but if you can build something yourself you will get so much more for cheaper. I think a lot of people are drawn to these because they are cute but little do people realize your chicken is going to poop in there. And chickens dont need cute, they need secure.
 
Ok So here what I have to say. I bought a small one from amazon and my son saved his money and bought a bigger one from TSC so he could have more than 2 chickens.
These both were under $300 price range.
Pros:
Fast easy to get started.
Easy to move around the yard.

Cons:
Materials are thin and degrade faster than better built ones.
Since we moved ours alot around the yard they seem to weaken over time.
Hard to clean out. unless you are 3 foot tall.
Easy for a large predator to roll over in the night. (This happened to both of ours, luckily we had built a coop and just moved the main flock in it. We had rabbits in one lost 3, and a broody and 3 babies in the other they survived not sure how).
 
Wow that last one (Innovation Pet Classic Red Barn, 15-18 Chicken Coop) is really expensive for what it is. 😬

Of all the ones on TSC site the OverEZ is probably the most usable design but they overestimate how many chickens it'll hold (depending on climate). I'd say 6 large fowl would be the max for that based on floor space. Going strictly by the roosts (not sure on roost spacing, but that's an easy fix) it could hold 12.

For folks who have access to smaller independent feed stores/co-ops, some of them do offer locally made, ready to go coops that are better designed and made of better materials. The labor and materials should be reflected in the price.

A premade shed is a more suitable option in most cases and pricewise is a better bargain. It will take some alterations to turn it into a coop.
 
Tractor supply coops go on sale frequently, and if you are a part of their neighbors reward program, you can get killer coupons. I ended up getting a coop that was originally $300 for less than $100. I've had three different coops from TSC, all the cheapest I could get :). I would post links but I can't find them since they aren't available anymore.

I have similar thoughts on all of them.

Cons: I'm pretty sure they all came from China; it seems silly to have something shipped so far that could easily be made here. The materials are cheap and smell weird out of the box. They aren't designed well for people to go into the coop. They are WAY too small to keep any chickens in aside from at night. They wobble if you don't reinforce the walls correctly. You have to half disassemble them to do a thorough cleaning.

Advantages: They have all been extremely easy and fast to assemble. I like instructions and none of them took me more than a couple hours to put together. (Versus my own homemade coop which is now basically a years long project, lol.) Also, because the materials are flimsy, the coops are very light. My own method of cleaning poop has been to just pick up the coop and move it to a different spot, once a week or so. I live in Texas and it's not like they need a lot of insulation, so I don't mind the walls being thin. I've never had any predator problems in any of their coops. (I'm positive they would last less than a second if we had bears around here though.) Most of them are cute looking. I've never had one collapse, even in pretty heavy storms.

Pro tips: You can buy metal corner enforcers and connectors to help keep the wood from warping and shifting. I like to also get cheap ground contact wood strips to put on the bottom, which keeps the wood from rotting due to ground moisture and reinforces the shape of the coop, plus you can easily adjust the height that way. Don't forget to also have an apron around the coop so nothing can dig in, since they don't have floors. If you want them to last, you need to repaint/seal the wood every year or so.

Warning: Chickens cannot be kept in any prefab coop during the day. They are all way too small, and any number of chickens more than 3 would start to kill each other or literally die of boredom. These coops are meant to be placed inside a run, or to have a large run attached to them. If you use them that way, they can be great.
 
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Nifty-Chicken said:
while others are as high as $1,400:
Click to expand...
These links working for anyone?
Just taking me to a search page on TSC.
@Nifty-Chicken ?
1586708092213.png
 

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