[sellickbhoy]

Hi

i was planning on building my own chicken coop - probably converting a garden shed, however, whilst looking at Coops on the market, i found this one on Ebay.

It looks like it would do the job - and it has the removable floor to make cleaning it out a lot easier.

so, from a practical day to day point of view - what would be wrong with this type of coop?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHICKEN-COOP-HEN-HOUSE-POULTRY-ARK-HOME-NEST-BOX-COUP-0_W0QQitemZ160322440253QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry?hash=item160322440253&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1686%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1307

or does it look like it's perfectly adequate for purpose?

[Cluckinggoodpoultry]

It looks perfectly adequate to me, good price too, the feedback seems to be good on the chicken coop. I have read a few posts on various sites that have said about the quality of some of the coops being sold on ebay, but this one looks ok.

We tend to recycle what we have and what other people don't want to build coops - garden sheds, recycled wood, have some pretty good ones and have not paid very much at all.

Never had one with a metal floor so can't comment on that, although it looks like a good idea, she says going on the hunt for metal for her next project 

[exmoorlady]

Looks good to me too. I am always a bit wary of pay now buy later as I have been stung but his feedback looks good and the coup looks great for the price.

[carl]

i have heard bad things about various sellers on ebay doing cheap chicken coups. seem allright but don't last first year. i think they import these, and thus are lightweight in build quality. I would look at something a bit more substantial, although the design looks ok. I think a few people are looking to make a quick fortune on the back of the new chickens in the back garden craze.

[Fluffywelshsheep]

looks okay to me, possible person has a busy sedule producing items.

Have a chat with person before buying if you have questions

[sellickbhoy]

Thing is, i'm reasonably handy with a saw and a hammer

wouldn't be too much work to simply reinforce it, ensure teh wood was properly protected etc.

but what i was really looking for was some feedback on the features of the model - says it's suitable for up to 10 birds, is that realistic? it looks like it's 1.9m square - so 5.2 birds to the sq M - which looks alright even for a larger sized bird.

is 3 nesting boxes enough for 10 birds?

is there likely to be a need for me to get proper access inside the thing? Doesn't look like the roof flips open. Think i'd need to lift it off the ground a bit as well - wouldn't want it sitting on wet ground

[carl]

size and features seem good to me. 3 nesting boxes should be ok for 10 birds, but you will no doubt find they all want to cram into 1. I was just a bit sceptical about wether an ebay coop at that price would be built to withstand transport, building and the rigours of our climate.you can always modify wooden structures to suit, ie add hinges, latches, handles and wheels etc. put a brick under each corner to keep vermine from nesting and stop damp creeping up. creosote the interior to deter mite, and give the outside a good lick of waterproof shed colour to suit. like chicken breeds there are endless types of coops which all do a good job. you pays your money and takes your chance.

[sellickbhoy]

size and features seem good to me. 3 nesting boxes should be ok for 10 birds, but you will no doubt find they all want to cram into 1. I was just a bit sceptical about wether an ebay coop at that price would be built to withstand transport, building and the rigours of our climate.you can always modify wooden structures to suit, ie add hinges, latches, handles and wheels etc. put a brick under each corner to keep vermine from nesting and stop damp creeping up. creosote the interior to deter mite, and give the outside a good lick of waterproof shed colour to suit. like chicken breeds there are endless types of coops which all do a good job. you pays your money and takes your chance.

think you've summed up my feelings carl - instead of building one from scratch, this will save me a good few hours and all i have to do is ensure it's treated and assembled and protected properly and it'll be fine!!

it's also cheaper than a shed!! LOL

[doganjo]

Wish I'd seen that last year before I bought my shed from Focus - works out same price, but has extra features. Looks good to me.

[sandy]

Mne is similar and VERY hard to clean. I wish I had bought Anne's shed from Focus....and I am not under the influence of anything YET

[doganjo]

My shed is good inasmuch as it is full height so you can stand upright, but the nesting box is an old drawer on the floor Whit straw in it.  The perches are round poles from my whelping box (roll bars) wedged into the corners, and an old wooden shelf unit.  There is vinyl on the floor that overlaps the sides so it contains everything and can be pulled out for cleaning - but, it gets very heavy with all the chicken s"*t so doesn't get done as often as it should.  The duck shed is more or less the same but without perches and it isn't high enough to stand up in, so I get a crick in my back.  It has a lot more straw on the floor as they don't perch up high.  I have a lot to do tomorrow but I think cleaning the birds out will have to be a priority ..................  so long as it doesn't snow 

[sandy]

We went out tonight and there was a bitter wind, you may be rigt....snow on the way.I cleaned out my chickens and they made very little mess just a line of chicken poo, I have now started unsrewing the roof!!!

[Elyssian]

It looks lovely. I'd be wary because you don't know the build quality. A carpenter has just made our hen house, a friend of my son he did it 'for fun' because it was so different to his normal line of work and wouldn't take payment for his time. We just bought the wood, timber treatment, screws and such and it still cost us well over £100. If you have to reinforce it, re-treat it and generally mess around then you might be as well making your own from the start, especially if you're handy like that. Ours began life as a vague biro'd scribble on the back of an envelope, then we bought a book of poultry house plans so that we didn't make too many mistakes. The final house is a combination of my own ideas and the tried and trusted plans in the book and is exactly what we wanted. Now I just have to persuade my OH that it would look good painted lilac. 

[sandy]

Some one after my own heart, I would have love little houses in my garden, painted pretty colours, I could pain mine now but  was looking out for childrens play houses to adapt

[Fluffywelshsheep]

i now have visions of little minature village in your back garden sandy