Does anyone know of a plastic coop with rollaway nestboxes?

[Icemaiden]

I asked this question a year or three ago, but the answer at the time was "only in the USA & it costs a fortune".

Now that the forum's been revitalised by all of our welcome migrants from the PP forum, I thought it might be worth asking again?

So, is there a plastic coop available in the UK suitable for around 6 LF, with a rollaway nestbox or two, all raised off the ground to allow the girls to get underneath when birds of prey fly over? It needs to take a pop hole opener too.

In an ideal world the coop would be under £450 02

 

[Rattus]

There's the Green Frog Chicken Wagon and Chicken Barn that have rollaway nest boxes, but l'm not sure they meet your other requirements.

 

[Margaid]

You could try Solway. They have increased their range. I bought (secondhand) an early Eco-House which had an internal nest box. I removed that and OH cut a hole in the side so I could fit an external Chick Box http://www.chickbox.co.uk/ It's now called the Coop Box.

You could ask Solway what size the hole in the side is and then maybe fit Chick Boxes. Alternatively, if you can get the dimensions of the nest box you could just buy the rollaway inserts from Chickbox which they now call the Egg Tray

I also bought the "HenSafe" opener which Solway can fit to some of the houses. It is brilliant because it works on light level or time - whichever is the later. So on a bright sunny day with the timer set for say 9pm but it's still quite light at 10pm, it won't shut until after 10 pm so there's never any danger of the pophole shutting before all the hens are in.

 

[Icemaiden]

It's a shame that the Green Frogs are so expensive- I'll have to work out the cost of adding a chick box to a Solway hen house, putting it onto a stand & adding a longer ramp. Any idea how much the chick boxes are?

You'd think that more manufacturers would make coops to take rollaway nestboxes, but I guess that most people would cull hens who start laying soft shelled eggs, so they wouldn't have to worry about egg eating... I'm just too soft. That's my problem!

 

[Margaid]

You need to shop around for the Chick Box - I'm lucky, when I bought mine the factory was miles away. I don't have hens now and the factory isthree quarters of a mile away!