New Chook house - recommendations?

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Lucylou

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After giving me good service for nearly 3 years my home-made, converted from a shed, chook house needs to be replaced. Its served its purpose well but one corner is starting to leak slightly now & the door hinges have been repaired too often to be any good. Want to get it sorted before the bad weather.

Anyone have good recommendation of where to start looking? I'd love one from Flytes so fancy but could do with something a bit cheaper. Hubby says he'll buy it for me for Christmas (hmmmn, used to be pretty things, sparkly or something to wear, haven't times changed!! :lol: )
 
Bit of a minefield Lucylou. Plenty of coops around but all but the very expensive ones seem to have fundamental design faults. This is because shed manufacturers or garden furniture manufacturers have cashed in on the growing coop market. They are building for sales, so they focus on the price and appearance rather than function. None of them appear to have any experience of chicken keeping and just copy each other. Materials is a big point. Cheap grade ply or treated but unsealed timber abound. Poor fittings, inaccessibility, insecurity, poor ventillation, insufficient number of or too small nest boxes.

I build my own. Each one takes about 3 months and the materials alone are £400. But I know they tick all the boxes and should last at least one lifetime (as all parts can be repaired or replaced). You may find modifying another shed, if you want a fixed coop, is the best option. But with red mite it is worth considering a plastic unit as a fixed shed can't be treated thoroughly without creosote.
 
Have a look at Green Frog plastic houses - go to the videos on http://rarebreedpoultry.webs.com/ecofriendlyhouses.htm. I'm delighted with mine, I have a Medium Chicken Lodge, good size for up to 6 medium-sized birds, but the coops come in 3 different sizes as well as various colours. Waterproof, sturdy and windproof, well-ventilated, very easy to keep clean, resistant to redmite infestation, will never need reproofing, will last for ever, and made of recycled materials. Having moved on from an Eglu Classic, I think this is very good value for a larger house at a lower price than the Omlet equivalent. Also the supplier in this link is where i got mine from and the service and helpfulness were excellent.
 
build your own its more fun and you can make it how you want , i have just built one which is 8 ft long 4 ft wide and 4 ft high i just used 8'4 ply sheets only took me a day to build it but the bitumen roof had to wait a few days ,and in total it was about £135 am hoping to paint it multi coloured next spring and then paint chic kens over it :lol: :lol: . i had red mite in both the 6'4 shed and the 2 floored wendy house so easist way to deal with the amount was to burn and rebuild now i have just what i want its very very simple to keep clean and the seams are all sealed so no red mite can hide in them .
 
Thanks for the replies.

Hubby not so keen on DIY :roll: says he's no good at it - actually he's not bad at all but doesn't have the time really. I'm not much good (would be able to do it myself if I could sew one, can sew anything but not work with wood!)

I found a website called ChickenCoopsDirect.com does anyone have any experience of them? Will avoid the ebay/chinese rubbish but after that not sure where to start for something good.
 
i got a little coop from cocoon coops and they are cute little houses but for me personally i would not house any big hens in the size i got even though its recommended for 6 birds but its perfect for bantams only prob i have with them is theres tons of nooks and crannies for red mites { just pulled mine apart killed the few mites that was hiding then vaslined all seams } and they are not waterproof have had to put bitumen sheets over the roof to keep it dry .but i am tempted to get another in the new year as mine was £90 that including postage on next day deleivery and you can build them yourself but 2 hands are better then 1 .
 
Lucylou said:
Thanks for the replies.

Hubby not so keen on DIY :roll: says he's no good at it - actually he's not bad at all but doesn't have the time really. I'm not much good (would be able to do it myself if I could sew one, can sew anything but not work with wood!)

I found a website called ChickenCoopsDirect.com does anyone have any experience of them? Will avoid the ebay/chinese rubbish but after that not sure where to start for something good.
Click to expand...

I have had a look at their website, all the same stuff really, the wood is imported chinese fir(soft wood) good for a season or two, you would need to pop a couple of coats of good quality woodstain to try and prevent the wood warping when it gets damp. The large ones though start to get expensive.
Try phoning around local carpenters or shed makers. Also try local poultry suppliers, often they have diversified into making reasonably prices poultry housing.

All ours are converted playhouses or sheds, bought cheaply this time of year. All we do is cut out a pop hole and screw in a nice branch as a perch and away they go! Usually around £100 - £150 all in! :D
 
Our local farm stores sell coops. Not bad really but very small. Depends on the number of hens, their size and the location -exposed or sheltered. I can't get the timber and fittings for the price they sell the complete unit for. But expect to have to seal the timber as soon as you get it, as it's just treated so will get as damp inside as outside. One has started selling plastic ones made from part recycled material sheet. There will be lots at the Stonleigh show this weekend and at Stafford in December.
If you get a good one it will last and money will be saved overall. If you don't do DIY, plastic is really the only option, as all wooden ones need maintenance and repair at some stage. If you get a good one and decide to finish with chickens you will be able to sell a plastic one. Wood will be a problem with the risk of carrying disease or infestation. If I didn't build my own, plastic would be my choice I think. But part of me is worried about sustainability and plastic coops are entirely or mainly new material. Sometimes they throw some recycled material into the melt, but not much otherwise the plastic would rapidly fail. Check the sheet manufacturer's specification of the plastic and post me if you like -don't believe the salesman.
 
I reckon the best are often locally made. There is a place near us were a guy makes them to order, they are cheaper than the mass produced, but most importantly much more strongly constructed. Most of the manufactured ones are very flimsy.
 
Good point Travis. There are retired people around who make stuff for the price of a weeks beer money plus materials. A friend in Lincoln had her bathroom done by a retired plasterer, retired joiner and a retired plumber, all living in her street, for a fraction of the cost you would expect. Small ad in the local post office might get you someone who would build a coop.
 
Have a look at www.woodenart.org.uk I have one of the James Super house/run with a 15' run extension. They are extremely well build, certainly built to last a long time. The house has a big door so is very easy to clean out. It is a family business and they are really nice people. They deliver and erect it themselves and don't expect you to pay for it until they deliver it!! Very rare these days. I'm afraid they're not cheap though!
I also have a Green Frog house as Marigold suggested to you. They are completely different from the Woodenart design, but very good if you either don't want a run attached or have an enclosed run for it to go inside (which I have). Very easy to keep clean, but I have found that you do get condensation inside.
 
We've just been adapting a small summerhouse for my quail. It wouldn't be suitable for chickens but quail need a lot of light, so the windows all round the front give that, and we're building cages to fit along the back wall. The basic kit was very cheap but I gave the whole lot 3 coats of top-quality wood preservative, the 5-year- guarantee stuff, including all the edges and joins. The kit went together OK but i think if it wasn't properly proofed and carefully sealed, and erected by someone experienced in woodwork, it would soon warp and start to leak. As Chuck says, you couldn't have bought the materials DIY for the price, and building in the cages will probably cost more than the house. Also it's a long job, OK for us as we're retired but would eat into weekends if people went to work. I've been careful to seal all the joins in the cages to try to reduce the possibility of redmite, but it does have a felt roof of course, and I'm not happy about this aspect compared with my plastic house.
Even if some plastic houses are not made entirely of recycled materials, in my view this is counterbalanced by their fitness for purpose in keeping hens, and also by the fact that you don't need repeated applications of highly toxic preservative such as I've just doused my quail house in. Treating wooden houses is very inconvenient if you don't have a spare one for the birds to use whilst the stuff is drying off and fumes are evaporating.
 
Forgot to say, my chicken house/run is actually on the Woodenart website under the James Super house pictures, it's the seventh photo from the top. It now has an open run extension to this, which has made the run 4 times the size.
 
That looks a really nice one, Sue. i liked the onduline roof, both for ventilation and redmite prevention.

I'm surprised you're having condensation in your Green Frog, though, as mine is perfectly dry inside. However I do have the vents fuilly open and i leave the pophole open as well, as it's in a sheltered run and the temperature hasn't got down to freezing yet. Do you think this makes a difference?
 
Yes Marigold, I do think this would make a difference. I have all the vents open, but I have the automatic pophole and it closes (obviously!) It is in a very sheltered position in a covered run, so this could be the reason. As the hens aren't laying now, I prop open the nest box cover all day and this allows it to dry out. There's only 2 hens in there as well, so heaven knows what it would be like with 6!
 
Watched it Tygrysek. Looks like fun was had building it, but I'll stick to my formula -bit boring but fully functional and durable.

But worrying about plastic coops and condensation. I did see one that had 3 vents but only two could be closed. Bit of a disaster waiting to happen if you have to leave the pop-hole open at night though. One of our rearers, which has little ventilation deliberately, got condensation on the plywood lid (plywood doesn't breath well because of the adhesive) which then went mouldy and the cockerel developed a severe respiratory infection from it.

Good point about the spare coop Marigold. I'm building one now so that the other two big ones can be treated and repaired. So a definite plus point for plastic unless temporary housing is available.
 
I had an Eglu before my present Green Frog, which was very well insulated, being double walled and never got condensation. I don't know yet whether I shall get any in the Green Frog - as I said, none so far, but I don't fully close the pophole at night unless the weather is really bitter and the wind is blowing. In the Green Frog you can close the triangular pophole halfway, from the apex of the triangle at the top, making it a narrower gap but still a large enough hole for them to get through, and I do this. The coop has its doorway end under the covered, sheltered part of the run, and I think the birds are healthier with plenty of air at night for most of the year. Also they can get up when they like in Summer, and even in winter there are very few weeks when I have to go and let them out early in the morning, except when the drinkers would be frozen overnight anyway if I didn't take fresh water down to them. Chickens are hardy birds, they have beautiful duvets all over their bodies, if there are the right number of them in a dry coop they keep each other warm, and this is one aspect of chicken keeping where I used to mollycoddle them but don't any more!
 
Hope this doesn't appear as a double post but my first attempt seems to have gone astray.

I have the same Green Frog house as Marigold and keep 6 hens in it which is full capacity and have to say that it's so far so good with regards to condensation. I close the pop hole at night and leave the vents open, there is also a half inch gap between the curved roof and the sides so ample ventilation really. Obviously it hasn't got particularly cold yet so it will be interesting to see what happens when winter proper arrives.
 
There are plenty of unsatisfactory houses around, the worst aspects being poor design, poor construction nd wood so soft a rat could chew through it in a night ! However, there are some well made, solid ones about but I still have concerns about the design.
I'd go for a shed and get someone to modify it for you if you haven't got time. or as suggested find someone who will make one up so you can have your own design.
 
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