[pennyHen]

Hi, I'm a new member, and I'm looking for some advice about poultry housing.
I recently began keeping hens, we've had our girls 3 months almost now and they are great we are loving it.
But our Coop is falling to bits!!!
I fell foul of the cheap ebay chicken coop scam.
how cliched.
We have 4 Hens, a Buff Orpington a Blue Orpington and two Rhode Island Reds.
I need some advice about buying a new coop and fast I fear the one we have is seriousley not up to the job of protecting our girls from iether the elements or the local fox's.
I've been looking at Flyte so Fancy coops but boy are they pricey. Are there any other companies out there who provide equally good quality coops without such a heart stopping price tag?
Also what are peoples experiences with this and other companies?
Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

[Trisha]

Hi Penny I am also a newbie to the site, having just found it and being a new keeper, had my girls a fortnight    I wasnt impressed at the quality of most of the coops I looked at and guessed they wouldnt last me 6 months.  My other half was going to attempt to build the coop from scratch but in the end I got a kids wooden play house, and converted that.  As it was ten years old there were some areas that had rotten but it was still solid whith plenty life left in it so we replaced with new wood where necassary, changed the shape of the roof, and began to modify to suit the girls needs.  Would you believe I gave it ten coats of paint and the blue still shows through so I gave up and left as the distressed look, lol.  Heres a few pics to give you an idea.  More room, tailored to their needs at a fraction of the price. 
Started with this and dismantled






and now complete with chooks 

[Ma Lowe]

Fab job I just love the seat placed in front of the run a must for any back yard chicken keeper  :happy: :happy:

Pennyhen Have you tried the freeadds or even Freecycle for a second hand coop?

[sarah f]

wow looks fantasic, what a great job you have done

[Trisha]

The freeads and freecycle, are a good idea, when I was looking I checked there regularly but kept getting pipped at the post but you might be luckier than me

If you plan to build your own there are plans with all the dimensions which you will find if you do a search on google.

I also have a moveable run which I can move around the grass for them.

[Craig69]

Good job!!!!!
Looks good and easy to maintain.

[pennyHen]

Thanks for the replies, we've been scouring free adds and freecycle since we got it unfortunatly nothing has come up.
The coop is litterally falling to bits    it was doing ok and we thought it could posibly last us the summer, but we had 4 days or so of rain and the whole thing has litteraly disintergrated.

[Trisha]

Hi Penny, have you found anything yet?

[nicky d]

Penny, just a thought for you,   before my girls got there new coop, my girls had a wooden dog kennel, the ones with the doors on the front and the lift up roof.   We just fixed in a perching bar and it was sorted,  there not that expensive, especially second hand ones.   Hope you get sorted.  nickyx

[pigeonpie]

Pennyhen - you had some rain?  Please send us some, it hasn't rained here for so long everything is falling apart from the lack of rain!!!
With regard hen housing, I found a lot of the pet shop ones were poor quality, as were a fair number of them being sold on places like ebay.  Farm supply shops tend to have some fairly good quality ones and our local timberyard make their own which look like they'd easily withstand a hurricane or two and are a good price.  I guess what I'm trying to say is keep an eye out for ones that are not aimed at townies.  Sadly, there are too many manufacturers making the most of the fact that it's become uber cool to own hens and are producing hen houses that look great but are not functional or will fall apart within a short time.  Buy what a farmer would, something that is practical and will last for years, even when "stored" around the yard.  My hubbie still has one of the original chicken coops that he bought to keep chooks in as a kid that is piled up amongst the rusting machinery up the farm.  It still looks fairly intact despite the fact that it must be 30 years old and been on the heap 25!!!

[pennyHen]

Thanks everyone, in the end we sucked it up and bought a long legged Maggie six from Flyte so Fancy.
it had to go on the credit card mind!!
We looked arround and got prices off of local timber yards,joineries ect and non seemed to be much cheaper tbh.
 I live in the country too so you'd have thought there would be at least someone building decent coops at a competative rate.
I am delighted with it however, it looks the beas knees in the garden, the girls are happy and its such good quality will last a very very very long time.
I also was chuffed to bits that it arived a week after the order was placed so I can now sleep soundly knowing the side is't about to fall off of the coop leaving my hens vulnerable to attacks.
The one we fell foul of from ebay was titchy and had been advertised as suitable for 7 hens! you couldn't have housed more than two LF or three banties in it long term ,there was only one perch which was just a foot long. You try getting two Orpingtons and two RIR's on that!!
So I got sorted out and am delighted with the maggie if a little faint hearted when I look at my credit card statement  

[Trisha]

Well done Penny, glad to hear that you are happy with your new coop