[katey]

Hi all,
Just wanted to warn other newbies to chicken keeping to be really careful when buying coops off ebay.I'm sure that lots of people have picked up fantastic bargains and have no problems at all but mine was full of draughty gaps that needed filling.It still leaks even after a thorough siliconing by myself(is currently tented over with tarpaulin) and the roof blew clean off with the first strong wind.
Not a bargain at all but an expensive mistake.......oh and it was advertised as fit to accomodate 6 chx.In reality it's only big enough for three.
Oh,if i knew then what i know now! :blink:

[Diggit]

That is sad to hear Katey. Was it flat-packed? If so then what is the fixing method of the panels? Where abouts are you based? I've got some large pieces of exterior ply left from my coop build and yours could be modified maybe?

Have you approached the seller at all?

[penninehillbilly]

Hi Katey
sorry to hear about your coop
was this new or second hand?
if new maybe it would be good for others to know the site/make so they know to be wary?

[Casey76]

Hi Katey, really don't beat yourself up too much.  Chicken keeping is a burgeoning hobby and suppliers are taking advantage of this.

Many coops are imported from China, so you really have little recourse of cracked or broken bits.  Unfortuantely a lot of coops on the market look nice, but in reality are not practical for actual chicken husbandry.

People (in general, not you specifically) often end up spending far more on a series of cheap coops than a decent, well built coop to start with.

If you can afford it, I would recommend you buy a British made coop.  You might be looking at 300-400 pounds, but it will work out chepaer in the long run!

[katey]

hi all,and thanks diggit!
The coop was new and flatpacked.The design is a coop over a small run....54s.
I wouldn't recommend it even if it didn't have all these problems as it's tricky to clean out.
The seller has agreed to refund me half and send me better fittings.
I'm already saving up for a british coop.....been looking at flyte so fancy hobby house and the forsham lenman and then there's always the eglu cube........Please,please let me win the lottery!
I was thinking that a good interim solution might be to roof half of their run(it's 12x28ft) with corrugated clear stuff.That would also give them and me some shelter  and make it easier to clean coop properly if it's a rainy weekend.
Has anyone done this?Would it work?

[Lastcast]

Hi Katey,
sorry to read of your problems, I built my own coop and the run 20' x 10' and covered it with the clear corrugated pvc, I've really noticed the benefits both for me and the hens over the winter. Obviously it stayed relatively dry inside and with the coop raised about 18" on legs, the hens still had somewhere to dust bathe in the worst of the snow.
The pvc can be suseptible to winds so you'll need some decent batons across the top to fix it to and don't scrimp on the distance between the fixings, I bought the sheets and fixings from Wickes, a 8' x 2' 6" sheet was about £8.50. Be advised to fit guttering and a couple of water butts or a soak away for all that rainwater. good luck