4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Vanessa]

Hi all Proberly not the right forum but I think there are a few people with wooden coops. Well I wondered what makes do you have? Hubby still doesn't butch on the cube so looks like we will end up with a wooden coop. We have one at the minute but very poor quality so I am looking a good quality one. Have looked at the one from flight so fancy but not sure (like the heart on them). So please help me as I have spend so much time on the internet and if I spend anymore I will scream........

[madchickenlady]

I have a chicken shack cottage type coop I love it! There are some cheaper versions on ebay, so beware The very cheap ones won't last the winter. I paid around two hundred pounds for mine, and it's fab! Very easy to clean (it all comes apart) However, mine is in a permanent position on slabs, and wouldn't be suitable for moving around. It's also a 'pretty' style, to go with my garden better . Forsham arks are highly regarded by a lot of breeders

[Old Speckled Hen]

Hi Vanessa,

I have the cottage coop from Flyte with a 9ft run:good solid construction.

Both easy to put up. They were delivered flat-packed on a pallett.

I found the side door a niusance as I don't have much room so I screwed that shut and took the whole back panel off so that the entire thing lifts off when I let the chooks out.

A walk-in run would have been better but there is plenty of space for the hens as the house is raised.

I cover the top of the run with novalux sheeting and the sides with a clear tarp so they are all cosy when it rains or snows.

The coop is excellent and is easy to clean.

I have poultry guarded it every four weeks or so and have had no red mite.

 

I have it on slabs and aubiose.

 

I do covet a purple cube with a large walk-in run though sigh

[Egluntyne]

Can't comment on wooden coops, but I do have a walk in run from flytesofancy. Iam delighted with it and the customer service of the company is excellent.

[Vanessa]

I have a chicken shack cottage type coop I love it! There are some cheaper versions on ebay, so beware The very cheap ones won't last the winter. I paid around two hundred pounds for mine, and it's fab! Very easy to clean (it all comes apart) However, mine is in a permanent position on slabs, and wouldn't be suitable for moving around. It's also a 'pretty' style, to go with my garden better . Forsham arks are highly regarded by a lot of breeders

 

MCL - we have a similar one at the minute which is okayish. Don't think it will last long as we brought it from ebay.

 

I am looking at ordering a walk in run soon and just gonna get a coop to go in it. I would just like something thats high enough for me to stand (and I am not very tall!!) and also I am dreaming about straw bailes for the girls to hide and play.

[Daphne]

Mine was made by a local carpenter who has diversified into houses - but to find him I had to persevere to page 100 (well not really, but felt like it) on ebay. Knowing that, I would be tempted to ask a local carpenter near you if they'd do one - they aren't difficult and you could have your own spec? It wasn't expensive - £120 I think and fits 5 L/F orps. Also, maybe check out your local papers/free ads. I know somebody at the local apple farm makes them too, and our local chicken supplier also has a range - is there anywhere you could visit to see some? For me that made a huge difference - you can see the quality/gauge the weight/look at the finish and figure out what it is you want. We bought a cheap coop off ebay and it lasted 5 minutes. Really be careful, if it seems to be good to be true it is.

[Griffin]

http://www.elbecgardenbuildings.co.uk/index.aspx?section=product&deptid=355&productid=1787

 

This is my chicken house. It's not perfect I like the size of it, I like the fact it's easy to clean because the side can be removed, plenty of room on the perches but I think my chooks would prefer them to be higher. I've had it about 4 months now and will be creosoting it in the summer (I just happened to have some creosote fall into my lap ) and I hope that'll prolong it's life a bit more. However, when it does get replaced I'll be buying a big shed and will convert it myself to mine and my chooks liking.

 

I bought my first coop & run from Ebay and within a week the hinges on the run door had ripped away from the wood. The seller was less than helpful

[..lay a little egg for me]

I have a "Half-way house" chicken house from the Domestic Fowl Trust and am very happy with it indeed. http://www.domesticfowltrust.co.uk/products/info_halfph.html

 

It was not cheap but it is very well made. We got the starter kit that included 4 hens, a bag of feed, a bag of chopped straw, grit, a hanging waterer and hanging feeder (both good quality galvanised) http://www.domesticfowltrust.co.uk/products/info_starter3.html. The whole thing is very well made and well thought out. It is very easy to move about (essential if you don't have a permanent place sorted for them). I can do it on my own. The whole of the back opens up and is very easy to clean out. It is very well ventilated but not draughty and very secure (as long as you have it on reasonably level ground). It looks as if it will last a good many years.

 

Its design is not dissimilar to the eglu cube but with the added benefit of a roof that covers the run so that today, when the snow is on the ground, the girls have somewhere to shelter without having to be inside. The roosting bars are higher than the nest boxes (there are two) so they are encouraged to roost on the bars and not in the nesting box (they will tend to go for the highest place).

 

Although it is recommended for 4 birds, there is enough roosting and nesting space for 6 or more, but the run is not big enough for more than 4 if they are kept in permanently and not allowed to free-range. So there is room for us to expand our flock when egg production starts to fall as our original girls get older, provided we continue to allow them to free range all day (which we will).

 

They also do a larger version and a smaller version. The only down-side to our one is that it is a bit tight for getting right into it (not that one needs to really) so if I were to start again I would go for the bigger one (The Penthouse) so I could get inside to make cleaning easier and for more chickens (the lady told us that she thought that 4 birds in the larger one might get cold at night in the winter).

[abwsco]

We converted our 6ft x 4ft shed. We did take off the roofing felt though and replaced it with corduline(sp?). We're very happy with it as it's easy and quick to clean with being able to walk into it. We couldn't afford the cost of a cube but I am now saving up our "egg" money just incase we get red mite and struggle to get rid of it.

[chickenanne]

I ahve a flight so fancy one and iot's great: good access, well made, good ventilation, no drafts, very robust, etc.

They were also great for customer service, too. I looked at the Domestic Fowl Trust ones, and thought they were equally good. Is definitely worth getting one that's raised off the ground as it gives a bigger run area and more shelter.

[Mrs Webmuppet]

We bought a wooden coop & run of eBay and it's not very good at all. In fact I seem to be repairing it every week and it's hopeless when it comes to cleaning out. My OH didn't like the Cube to start with but he is slowly coming round to the idea( he's fed up with me moaning about having to fix it all the time- I even have my own tool kit for the sole purpose of fixing the wretched thing). I think it is a case of you get what you pay for.

 

Bear in mind wooden coops do require more maintenance and in wet weather the wood swells making doors tricky to open.

[alexgirl73]

I'm the same as abwsco, just converted a 6x4 shed, which currently houses 8 ladies. Just added a run onto the outside made of various bits of wood and mesh lol. Maybe not the prettiest set up, but it does the job, and will be improved upon this summer by a walk in run. IT WILL!!!!

[jos]

I have one from The Hen House in Suffolk. Very expensive but sturdy, well designed and should last for years.

J

[hennymom]

my husband built our coop... he drew up the plans and everything, apparently it's large enough to fit a small car in....lol we only have 6 girls, it has a pull out poo tray at the bottom and removable roosting bars and 4 nesting boxes.. it has a light a heater and it's own water supply.. but it is fixed in place (obviously), we love it and so do the girls, it was'nt cheap to build but it'll last long beyond our girls

[craftyhunnypie]

We have a large wooden childrens play house that you can walk in. It has a balcony & a removable ladder. The chickens perch on the balconly rail at night..up the ladder they go to bed. We do have some lower pwrches in there too. We also have 2 eglus & a cube. If your husbandry is good, there is nothing wrong with wooden houses.

 

Emma.x

[livvyshens]

I got mine from www.manorfarmwoodcraft.co.uk in Lincolnshire. It is well built and easy to clean and I love it except for 2 things. One is I wanted a tongue and groove roof which has meant it is too heavy for me to move round the garden on my own, and the other is that while it is raised enough to stop rats chewing their way in, there isn't quite enough room for a hen to comfortably walk round underneath the house. But if you are having a walk-in run I guess neither of those points would matter.

[DominicJ]

12/18 months ago when I first started looking, a wooden ark was considerably cheaper than an eglu/cube, now it doesnt seem to be the case.

A cube with extention and delivery is around £700, the domestic fowl trust doesnt seem to offer anything cheaper than around £70 a bird, delivered, and its wooden not plastic.

[marshwiggle]

Hi, I have a wooden coop and run built by a guy called Les who goes under the name of woodyshuts on Ebay. Certainly not the cheapest on the site but very well made,excellent quality and a thouroughly nice guy to boot! He makes all his coop by hand and will either deliver for not too much money or you can pick up from his home in Norfolk.

[Vanessa]

Thanks for all the replies - just ordered the walk in run from averies 4 u (jipppiiii at last) and I gonna have another look on flight so fancy website as I quite like there styles esp the little heart!!!

[Guest]

we had a wooden coop for about 10 months and I LOVED it but, despite being totally scrupulous with hygeine and cleaning it with poultry shield regularly and putting DE in all the cracks, we got red mite and couldn't shift it, despite blow torching the nooks and crannies.

 

In the end we got a reconditioned cube which is so much easier to maintain.

 

Our wooden house cost about £150 including the delivery and lasted less than a year. The cube was about £350 and although expensive, will hopefully last much longer.

 

here's a pic of both set ups, I did love my wooden house but there was a lot of bending over, it didn't come apart for easy cleaning either. The cube is a lot easier I have to say so I'd recommend the investment.

 

 

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

My wooden coop is exactly the same as Poets by the way. Mine appears to have lasted a bit longer than Poets though!

[Gamebird]

I bought my wooden house from Forsham Ark.

 

It's well built and very easy to clean. The house itself will accommodate up to 8 hybrids.

 

[..lay a little egg for me]

I believe that it is the roof that you need to be especially careful about as red mite can hide in the roof space and be impossible to shift. Our coop from the Domestic Fowl Trust (see my earlier post for website) has an onduline roof which gives the mites nowhere to hide. We have had one outbreak but a couple of goes with poultry shield and liberal use of diatom appears to have quashed it