Is there a Perfect Coop?
Choosing a chicken coop can be confusing with the array of sizes, materials and construction types so is there a perfect chicken coop? Starting this post by answering the question you probably want the answer to, may not be the best idea on our part as authors, but it does set the tone for what we’ll tell you.
Ultimately, no, there is no perfect coop that will meet everyone’s needs, BUT there is a perfect coop for you and your particular chickens.
The number of variables in selecting a coop are so vast what we will do in this post is outline some of the biggest variables so you can decide what is most important to you.
Materials
This may not have crossed your mind, but although wood has been the traditional material used to construct chicken coops, it’s not your only choice now and plastic coops have seen a big rise in popularity over the years. Plastic coops do have the advantages of low or no maintenance and are very easy to clean in comparison to a wooden coop. More crucially as wooden coops are generally constructed using lapped wooden slats that provide wonderful hiding places for nasty parasites that prey on your chickens such as red mite. In contrast, plastic coops have few joints as they are constructed using large sheets of plastic for an entire wall!
We are breeders of Buff Orpington chickens and we have 14 coops in operation. This year has been a milestone for us in that our last wooden coop has been replaced by a plastic coop and now we operate only plastic coops.
Some of our reasons why we chose to do this may resonate with you. They are also the reasons why we only sell plastic coops in the shop too.
- We do not have time to replace panels that rot over time or replace plywood lining that delaminates
- Treating the wood with preservative doesn’t fit in our schedule either, plus we have to temporaily rehouse the chickens while the treatment dries
- If we are unlucky enough to get red mite (every long-term chicken keeper gets it at some point), it’s much easier to eliminate them from a plastic coop than a wooden coop as we’re not fighting masses of hiding places.
- We don’t have time to wait for wooden coops to dry when they are soaked in a deep clean, or to scrub them. With plastic coops we can dry them by wiping them with old towels and we can use a pressure washer to replace a lot of the scrubbing.
Affordability
Arguably this is the biggest constraint in choosing any coop. If you happen to be lucky enough that money is no object then you will have no limitations on what you can look. Unfortunately, for the rest of us mere mortals, the availability of money to pay for any new coop is a consideration, so searching for new coops without applying price criteria to the search will only lead to heartache.
We know how imortant affordability is so we have worked very hard to offer coops at a number of price points. We have three main brands that will fit any pocket.
The Chick’A recycled plastic coop range available in a 4, 6 and 8 hen size, is our most affordable range.
Nestera offer a wide range of recycled plastic coops from the entry level Chicken House all the way up to the design icon, the Wagon.
We also sell ChickenGuard recycled plastic coops that are beautifully designed at a reasonable price and are specifically designed to be optimised for the market leading ChickenGuard coop auto-openers.
Breeds and Types of Chicken
The type of chicken that you have will play a large part in the selection of the right coop for you. For example, a light agile breed such as Cream Legbars can easily access any coop, whether ground level or raised, whether accessed via a ramp or stairs, but a heavier breed such as our great big lumbering Orpingtons really do not like stairs or high-level coops.
For our own flock, our Cream Legbaras and Leghorns love the Nestera Penthouse coop which is high level with steps to access it. In contrast our Orpingtons prefer the low level Nestera Chicken House or Wagon. Our Brahmas and Marans like the midlevel coops, The Nestera Lodge or Aspen and the ChickenGuard and Chick’A range.
Overall Available Space
If you’re wondering how much space your chickens need, the British Hen Welfare Trust has some clear guidance. There should be a minimum of 30 x 30cm of space inside the coop per bird, and a minimum of outside space of 1m² per bird for ex caged birds or 2m² for ex free range birds plus free ranging space. It’s so important to recognise two things with these statistics:
- They are MINIMUM requirements and chickens should always be given the maximum amount of space that you can possibly allow them.
- They are based on an average commercial egg laying bird e.g. breeds such as a Warren or a Golden Comet. Breeds like Brahmas or Orpingtons will need more coop space per bird and bantams such as Pekins can be accommodated with less.
If you are considering an attached run for your coop, it is worth thinking about whether it will provide the minimum outdoor space for your chickens. If not, then simply view your run as somewhere your hens can access some outdoor space prior to you waking up and letting them into a larger space such as your garden.
Functional Design
There are some key things that everyone looking for a chicken coop needs to think about. The first is ventilation. Having free flowing air in a coop is essential to prevent the build-up of dust and potentially pathogens in a coop.
Ideally there should be vents at opposite sides of a coop so that air flows from one side to the other, but it should also be high on the coop as you want to have ventilation, not drafts. Our preferred ventilation is adjustable so that in summer when it’s very hot at night the vents can be fully open, but in winter when it’s colder, the vents can be adjusted to a quarter of their fully open position.
The second aspect for internal design is the number of the nest boxes, that it’s appropriate for the number of laying hens that you have. To be fair, even though our hens have 14 coops to choose from to lay in, they are biologically programmed to want to lay their egg in the same nest box anyway and we will often see a queue for one space. It comes from the hens natural, evolutionary instinct to lay their eggs in the same spot, in a big pile so that a broody hen can come along and start to incubate them.
Finally, access to the coop is key. Do you want to manually let your chickens out each morning and close them up at night, or do you want the option to fit an auto-opener? We have auto-openers on all of our coops in many formats, all of which are available in our shop.
Most are up and down openers like the ChickenGuard Pro or the ChickenGuard All-in-One, some are side to side such as the Nestera Smart Auto-Door and our others are diagonal such as the Nestera Auto-Opener which is specificaly designed for the Nestera coops with pie crust shaped doors.
Whatever way you want the auto-opener to work, you will need to factor in space for the auto-opener and space for the door to open into e.g. if your pop-hole is 20cm high and you’ve chosen an up and down opener, you need a height of no less than 20cm for the pop-hole, plus 20cm for the door to be pulled up into to open the door, plus space for the auto-opener too.
External Design
What your coop looks like when you’re in your garden or viewing it from your kitchen window, really does matter. There’s a lot to be said for wanting a format of coop that you love to look at and are proud to be part of your property.
Great external design doesn’t mean you have to compromise on functional design. It’s where the real developments in plastic coops are with designs going beyond basic plastic boxes into some really startlingly lovely coops.
Take the Nestera Wagon coop as an example. We have three and everyone who visits us comments on the unusual design and how great it looks. At the same time, it has well designed ventilation, well placed nestboxes, high perches and a very practical pop-hole that can be operated manually or easily takes a coop auto-opener.
Accessibility
This is an area which many people miss when they buy their first coop. Concentrating on what works for your new hens is so easy to do whilst forgetting your own needs.
Getting into the coop is so important, to be able to collect eggs, clean the coop and also to check your chickens. As a bare minimum, we would suggest making sure that you are comfortable with the suitability for you in accessing the coop for cleaning. Access hatches vary greatly with some allowing an entire wall to be removed and others a hatch through part of a wall.
It’s also worth thinking about your own capabilities. There is no point in buying a coop that gives low level access only if you have problems kneeling or a bad back that prevents you from bending. In these cases, a raised coop is much more reasonable.
