Altering an Urban Coop Co "Starter Coop"

[lauravalentine]

Hello all,

When we got our chickens, we also got the Urban Coop Co "Starter Coop" (no longer made) with a run extension. The run area is only about 2ft high. You can see a starter coop & run extension on their website still, although they are discontinued. The coop & extension slot together and are held tight with hasps.

This turns out to be great as long as exactly nothing ever goes wrong -- no chicken injuries, no PVC waterer shattering because of extreme cold weather, etc. Once something goes wrong there's nothing but annoyance and difficulty.

So, come warmer weather, I'd like to use this as a base for making a coop with a walk-in, much larger run. I think I can flip the extension out to the back and still use the hasps on that side, and then...somehow...?? construct a walk-in setup around the L-shape of the coop & run. I think I can use the lip on the run extension (for slotting under the starter coop) to rest the back of the new structure on, and build a hasp-appropriate attachment on the new front side to keep it all snug.

Any ideas for making this work? Is this a terrible idea? It still won't be ideal, I know. My other option is to build from scratch or buy a better coop and keep this coop as my "chicken hospital" -- I'm currently using a chicken tractor when I have an injured hen that needs to be isolated, or a serious conflict between hens.

 

[lazy gardener]

I tried every which way to find a pic of your coop, and could not. Can you post a pic? How many birds do you have? What is your maximum flock size?

 

[lauravalentine]

The link in the original post goes to the old page on the mfg's website, but here it is written out:

https://urbancoopcompany.com/product/starter-coop-run-extension/

The coop has a max of 4 standard-size hens. Currently we have 2.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

My first coop was a small one like yours that I built after being inspired by their design. I outgrew it, but have it connected with my run so that they can still use it, or I can use it for isolation if necessary. There was a time when some of the chickens wanted to be alone and would roost in there. Some of the girls like to lay their eggs in it. That's OK with me. It's nice to have a spare. You can see it behind the main coop and how it's connected to the run.

 

[nminusyplusm]

If this is your coop:

then I think you're much better off starting from scratch. Sometimes trying to adapt and work with something wrong makes a job harder and compromises the final build.

Keep it and use it as a hospital/isolation coop and build the real main coop without it.

 

[lauravalentine]

If this is your coop:

then I think you're much better off starting from scratch. Sometimes trying to adapt and work with something wrong makes a job harder and compromises the final build.

Keep it and use it as a hospital/isolation coop and build the real main coop without it.

Yep, that's the one. The real annoyance is that low door in front -- I can hardly get anything in or out if I need to without removing the run extension.

 

[nminusyplusm]

Yep, that's the one. The real annoyance is that low door in front -- I can hardly get anything in or out if I need to without removing the run extension.

It looks tiny, what are the interior dimensions? Coop minus nest box(s?) and size of floor entry hole? Run?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have that same coop. You can alter it somewhat since the pieces do all come apart, but as it was meant to fit together in a specific way it kind of limits you too. So I think you'd be better off building a new coop but hanging onto this as a backup/side project unit. I plan on keeping mine for broody breaking and chick brooding + integration in the future.

It looks tiny, what are the interior dimensions? Coop minus nest box(s?) and size of floor entry hole? Run?

Set up as the OP has, sq footage inside is about 14-15 sq ft floor space. The "run extension" isn't really a run, it just expands the floor space. There's no floor under the bar (it's basically a big, open air box), birds simply fly up to roost. The nest box is at the end of the roost bar and I removed mine in order to extend the roost, as I ended up with an extra chicken. As far as prefabs go it's actually pretty sturdy.

 

[aart]

Keep it and use it as a hospital/isolation coop and build the real main coop without it.

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[B Redhawk]

I'm with aart, that looks like a good hospital or isolation coop to me.