Producer's Pride Defender Extra-Large Chicken Coop, 18 Chicken Roosting Capacity

We couldn't be happier! I considered building our coop and run, but after pricing everything out and considering the time necessary, I decided to purchase this set up. I built it mostly on my own, took my time, and called for an extra hand a few times. The trickiest part was this: When you build the roof for the coop, they have you put the front gutter on before attaching the roof to the coop. Then when you go to put the roof on the coop (if your coop is already snugged up to the run, which it should be because it's too heavy to move later) you can't drop the front gutter side of the roof in between the coop and run. Solution: we put a ladder on each side of the coop and two of us layed the coop roof upside down, shingles down, onto the run, lined the gutter up with the space between the run and coop, and slowley flipped it 180 degrees into place while making sure that the gutter slid right in. We have four hens and this coop has done exactly what we needed. It's pretty sturdy, roomy and once we added the run cover, which you can get at TSC also, it has provided plenty of shelter and shade. We've had some heavy rain, three inches last weekend, and the coop stays dry inside, maybe a little moisture around the doors, but expected. Ventilation seems good, we may add a front vent above the coop door but it doesn't seem necessary so far (several 90 degree days so far.) We also added an apron around the whole thing made out of green covered galvanized fencing to keep any diggers out (see Carolina Coops on youtube for this procedure.) With Wisconsin winter coming we will add vertical, opaque, corrugated roofing panels to the lower half of the run as a snow and wind barrier. For the price, you will not regret this purchase. We did pick ours up and the package was quite tall on our 8' utility trailer. The whole thing is packed in a metal frame which makes tying it down pretty simple.

Great run! Very sturdy

My wife and I purchased this chicken coop and run kit upon moving to our new home. We were going to build one with plans, but when we found the Defender, we couldn’t pass up an all in one option. This kit checks off all the boxes for the hobby farm chicken keeper - sturdy, all-in-one, and easy to assemble in an afternoon. Our ten pullets and three ducklings love it! They were going in on their own by the second night. I would note, for first time chicken keepers, that if you live in a zone where a portion of the year is below freezing, some measures should be taken to keep the birds warm. The walls are not thick by any means. Other than that, we are happy with our purchase. We bought the top tarp as well - I highly recommend. It’s great for a rainy day so your birds can still enjoy time outside.

This did take 2 of us to assemble, but it is nice and sturdy with a good layout! Things to consider (that others have mentioned too, so i was not caught off guard) *I have only 6 chicks now but I cannot see that the hutch will be comfortable for more than 10 at night in the hutch *there are multiple spots where there are gaps that will need to be covered - in the hutch, gaps that let in rain and potentially too much cold air in the winter - in the run, gaps that you may want to cover depending on what predators or mice you want to keep out * I am presuming it would be much easier to square up on a flatter piece of land than we have, but we made it work with pavers and animal barrier/no dig fence barrier around the base We have painted it (if you want to paint/stain do it before assembly!), added weather proofing and 2 windows on the front - one with a solar fan. And wrapped the bottom 2/3 with hardware cloth. I thought about giving 4 stars, but I think outside of the weather proofing I am probably just being extra cautious as this is my first time having chickens.