Ware Manufacturing HD Chick-N-Hutch Chicken Hutch
- Heavy duty chick-n-hutch house
- Durable exterior design
- Full fold-down front
- Easy access Egg Door
This chick-n-hutch is a heavy duty house for pet chickens featuring a full-size folding front door, easy access egg door in back, wind-guard design and adjustable roof. Accommodates 2-4 chickens and is perfectly sized to attach a chick-n-rabbit pen for expansion. Includes adjustable perch. Measures 42-1/2-inch width by 28-inch depth by 39-inch height.
List Price: $ 238.99
Price: $ 151.99
Cheap, not sturdy chicken coop, OK for temporary use,
I am a first-time chicken owner. Our five chicks are six weeks old and can’t move around their current cage very well. They aren’t fully feathered, so we needed something to put them in. Also, the stink in the house is too much, so I thought I would buy a small coop so they could hang outside.
I gave it two stars, one for size I need and one for the design, which is decent.
The instruction photos are not clear. The back wall fits in a warped way on to the sides of the hutch. The frame around the roof was stapled together and did not hold up in shipping, so I had to reinforce the corners. When I attached the chain to the side of the hutch, per instructions, I opened and closed the roof to see how well the chain held. One of the links immediately broke apart and the chain was not long enough anyway to keep the roof from falling back. So we have decided not to use the roof for access.
The wire on the front, bottom and sides has 1″ openings. Since I am nervous about rats, I had to cut and add a 1/2″ wire cloth to add to the existing wire. The front of the hutch opens all the way as shown in the photo, which is convenient for cleaning, which is why we don’t need to go through the roof. However, the wire cloth in the front is flimsy and even though it has hooks for closure, they will not hold a persistent predator. And it is rough and scratchy, not having been smoothed down.
There is a long crack on the roof frame and down one side of the side wall. Those had to be fixed and reinforced.
The instructions are not clear for someone who doesn’t really know carpentry. I am handy with plumbing, installing custom closets and drilling holes, but the design is not really intuitive.
The size of this hutch is OK for five adult hens to sleep in, but not to live. My girls are happy in here during the day and it gives us a break from their racket in the smaller cage. I will use the design of this hutch as a blueprint for when I either build a hutch from scratch or have someone do it for me. Eventually, the girls will outgrow this hutch and we will use it for two bunnies.
There is a run that you can buy from the same manufacturer that attaches to this hutch, but there is no way I will buy it because of the poor quality. I would not recommend this item to a friend.
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|Not fabulous but not too bad either.,
My Chick-N-Hutch has been in use for 8 months (May 2010 – present). It was purchased to house 4 hens and has done an okay job so far. My hens only use it to sleep in, and to lay their eggs in the nest box built by my father. It is sitting on bricks to keep the wood from touching the ground. The ramp also rests on a couple of bricks, again to prevent the wood from touching the ground. It is covered with 2 plastic sheets and a tarp for the winter and has held up well so far.
I would not recommend it for more than 4 full size chickens with an outside run.
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|A great product,
I originally bought two, then ordered three more. We use them for brooders. Hang halogen lights for heat in both back corners. The chicks move closer or away and regulate their own desired temperature. Put 1/4″ plywood on the floor for the first two weeks and then cover just half the floor after that. The feeders and waterers are placed on the screened floor after the initial two weeks. We put alfalfa leaves in the droppings pan for odor control. Initial loading population is seventy-five chicks per pen. After a week or so we cut the population to 55, then around two weeks later we go to 40. As they grow we keep dividing them the same as if you were using a Broiler Battery. By the end of the fifth week we open the from ramp in the morning to let them roam as they choose.
Used with chickens, Guineas, ducks. Buff Orpingtons by the end of the fifth week the population is 10 per pen.
By far this is the best setup we have ever used as a brooder setup.
PMJones
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