Back in October the kind people at Nestera gifted us one of their 100% recycled plastic chicken coops – the large raised model. I wanted to share a bit more about our experience so far (along with a couple of Christmas gift ideas).
Our coop arrived flat packed in cardboard boxes and I managed to rope in my father-in-law Peter to give me a hand to build it. Once we’d unpacked everything and read the instructions (which were easy to follow) it took us about an hour and half to assemble.
As we slotted it together we were impressed with the quality of the materials and liked the simplicity of the design. When built it also felt sturdy and is relatively heavy (though thankfully not as heavy as our old wooden coop, which took a minimum of three people to move). Luckily, our coop is configured with the optional wheels – which makes moving it a doddle. After a couple of weeks in our front paddock we were forced to move our girls into an outbuilding due to flock-down and I managed to do this single handedly, which would not have been possible without the wheels.
During the summer months we try to move our coop every few days, to give our girls a fresh bit of ground, which helps keep the grass down (and saves us the job of mowing it).
Other extras I’d recommend are the removable dropping trays, which makes cleaning even easier (check out my instagram video of me cleaning the hut during a storm). The automatic door opener is also a must have and a great present (see Christmas wish list below) for anyone partial to a lie in in the morning or worried about forgetting to shut them up when it gets dark! It’s easy to fit to any coop and is simple to program to open and close as set times. This has definitely made having chickens much more enjoyable for us, so I couldn’t recommend the door opener enough.
Better welfare come rain or shine
Since moving into their new home our five chickens seem very happy and I no longer lie awake at night worrying about Red Mite, which was a recurring issue in our old wooden coop (despite cleaning it regularly and using powder it kept coming back, as there were so many little nooks and crannies to hide in).
I’ve also been really impressed how the coop handles the weather. Our garden is in an exposed location and we often get hit with 40-50mph winds from the South West. The first week we got the new coop there was a big storm with gusts of over 50mph but thankfully the coop didn’t move an inch.
Our chickens also liked the design of the raised coop, as it allows them to shelter from the weather and I often see them hop on the axel of the wheels using it like a perch!
Christmas Wishlist
If you are looking for gift ideas for the chicken keeper in your life we would really recommend the Nestera automatic door opener. It can be fitted to any coop (it doesn’t have to be a Nestera coop) and I can honestly say it will change their life for the better (more time in bed in the morning and less worry at night).
We also really like the idea of the WiFi coop camera, which we’d love to add to our coop one day. It’s often featured on the instagram feed of Nestera and looks like a really fun addition for anyone curious to keep a close eye on their chickens when they are tucked up in their coop.
More information
You can find out more about Nestera and their range of products on their website here.
Fancy getting a coop yourself and saving 5%? Use the code ‘INDIEFARMER’ on their website.