Don’t Settle for Cheap Chicken Coops. Bargain brand Chinese coops are not a bargain for long. Cheap materials and carpentry won’t hold up. Roost & Root chicken coops are made to be durable, which means they’ll last. But it also means they’re predator safe strongholds for chickens to live in. And they make keeping chickens less of a hassle with their unique feature sets. Here are 10 things you should know about Round-Top Coops™ that make them better.
1. Western Red Cedar – Cedar wood costs more because it will last outdoors many, many years. It’s not chemically treated yet naturally resists rot and bugs. We use strong thick full dimension cuts of cedar. And, its native to North America. It’s the premium outdoor rated lumber. Flimsy chinese coops use wood that just can’t stand-up to day-after-day outdoor exposure. And make no mistake, there’s no such thing as “Chinese Cedar”. It’s fir… and a low grade fir. Treating or painting it can help, but Western Red Cedar, just the way nature made it, will last much longer and is much tougher.
2. Exterior Grade HD Galvanized Hardware – Heavy gauge exterior grade hardware is much more predator proof than the hasps, latches and hinges found on cheap coops. Your coop is only as safe as the hardware that keeps doors and access points closed.
3. Welded Galvanized Livestock Wire – Cheaper coops use cheaper wire. Our livestock grade wire is at least 4X stronger than hardware cloth found on bargain brand chicken coops. The vast majority of coops use “hardware cloth” but try to trick you by calling it some other name. It’s just not as strong.
4. Old School Carpentry Techniques – No one uses more robotics in making your coop than we do. They add repeatability and accuracy to cutting parts for your coop that are industry leading. But we use these machines in conjunction with hand assembling your new coop using beautiful, strong, outdoor-proof methods that will hold up over time… and we guarantee it. Cheaper coops take shortcuts in the joinery that just can’t hold up to the pressure of large predators that go after chickens, like foxes, coyotes, coons and the most popular predator of all… domestic dogs.
5. Galvalume™ 5V Crimp Roof – Our signature style rounded roof is both functional and beautiful. Patented Galvalume™ won’t rust, reflects radiant heat and stays cooler… even in direct sunlight. We use the thicker grade metal for strength and rigidity. Cheap coops most often sheets of composite roof material that provide no structural strength and wear down quickly.
6. Beautiful & Practical Designs – We get it that your coop has to look cute. But you’ve locked up your chickens and now you’ve got to take care of them too. We use our coops, every day. We lean towards highly ventilated, roomy, minimal opening designs with weatherproof roosts and open sunny runs. Sunlight is a disinfectant and stimulates egg production too. Our coops have features that are proven over time to take less… of your time.
7. Multi-Climate Versatility- Fact is that most places people keep chickens, sub-zero and 100+ days are only a few months of the year. Chickens need a versatile habitat that can provide shelter over a wide variety of conditions. Strongly attached Storm Panels protect in sub-zero freezing winds and snow yet are translucent and let sun in. Highly ventilated roost and run areas allow chickens to stay cool on the hottest of days during summer months.
8. Customer Support- Buy a chicken coop from an online big-box store and you’re pretty much on your own. Buy your coop from Urban Coop Company and gain access to national caliber chicken keeping experts who are excited to answer your questions and help you succeed.
9. Optional Integrated Waterers – Convenient overhead no poop waterers allow for outside fill and can be freeze-protected. We even offer a unique patent pending Freeze Guard™ freeze resistant poultry nipple. All of our waterers are made from food grade pipe, hold multiple days of water and take up no run space. They save time and make sure that your hens have access to a clean plentiful supply of fresh water.
10. Optional Integrated Feeders – Our convenient, vertical no poop design allows for ez-fill of either pellet or crumble feed. Weather resistant food grade plastic tubes are CNC cut to present the feed in a protected area inside the tube. EZ-Fill feeders hold multiple days of feed and take up minimal run space. They save time and make sure that your hens have access to a clean plentiful supply of fresh feed.
And, we are year-after-year improving and tweaking our designs based on the feedback of the customers who house literally 10’s of thousands of chickens in our coops in all 50 states. Nobody is more dedicated to building superior coops and providing unmatched customer service than Roost & Root.
Update March 2020: As of Spring 2020 the cedar market for 1×6 board lumber in the US is predominantly Japanese sourced cedar. This wood performs identically to a domesticate sourced cedar. We are told later in the year that the supply of 1×6 cedar may indeed return to the Western Red Cedar species. Our dimensional board lumber in our products remains Western Red Cedar.