Anyone got a Solway or Green Frog hen house?

[Takver]

The chickens need a new house desperately, thinking of getting one of the ones made of recycled silage plastic for lower maintenance, easier cleaning etc.

We're trying to decide between the solway house (this one) and the Green Frog houses - either the large or medium and I wondered whether anyone had experience of either of them.

Obviously the Solway house is cheaper - but is it just because its not so pretty, or is it not so good??!

(We have 3 chickens btw, unlikely to go up to more than 4 max.)

bump

I remember looking at one of these a few years ago at an agricultural fair (can't remember which brand though). TBH, I wasn't hugely impressed, because
a) It looked like the pieces themselves weren't very well put together e.g. substantial gaps between pieces that would cause draughts.
b) The rough nature of the material will be a bugger to clean. Although you can put down pond liner on the base to make it easier to clean out (a pro-tip for any type of coop), the girls are still entirely capable of splattering muck up the side walls of the coop, which will need cleaning. Frankly, with that sort of material, you're never going to get it spotless.
c) I suspect it's a hangover from eglus, but people seem to assume that plastic coop = no red mite. Not true. They like gaps and crevices, which these sorts of coops still have, just like wooden coops.
d) From the photos, it looks like there is a small gap between the ground and the coop. This provides the perfect hiding place for rats. Ideally coops should be around 18" off the ground, for this and other reasons.

On the other hand, the advantage is that they won't warp, and won't need maintenance in the form of wood preserver.

Which one was it you saw, boomting? A friend has the large Green Frog house which looks pretty good (no gaps etc). We had thought of getting that one, but then I'd seen that the Solway houses got pretty good comments online (& a friend has the solway lambing pen boards which seem easy clean etc.) - and of course they're much cheaper.

I think the green frog one at least sits direct on the ground - fortunately at the moment rats aren't much of an issue as the chickens are in our garden and psycho-can & psycho-dog tend to kill any wildlife that ventures within 100 feet of the area. Having said that we might longer term (ie when dd is old enough not to want to have them as pets!) move them out onto the field, so I guess we'd need to come up with a stand at that point.

To be honest with you, I can't actually remember unfortunately - this would have been 5 years ago or so now.

I just got the chicken lodge large from green frog. It is smooth on the inside so easy to clean. Perches slide out easily and the back wall is also easy to remove for cleaning. My only gripe is that a rubber weather seal that is supposed to push into a groove above the nesting box hinge will not stay in. Need to raise this with green frog. I was a few clips short when it arrived too but they came next day.

I have 4 Hens in mine and there would be room for another 4 so probably a bit too big for you.

It's been really cold here the last few nights and I've had to clear as much ice from their water inside as there was on their water outside. Not sure if a wooden coop would have been any better.

There are a few gaps round the joints in the structure but as coops need ventilation I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing.

Looked at the Solway ones online too but was put off because theirs weren't off the ground.

Let me know if you want any more info. Overall I'm pleased with how it all works and it looks kind of groovy!

Why are you looking at houses that take so many birds when you only have/will have 3/4 chooks?

Hmm, I think I changed my mind half way through my original post! We were looking at the large on the thought that we might get more hens in the future - I think we decided its probably unlikely - if we go for more poultry we'll add ducks in a separate house - hence the medium (but although they quote pretty large nos for that they're talking about bantams, not full size hens!).

In fact we've gone for the smaller Solway coop - I've found quite a few positive reviews of it, and having seen their other products I think it will be ok. Its dead on the size of our current coop - main disadvantage looks to be that only the roof comes off for cleaning, but DH reckons he can easily change the bolts for tractor clips. (It was also much cheaper )

Its definitely no-where near as pretty as the green frog one though - basically all the reviews I found seemed to think practical-but-ugly . . . but tbh you can't really see it unless you go stand in my cabbage patch, so I think that's fine.

We have a Solway and it is really good. Totally foxproof despite them biting it. We have the run too. Only downside is it is v heavy to move around.
And it is made from recycled farm plastics such as silage wrappers.