Formex Snap Lock Large Chicken Coop

Two things make this coop worth a page of its own. The first is that it is a standalone henhouse with no attached run, so the published footprint is entirely enclosed floor - the generous reading and the honest reading are the same number, which is true of almost nothing else on this site.

The second is the material. Double-walled polyethylene does not rot, does not absorb droppings or moisture, has no end grain, and gives red mite nowhere to colonize. Those are the four things that actually decide how a coop ages, and it is the only common material that solves all of them.

The measurement

64 inches by 39 inches is 2,496 square inches, or 17.3 square feet. At 4 square feet per standard hen that is four birds. The listing gives a range of four to six; four is right, and six is a winter of pecked backs in a coop with nowhere for a bullied bird to go.

The cleaning argument

Panels unclip without tools and the whole interior hoses out. That sounds like a convenience feature and it is really a husbandry one: the practical lever on respiratory health in a small flock is litter management, and a coop that can be cleaned in minutes gets cleaned more often than one that cannot. See a cleaning routine that gets done.

The cost side

• It costs more than the fir coops it outlasts, and over ten years that usually reverses - see what a coop really costs.
• No run is included, so budget for one. Pairing it with a run can push the total past a wooden coop-plus-run kit.
• Plastic walls carry no insulation value on their own, which matters less than people think - moisture rather than temperature is the winter variable.
• It is not modifiable the way timber is. Adding a vent or moving a perch is a Saturday job in fir and awkward in molded plastic.

The full write-up

Top pick · Cleaning, and cold that stays out

Hatching Time Formex Snap Lock Large Chicken Coop

The one coop here whose material genuinely earns its price, sized for four hens rather than the six on the box.

What the numbers say

Published footprint17.3 sq ftHonest count4 hensMaker claims6

64in x 39in = 17.3 sq ft of enclosed henhouse floor. At 4 sq ft per standard hen that is 4 birds, against a claim of 6.

Figures from Hatching Time published specifications (Amazon listing) · 64"L x 39"W x 42"H · Double-walled polyethylene

This is a standalone henhouse with no attached run, so the published footprint is all enclosed floor. That makes it one of the few coops on this site where the generous reading and the honest reading are the same number.

17.3 sq ft supports four standard hens at the 4 sq ft figure. The listing says four to six. Four is right; six is a winter of pecked backs.

Double-walled polyethylene is the reason to buy it. There is no end grain to rot, no seam for mites to colonize, and it hoses out in minutes - the single biggest practical difference between a coop you keep clean and one you avoid.

Good

• Whole footprint is enclosed floor, not run
• Double-walled plastic will not rot, absorb, or harbor mites the way fir does
• Panels unclip for cleaning without tools

Not so good

• Costs more than the wooden coops it outlasts
• No run included, so budget for one
• Plastic walls hold no insulation value on their own

Skip this if: you want a coop and run in one purchase. This is a henhouse only, and pairing it with a run pushes the total past most wooden coop-plus-run kits.

Check price on Amazon

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Compared with the wooden alternative

The direct comparison is the Formex against the Aivituvin AIR31, which is the same size class in the other material and publishes no bird count at all. Plastic against wood in cold weather covers the winter side of the same question.