GOJOOASIS Metal Walk-In Coop with Run

Two things need saying about this product before anything else, and the listing makes neither of them obvious.

The first is arithmetic: 117 inches by 39 inches is 4,563 square inches, or 31.7 square feet, which is seven standard hens rather than the ten claimed. The second matters more: it is a run. There is no enclosed henhouse, no nest box and no roost. Birds still need somewhere draft-free and roofed to spend the night, and that is a separate purchase or an existing coop you build this around.

Read as a run, it is a reasonable product

Judged as what it actually is, the assessment changes. As outdoor space at roughly 8 square feet per standard bird, 31.7 square feet suits about four birds' worth of run - and it arrives with a cover, high-carbon steel framing and a polyethylene top, which solves two problems at once.

• It will not rot. There is no base rail sitting in wet ground, which is how most wooden coops on this site end their lives.
• It gives red mite nowhere to colonize - no cracks, no end grain, no timber joints.
• The cover stops aerial predators, which is the one threat a locked coop does nothing about. See hawks, owls and the daylight problem.
• It keeps the run floor drier, which matters more than it sounds - a wet run gets tracked into the coop on the birds' feet.
• It comes apart and moves rather than being replaced.

The narrow footprint is the real constraint

39 inches deep. That is the same depth as the small wooden coops on this site that we criticize for being narrow, and it has the same consequence: the usable area is long rather than broad, and a walk-in you cannot comfortably turn around in is a walk-in in name.

At 39 inches high as published, it is also not a walk-in in the sense the name implies. Compare it against the HERBAN at 157 by 118 inches and 76.8 inches high, which genuinely is - reviewed here - or the VEVOR, whose spire roof sheds snow rather than collecting it.

The base is the weak point, as on every metal run

The perimeter meets the ground and nothing stops a digger going under it. That is not specific to this product - it is true of every steel run in the category. The fix is a wire apron: half-inch hardware cloth laid flat, extending about 12 inches outward from the perimeter, pinned with landscape staples and eventually grown into the turf. Stopping predators that dig has the method.

What it still needs

1. A henhouse. This is the first purchase, not an optional extra.
2. A ground apron at the perimeter.
3. Half-inch hardware cloth on the lower panels if the supplied mesh is a wider aperture.
4. Cold galvanizing paint on any cut edge or drilled hole from assembly, which is where corrosion starts.
5. A realistic count - seven birds of run space, or fewer if it is their only outdoor area.

The full write-up

Top pick · A metal run that will not rot

GOJOOASIS Metal Walk-In Coop with Run

31.7 sq ft against a claim of ten, so seven hens - but the steel frame outlives every fir coop on this page.

What the numbers say

Published footprint31.7 sq ftHonest count7 hensMaker claims10

117in x 39in = 31.7 sq ft of whole-unit footprint, which includes the attached run and is therefore generous. At 4 sq ft per standard hen that is 7 birds, against a claim of 10.

Figures from GOJOOASIS published specifications (Amazon listing) · 117"L x 39"W x 39"H · High-carbon steel with polyethylene cover

31.7 sq ft is seven standard hens. The listing says ten, which is three past what the ground area supports.

The 39in height is the bigger problem than the claim. It is described as walk-in and it is not - 39 inches is a crouch, and you will be doing it daily.

What you are buying is the frame. High-carbon steel does not rot, does not host mites in its end grain, and does not need re-treating. For a run, that is the right material.

Good

• Steel frame will outlast any fir coop here
• Nothing to re-treat, nothing to rot
• Long enough to give birds real running distance

Not so good

• Ten is three birds past the floor area
• Described as walk-in at 39in tall, which it is not
• Polyethylene cover is the weak point and will need replacing

Skip this if: you believed the walk-in description. At 39 inches you are on your knees, and this is a run rather than a coop - there is no insulated house in it.

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Who it is for

Somebody who already owns a henhouse and needs secure, covered outdoor space around it - which is a genuinely common position and an underserved one. It appears on metal coops and runs, coops for 8 chickens and walk-in coops, and on all three it is the answer for a reader who has the roosting problem already solved.