# Chicken Coops



## UA_2015

The more and more I hear about chicken coops, the more interested I become in personal deployment. Whenever I Google "chicken coops", elaborate and fancy coops come up but when i look at dive videos it seems like the coops are simple rectangular prism structures. My main question is where in the world do people buy the coops to deploy, or would it be easier to make them? Any response would be appreciated.

P.S I have a "barge" to deploy them, I just do not have the supplies to deploy :no:


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## kandv2000

Try Pensacola Reef Builders. They usually have some for sale, and can deploy them if need be.


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## UA_2015

kandv2000 said:


> Try Pensacola Reef Builders. They usually have some for sale, and can deploy them if need be.


I'm sure that they would charge a pretty steep price compared to buying them directly from chicken farmers or even making them yourself.


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## hjorgan

Search the forum for good info about the hazards of self-deploying.
I think there are licenses involved, that's part of the cost of the commercial guys.
Man, I'd love to have a GPS tracker on one of their boats for a few months.
Did I type that out loud?


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## ryanbr

There have been numerous people getting them from time to time. Ask reefbuilders and whoever else you can find. You may find some one who has them sitting around and needs to get rid of them. The old RFRA(Paul Redman) has gotten them. Emerald Coast reefbuilders in Destin, etc. You may find someone willing to split a trailer load.


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## SaltAddict

To answer your question about what they actually are...
They are the transport coops used on flat beds to transport the chickens. Nothing fancy. Just heavy metal cages. Lots of wire shelving.


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## Sea-r-cy

Here is what they look like new. Contact Candy @ Emerald Coast Reef Association http://www.ecreef.org/. She can help hook you up for deployment out of Destin. I think Candy is getting up a deployment later this year. 
The CTC or chicken transport coops have to be cleaned, inspected, and two of them chained together to be legal. Expect to pay between $50 and $100 each for the used coops, depending where you buy them. Lots of regulations, but well worth the effort.

Sea-r-cy


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## bfish

Find capt mike lily . He deploys coops and sells them


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## Burnt Drag

I know people who make a living finding them and fishing them.


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## LaidBack3

*chicken coups*

I have some i will sell you or we can use your bardge and share them if your interested .


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## ryanbr

What's the actual dimensions on them? Ive dove them and 4'x6'x8' sounds about right. One holds fish pretty darn well.


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## Dynamic

4x4x8


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## Sea-r-cy

Some of them are around 5' tall, one row higher than the 4' ones. Both work well. Sea-r-cy


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## solemeans

Problem with coops is they roll in heavy weather ie; hurricanes. Then you can't find them. Check out http://www.reefstructures.com/ for great reefs that stay put. Owner has 70 to 80 deployed south of Destin & some have been down 2 years. I fish with him & we always do good. Had a 24 lb snapper a couple of weeks ago plus gag (throwbacks) & red grouper. He will sell you already deployed reefs.


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## capt mike

*coop reefs*

Yes I sell chicken coops and have them deployed and have done this for quite some time. The big news with them is there is no free lunch to obtain them cheap anymore. The chicken processors own the coops not the farmers and the companies (Tyson,Peco , Sanderson, Pilgrims Pride, Koch Foods and many others) are being put out of business due to the price of corn-( being used to create worthless Ethanol= treehuggers) and the price of fuel which has decimated their profits. All the above companies have gone to the scrappers who themselves are predatory worthless, greedy people that are selling all the scrap to the Japanese and the Chinese- scrap has gone from 3-4 cents a pound to 16-18 cents a pound in just 18 months! A coop that cost me $15 plus freight ($15) in the 1990's which I sold for $40 has gone to $80 with a freight bill of $35 each so I now sell them for $125 each. If I can't make $10-$15 per cage the Japs and ****** can have them as far as I am concerned. I have worked for years to establish buying opportunities in 7 states with multiple companies but coops are the best buy for the buck for ANY REEF-bar none!! 750 pounds of permitable reef material without having to touch or modify it (except for the poor fishermen and women of Florida- (more tree hugger regulations!) where you must remove the fiberglas shelving that is so popular to the lobsters ,triggerfish and many other reef species. If I had 25 tractor trailer loads of coops right now I could find a home for them in 48 hours!
Wish I could help the people of the forum but I have had many for sale through the years but have sold few through this internet medium. Seems like the everyday private boater wouldn't even pay for them when they were cheap and those days are long past! Anything changes I will inform the forum.
Thanks
Captain Mike Lilly


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## capt mike

*Reply to solemeans about coop reef life!*

Soulmeans
I am fishing coops in water depths from 75 feet to 275 feet that are anywhere from 7-10 years old and sure:whistling: some reefs move in storms but you can't predict what will happen and anyone that is proud their reefs have lasted 2 years isn't very knowledgeable in the reef structure business! If my reefs only lasted 2 years I wouldn't even bother selling that product!! Inform us when you have some real info that you can back up through experience firsthand!


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## capt mike

*coop size*

For the record coops are 48" wide and 8 feet long and 52" tall and a 5 tier coop with all shelves and doors weighs 742 pounds hanging on a scale. Most coops are deployed without doors which are aluminum and weigh about 35 pounds.So subtract the door weight to be technical. Most people that say their coops move during storms were to cheap to deploy more than 1 per spot. A good spot consists of 2 coops welded or chained together with a weight of 1400-1500 pounds! If you find and dive single coop reef consider yourself lucky to find it but don't be surprised when even a tropical storm comes close and beats our coast for days on end if its gone when you go back! They are a rectangle and fierce currents will tumble even comex boxes, school buses and similar shaped reefs. 2 Coops won't tumble and are open so the current will flow through them better than some other reef designs. Sometimes they will cover up and then uncover the following winter. I have talked to guys that went back after a storm and couldn't find them and discarded their coordinates and some who went back the following spring and found them still there uncovered. You never know!!


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## ryanbr

The hurricane argument needs to go away, or at least be tempered. We average a strong storm about every 10 years. If an Ivan comes through all bets are off. Except for the concrete structures you never know what will happen, it's a crap shoot. And sometimes even those can be moved or covered up. Sand is fluid and can act like ball bearings. So do what's economical for u and will produce fish.


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## capt mike

*Coop Reefs*

This is what I'm used to when I asses fish populations on private reefs!


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## bfish

*Coops*

WOW. There loaded! Are you selling and deploying? How muc? What,s your number


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## solemeans

Have a friend who built & deployed 70-80 pyramid reefs out of Destin over the last 6 years. I've fished lots of them & caught big snapper & grouper on them. He may sell you a couple if you're interested. He'll sell the GPS numbers to you & wipe them from his system once he's been paid. There was a couple of his 1st design in the parking lot of the Half Hitch in Destin. The new design is bigger & has shelves in them.


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## spinfactor

Some good info here. BTW that link to reefstructures is bad. Anyone have another?


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## gator7_5

Bumping an old thread to find out how long after a coop is deployed, it is worth fishing? I had a couple deployed in December and am just curious.

Thanks in advance.


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## capt mike

*How long for coops?*

It depends on the water depth. The deeper the water the longer it takes. It all has to do with sunlight which "kicks off" the growth on them. I have been deploying coops for 17 years and coops in 65 feet of water can have some legal fish on them in 6-7 months. I don't fish any coop reefs I put out for myself for at least 10 months but thats my rule. I've had customers catch 12-16 pound snappers and 5-6 pound triggerfish in 6 months when the coops were in shallow water. Coop reefs in 125 feet of water may take 1 year to achieve the same results.
Location also is a factor.


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