We are reviewing these two products together: New Age Pet ecoFLEX Fontana Chicken Barn and New Age Pet ecoFLEX Fontana Pen.

We bought the barn and pen, which both arrived in the mail and we put them together today.

The descriptions:

The pen:

• Maintenance free and easy to clean
• 10 year warranty
• 6 + sq ft of interior space
• No tools required, easy to assemble
• Use as an independent structure, or attach to the ecoFLEX Fontana Chicken Barn

The barn:

• Removable roof for easy cleaning
• 10 year warranty, 12 + sq ft of interior space
• Resistant to moisture, warping, cracking and splitting
• Note: Ventilation space is provided in the rear of the product
• Made with ecoFLEX, a recycled wood/polymer blend that provides a non-toxic solution to your chicken raising needs

The cost:

We paid $110.09 for the pen, and $155.24 for the barn.

The setup:

The pen was very easy to put together. We just followed the step-by-step instructions. No tools were needed.

Unfortunately, a piece for the latch on the pen door is missing, so we have a very hard time opening and closing the pen door.

The barn was difficult to set up. They have a video available online, which might have made assembly easier, but we didn’t watch it, but maybe we should have. Even following the written instructions step by step, there were a number of moments of confusion. We were also very gentle when putting the pieces together, but a small part of one of the wall pieces broke when we were adjusting it.

It took a couple of hours to put the whole thing together, which is not what we expected

A piece for hanging up the door was missing, so we weren’t able to put the door on the barn at all, which was a bummer because we wanted to move the chickens in right away.

The bottom line:

The pen was disappointing. It was a lot smaller than it looked online. If we had actually seen it in a store, we would not have bought it. Or, maybe we would have — had it been half the price. We actually could have built something nicer and larger for so much less money than we spent.

We also don’t feel really confident about how secure the wiring is and will now need to put a larger pen around the whole thing to keep away predators.

The barn looked cute once it was assembled. About four chickens can sleep comfortably in it, which is small, but we expected that. The attached nesting box is nice and convenient. With the straw we put in, we think the chickens should be warm inside the box, although we will have to wait for a replacement pin to come in the mail so we can get the door up. We are somewhat happy with this purchase, but not enough to recommend it to others.