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- #21
emorems0
Songster
Example of slope... this is the side yard, but the back follows the same overall slope. It's hard to tell the slope in pictures of the back yard because there is nothing level to compare it with (like the house in this picture). Great for sledding, not so much for building, lol.
The slope in the back yard is almost level near the house, then slopes steeply to varying degrees, then levels out somewhat near the wood line... No building near the wood line though because there are wetlands and a small stream just inside the woods and it gets pretty soggy down in the bottom part of the yard (plus, it's that much closer to predators). We have almost an acre overall but the only flat-ish ground is in the front yard.
I just took these photos of the back yard...
Overall of the main part of the back yard, you can see a bit of the slope here, but there are also several 'ditches' running from the house down the slope and general uneven-ness that is hidden by the grass/weeds (until you twist your ankle on it, lol)
My plan at this point is the put the coop here near the house, in between the steps and the AC unit. It's flat enough that we can level the coop with some blocks, but then the run will have to extend out down the steeper part of the yard... and then there's that bush right in the way (surrounded by ditches and divets, hence the weed overgrowth.... can't get the mower through there very easily).
We may have been able to put it in front of the porch and had the run (or part of the run) under the porch, but I have corn and pumpkins growing there now. And the slope drops off pretty quick so the coop would need to be pretty close to the porch which wouldn't leave a whole lot of run space (but it would have been covered at least).
Then this is an overall of the yard looking the other direction, no neighbors on this side, just stream and woods. We don't mow the far side very often and there tends to be more wildlife over there because of the fruit trees and rock pile, and generally taller vegetation. The foreground of this photo is along the wood line where it is flatter, but also quite soggy and too close to the woods for something as tasty as chickens.
I first thought about putting the coop over here, right behind the rock pile. It is sloped, but more gentle and even than the rest of the back yard. It is farther from the house though and just inside the area that doesn't get mowed as often. More wildlife over here too.
I guess my biggest issue regarding the run is that all the pictures I see of other people's 'well-built' runs are on flat ground, they are built square/rectangular. That won't work here, so other than stringing up a cheap fence on some fence posts, I'm not really sure how to go about making a more significant run. Especially something that is not permanent and not really expensive since we'll likely be moving within a year or so, we are renters, and our budget is small.
The slope in the back yard is almost level near the house, then slopes steeply to varying degrees, then levels out somewhat near the wood line... No building near the wood line though because there are wetlands and a small stream just inside the woods and it gets pretty soggy down in the bottom part of the yard (plus, it's that much closer to predators). We have almost an acre overall but the only flat-ish ground is in the front yard.
I just took these photos of the back yard...
Overall of the main part of the back yard, you can see a bit of the slope here, but there are also several 'ditches' running from the house down the slope and general uneven-ness that is hidden by the grass/weeds (until you twist your ankle on it, lol)
My plan at this point is the put the coop here near the house, in between the steps and the AC unit. It's flat enough that we can level the coop with some blocks, but then the run will have to extend out down the steeper part of the yard... and then there's that bush right in the way (surrounded by ditches and divets, hence the weed overgrowth.... can't get the mower through there very easily).
We may have been able to put it in front of the porch and had the run (or part of the run) under the porch, but I have corn and pumpkins growing there now. And the slope drops off pretty quick so the coop would need to be pretty close to the porch which wouldn't leave a whole lot of run space (but it would have been covered at least).
Then this is an overall of the yard looking the other direction, no neighbors on this side, just stream and woods. We don't mow the far side very often and there tends to be more wildlife over there because of the fruit trees and rock pile, and generally taller vegetation. The foreground of this photo is along the wood line where it is flatter, but also quite soggy and too close to the woods for something as tasty as chickens.
I first thought about putting the coop over here, right behind the rock pile. It is sloped, but more gentle and even than the rest of the back yard. It is farther from the house though and just inside the area that doesn't get mowed as often. More wildlife over here too.
I guess my biggest issue regarding the run is that all the pictures I see of other people's 'well-built' runs are on flat ground, they are built square/rectangular. That won't work here, so other than stringing up a cheap fence on some fence posts, I'm not really sure how to go about making a more significant run. Especially something that is not permanent and not really expensive since we'll likely be moving within a year or so, we are renters, and our budget is small.