Looking for where to put a chicken coop in new garden.

[ducksupernewbie]

I have zero artistic ability, or vision. So hopefully someone where is more savvy than me with garden design.
We are currently renovating an older house, and adding an addition, so the entire garden has been dug up. I've attached two pictures, one of the aerial view of the garden, the black is where the new fence is going, and the red are the new additions to the house, so it's not going to be garden anymore.

I was trying to get ideas of where to put the chicken coop, a greenhouse and growing area, patio area and a small green area for the kids to play in.

Would love to hear everyone's ideas!! If I can design it now, while the entire thing is dug up, we can run water and electric to the chicken coop, and the greenhouse if wanted, which will be a great convenience down the line when everything is established. The second picture is just a google image of looking at the house from the corner of the street, as the aerial view makes it look much larger than it is.

I'm in zone 7, New York, around 40 mins outside of Manhattan. We have no neighbors either side, or behind us, although two houses across the street.

All the front parts of the garden get full sun, the back is slightly more shaded by the trees back there.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

I'd try to work the coop into the shaded part of the yard. Better for the chickens in summer and good use of land where you can't really grow much anyway.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Do you have measurements of the land you are dealing with?
Do you have any regulations you need to follow so far as set-backs go?
How big of a coop/run are you looking at? / How many chickens do you want?
Are you wanting to have the garden attached to the coop/run so you can let the chickens in in the off season or rotate plots?
X2, shade is nice for the summer.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Also, do you want them far from your bedroom windows? Do you want them close to the back door for easy egg collection and maintenance in winter? All that stuff plays in.

 

[ducksupernewbie]

The garden is .20 of an acre. I don't have the exact measurements, but I can get them off the drawings this evening. Bedrooms are all upstairs, so I don't mind in regard to the windows. Door to outside, is at the back (near where that shed is now)

When I spoke to the town, they told me, you can have up to 25 chicken, not free range, it must be kept in a coop. Rooster are okay as long as neighbor don't complain. Coop must be at least 10 feet from the property line. You have to make sure you clean it often so the smell or flies won't bother your neighbors. I don't want a rooster anyway, as it might annoy me a lot more than any neighbors we have.

I wanted hopefully around eight chickens, with a long enough run, because they are going to be stuck in there the majority of the time. We did think that maybe there was a way to clip their wings, so they can run around the garden when we are actually there, although, i'm not sure if that's really cruel, i'd have to read up more on it.

I thought about putting the chickens in the far part behind the shed, as it is shaded, but it will always be shaded, they won't get any sun, would that make them depressed?

 

[PapaChaz]

there are SO many comments about the rooster being more annoying than the neighbors, or vice versa, LOL


I totally agree to put the coop as much in the shady part of the yard as possible and be within the guidelines you have to follow.

also as for the smell and flies, etc, there is a thread currently running on the deep litter method. I am a HUGE proponent of this, and on page 167 of that thread, post 1665 is a video done by a member here, beekissed, that is absolutely wonderful in it's demonstration and explanation of how great this works to avoid just that, smell and flies.

 

[Kelsie2290]

As long as the run gets sun, X2 I wouldn't worry about the coop being in the shade (have mine as much under the trees as I can, really helps in the summer with the heat.).
Just thinking ... Is there enough room back there with the 10 foot set back, the run doesn't count, just the coop? Figuring a 8x8 coop (generous, but in NY they will be locked up quite a bit in the winter), you'd go with a 8x10" run or so? Would you cover the run?.
One thing is though, if you are going to run electric and water, will the price difference between running it to two fairly far apart locations coop/greenhouse, make you reconsider moving the coop to a sunnier area (doesn't look like there is room back there for a greenhouse where it would get the sun it needed?) where you would only have to run to one main point?
Garden pretty much needs to go to in as sunny an area as possible, so mostly the front yard? (Again if you want to run the chickens in the garden, easier if they are attached to it.)
Kid play area, you'd probably want that nearest the house, out one of the doors, what part of the yard does that remove (and you probably don't want them sharing it with the chickens

 

[ducksupernewbie]

Kelsie,

We were actually talking about cost of water to the coop last night, and distance from the house. Running the electric is no problem, as my husband is the electrician. If we can't run the water, it's not the end of the world, the garden isn't a million miles long, i'd rather the chickens be happy.

The ten foot setback, we don't really have to be so strict with it, as the town apparently are not, it's only if they get complaints, which fingers crossed won't happen, as we've no neighbors either side. If I move the shed over more towards the fence, and put them there, I can have the coop in the shade, and the run in the sun, would that work?

The front of the yard is the sunniest, so I was thinking of putting the greenhouse and raised beds there, then having the rest of the garden as a play/grass area for the kids.

Does anyone have suggestions for the cold in NY, it snows a lot here in February and March. I've been looking at what other people do, and they just seem to tarp it during the winter, to keep the snow out of the run, is that enough, or should I keep some of the run covered all year round?

 

[HighStreetCoop]

I can have the coop in the shade, and the run in the sun, would that work?

Does anyone have suggestions for the cold in NY, it snows a lot here in February and March. I've been looking at what other people do, and they just seem to tarp it during the winter, to keep the snow out of the run, is that enough, or should I keep some of the run covered all year round?

That would be ideal IMO. I don't deal with snow, but I deal with rain. My enclosed run is covered but the "free range area" which is closed off with poultry netting isn't.

 

[aart]

Keep in mind...... dealing with snow;
on the roofs, in the run, in front of doors, on the path to get to the coop and how far you have to walk/shovel that path in winter(might help you pick a location).

Make your coop BIG because chances are there will be plenty of days they won't go out into the run in winter at all because of the cold, snow, wind.

Or build a solid run with a real roof on it....and you might even want to plan on attaching temporary panels/tarps to block the prevailing winds in winter.

My run is 2x4 mesh topped, most snow goes thru it, but if it starts to stick I have to keep it knocked off or it will collapse.
I keep part of the run near the pop door shoveled, and a path all the way thru the run so I can access the mesh roof to keep snow clear.