Situating coop in relation to house

[Gwen]

Trying to decide where to put the darn thing now! My vegie garden is quite a ways from the house, a very long walk. While I'm out there every day in nice weather/summer, I don't know if I'm going to really be thrilled to go out every morning when it's cold and rainy. Am I making a mistake putting it out there? I'm even considering 2 coops right now, one out there for nice weather and another one closer to the house for the rest of the year, which is the majority of the year. I really only want the chickens out in the potager May - October.

We have 3 acres. The potager is at one extreme end lengthwise and the house is at the other.

 

[Garlydog]

I am still in the planning process too. Most seem to think closer to the house is better. We have 10 acres and our coop is going right next to the house for ease of access in nasty weather.

 

[Judy]

If it's close and convenient, you will hear roosters better and will smell any smells in the house. But I agree that across 3 acres is a bit much. Maybe a compromise, somewhere in between. My coops are about 50' and 100' from the house. I certainly can't smell either one. I can hear the roos but they don't disturb me or wake me up.

You could buy a used golf cart or 4 wheeler!

 

[Grammahen]

Here is a picture of my coop in the spring when it was new. I know that I won't regret it being close to the house this winter here in New Hampshire. My main worry was going to be smell in the summer, but this has been the rainiest summer I can ever remember. Raining almost every day and I have hardly any smell. Of course I only have 4 chicken so I guess it all depends on everyone’s circumstances.

 

[Gwen]

Well, I wasn't going to put it right up against the house. The garage is behind the house and then a shed and then a greenhouse. I was going to put it next to the greenhouse. It's actually fully fenced back there. We just had it ploughed and it's loose soft dirt now. Will be a huge muddy mess come rains. (PNW) If I situate the coop at one end of that area, I can access it from the back and won't have to track thru mud to get at it, altho to get at the side (if I get the kind where you access the eggs from the outside), I would have to.

Will the chickens compact that dirt or will they just keep scratching in it and making a mess? The weeds were taller than I am, I had to get it ploughed or we'd never get a coop in there!

At one end of the fenced area, I was going to put an opening which would open onto fenced woods where my hope was the chickens could free range safely without worry from overhead predators swooping down. The hawks and eagles seem to pretty much stay over the big lawn areas.

 

[Gwen]

Nice coop, did you make that?

Maybe my solution for now is to get the small coop and put it out in the front garden. Then when the weather gets bad, we can move the whole thing real close to the house. It's small enough so that we could easily move it.

Thinking outloud to myself here, I think that might be the best situation for the time being, to see how this all goes.

 

[Gwen]

Here is what I think I'm going to do.

I was going to put this coop (see photo) in the potager for the nice months and then get the randall burkey coop, either the 6x6 or the 4x6 (both on sale right now for great prices!) www.randallburkey.com and put it near the house next to the greenhouse in the original area I wanted to put the chickens.

Then I would move the chickens to the rear closer coop in the rainy months.

But now I think what I'm going to do it get this coop pictured and put it in the potager when it arrives. Then when the rains come, I'll pick the whole thing up and bring it to a little area right off the deck of the house. There are actually areas there they can free range and hopefully they'll stay off the deck. If not, I can move them a little bit farther. Because even that area I mentioned in the previous post, which is my original coop area I had planned on, is far enough that it'll be a pain in the wind, rain, cold, and snow.

Now to decide on which size. 3x4, 4x4, or 6x4. I'm leaning towards the 4x4. The runs are 6 feet long and then they are the width of whichever coop you order. So if I got the 4x4 coop, the runs would be 4x6.

Anyone see any big flaws with this plan?

 

[Grammahen]

Thanks Gwen, no we only made the run part and have converted a garden shed as the coop. I can tell you one thing, after adding tons of sand in the run, and putting down wire under the stones etc., I would be exhausted just thinking of moving it all. Good thing it doesn't smell huh?

 

[Grammahen]

Oooh I love both of those!!!

 

[Gwen]

Gramma, it's really cute, you guys did a fabulous job converting the shed!

I've been in quite a few coops and my discovery is that if they use the deep litter method and make even a marginal stab at keeping things clean, there is no smell except for the pine shavings. Overcrowding plays a role too.

Do you let your chickens out of the run at all? Looks like you have a nice area for them to forage altho murphy's law would dictate they all hang out on your picnic table and cover it in poop.