Anyone have their coop inside of a large run? Pics?

[Charlenesmom]

Sorry I keep getting interrupted, lol
they are coming

 

[3KillerBs]

3killlerBs I notice in your first picture on the side of the coop - there looks to be a stack of bricks. Is that to keep critters from digging underneath ? I have trouble with rats borrowing and getting into my coop.

No, it's because the wood-destroying insects and fungi got the legs of that coop and it's being propped up on blocks. I used more blocks to keep my chicks from going under it and getting stuck.

(A complete rehab will be done at some point this year).

 

[HomesteadDeb]

I have two prefab currently, both with under coop access so they don't actually take up "space" in my 20x20 run. Planning to build a new coop attached to the feed room this supper and repurpose the prefabs into starter houses for new flock members. Only problem... I assembled these IN the run, now I'm going to have to take a piece of wire off the run to get them out!

 

[Charlenesmom]

Here they are…
we wrap 95% of it in the winter with construction plastic to keep out the wind, rain, snow. Keeps the sand floor nice and dry, I put hay on the floor under the coop for them to nestle into when it’s chilly.
inside the coop is a sand floor(on top of linoleum) for ease of cleaning. I use a long handled kitty litter scoop to clean the inside of the run and the coop, takes less than 10 minutes every day
four clean out doors ensure that I can easily reach every corner without any effort. They also have two Cozy Coop radiant heaters attached to the wall behind their roost bars for the winter, and a farm fan for hot summer nights. When the weather is warm the two back windows and the one large front window stay open for lots of ventilation and breezes.
The electric door in the front means I don’t have to go out there early and let them out…it runs on a times, so in summer it opens really early, and closes late…in winter it opens later and closes early.
we put solar motion lights on all four sides, and PredatorGuard on all four sides as well. The hardware cloth is buried two feet out from the base of the coop to prevent anything from digging under.

 

[HomesteadDeb]

The main thing with putting a coop inside the run is that you have to go into the run to tend the chickens. That's a bigger problem for some people than for others.

I'm curious why this is an issue for anyone, unless they just don't like getting chicken poop on their boots. Do other people not actually walk among their chickens to assess their health and weight, give treats, or just pet and spend time with them? Do you just pull eggs out of nest boxes and fill feed/water?
Most of my enjoyment of my chickens comes from spending time in the run with them.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm curious why this is an issue for anyone, unless they just don't like getting chicken poop on their boots. Do other people not actually walk among their chickens to assess their health and weight, give treats, or just pet and spend time with them? Do you just pull eggs out of nest boxes and fill feed/water?
Most of my enjoyment of my chickens comes from spending time in the run with them.

Going into the run is all well and good when it's nice weather and you don't have to go to work.

I work in food service and it's a pain to have to change into my coop boots and either get dressed twice or put a smock over my uniform just to open up the coop and do the morning chores.

It's also much harder to find a chicken sitter for people who travel if the sitting involves getting poop on their shoes.

When it's 95 in the shade I want to be able to just run out and grab eggs and run back in. Likewise when it's below freezing (the former being more common in my area).

My chickens, as entertaining and enjoyable as they are, are livestock, not pets.

 

[HomesteadDeb]

Going into the run is all well and good when it's nice weather and you don't have to go to work.

I work in food service and it's a pain to have to change into my coop boots and either get dressed twice or put a smock over my uniform just to open up the coop and do the morning chores.

It's also much harder to find a chicken sitter for people who travel if the sitting involves getting poop on their shoes.

When it's 95 in the shade I want to be able to just run out and grab eggs and run back in. Likewise when it's below freezing (the former being more common in my area).

My chickens, as entertaining and enjoyable as they are, are livestock, not pets.

I do feel you. I get home after dark and my chickens are in bed but I have to put my headlamp on and go feed the other animals as well as collect eggs. I had originally planned to build the coop in the corner where the feed room is and have access to the nest boxes from outside so I disturb them less when collecting the eggs, but the previous property owners made unauthorized changes to the property post sale, building that walled off corner under to roof. So now I have a feed room, which is nice, but lost run space and the area I wanted to build my coop.

Poop on my boots is just a way of life for me, my horse likes to wait for breakfast right beside my porch and will leave me a present if I take too long to come out to feed. The goats, goose, and turkeys also leave presents on the porch when they free range. I just invested in chicken boots and a good boot scraper by the door

 

[3KillerBs]

I do feel you. I get home after dark and my chickens are in bed but I have to put my headlamp on and go feed the other animals as well as collect eggs. I had originally planned to build the coop in the corner where the feed room is and have access to the nest boxes from outside so I disturb them less when collecting the eggs, but the previous property owners made unauthorized changes to the property post sale, building that walled off corner under to roof. So now I have a feed room, which is nice, but lost run space and the area I wanted to build my coop.

Poop on my boots is just a way of life for me, my horse likes to wait for breakfast right beside my porch and will leave me a present if I take too long to come out to feed. The goats, goose, and turkeys also leave presents on the porch when they free range. I just invested in chicken boots and a good boot scraper by the door

Well, I hope you don't work in food service like I do.

 

[Grams56]

Having trouble finding photos of this, curious if anyone has a free-standing coop inside of their run. With the space we've chosen for our coop and side of the run, coop on the outside would eat up a bit of space, so debating putting it inside. Would love to see yours if you've done this!

The main thing I'm uncertain on is best way to do access to the coop from the outside of the run. If I have the coop flush with the side of the run and build around it, that'd give me the main coop door access so I don't have to enter the run to access them or clean. I don't care about the nest box access from in or out, we have very few layers.

We converted a dog run into chicken run and the coop is attached to run

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Cool question, @charlotte-and-the-bees. It's fun to see others' setups--not just the coops but the access.

We put coops with runs inside a bigger, electrified yard/run, if that counts. We're in the forest with tons of predators, and we wanted to co-exist instead of fighting a losing battle. Electric's been key. That means a lot of hardware to unlatch to get to the coops, but it doesn't bug us.

We keep a jar of scratch by the gate to distract them if we don't want them running out. We also have chicken-specific shoes and keep spare clogs for visitors and sitters, so no worries on poopy shoes.

One of the coops we bought sits fully 8' over the run with only 18" of clearance underneath.

I was worried we'd regret this, envisioning belly crawling to reach a bird or egg. Instead, I love it because the chickens love it, and that area stays dry no matter how wild the storm. They've excavated dust-bathing trenches and spend half their daylight hours lounging around under there. Especially now, when the tree canopy's bare, or in the summer when it's hot. Under-coop run areas are underrated!

Here's our other setup, for 2021 bachelors: it's a mobile tractor with detachable run inside poultry netting.

We're disproportionately proud of ourselves for thinking this up on the fly. The whole thing can be moved with the tractor in 5 minutes. Anywho.