Anyone setup something like this..........

[FrontPorchIndiana]

That's brilliant! We're getting ready to do both as well. Thanks for posting this!

 

[sgray136]

For those of you with extremely large gardens worth bragging about... use the idea with more than one coop orrr more chickens. The idea is sound the concept is great and the possiblities enoumous.

 

[beekybuzzard]

Quote:
If going be scale I would say around 38-40 X 30

 

[SillyChick]

That is one neat idea! Looks like a chicken mansion. There are lots of those here in the Philippines, but some also have ponds. It would be so great to have one, but I don't think our yard is big enough. Good luck with your construction! Oh and if you finished, we MUST see pics!

 

[Ruby Lou]

Quote:
From the sketch I estimate the barn is 12' x 16'
The outside fenced are, about 36' across the front (in the sketch) x 32' deep.
Seems a bit small, the garden portion, 12 x 32.

 

[Marianne67410]

I just posted that I was going to do something similar in a different section... I should have read this first.

We had a lot of gravel where our garden is now.

We built a big raised bed for the garden with 2x4 welded wire fencing around it. Then we went back with 24" strips of fencing, bent a lengthwise strip and used electrical wire staples to attach that to the timbers. That left about 18" on the flat to cover with soil.
The first year a rabbit burrowed into the garden. I finally found his front door, about 1' from the laid flat fencing! I put some used cat litter in his burrow and he didn't come back. Next time, we're going to lay out a 4' wide section.
I read somewhere that someone had great results using fencing just laying on top of the ground around their trees. The deer had been demolishing new trees, so they laid out sections of 4' (or 5', I can't remember) fencing in a square around the trees. They thought the deer didn't like stepping on the wire as they didn't have any problems after that.

I also read that someone used 2x4 welded wire fencing strips, placed 4 feet apart over their chicken run. He thought the hawks couldn't make the dive and swoop in between the strips. After two years, he hadn't lost a chicken to a hawk.

Another guy used 2' wide sections at the top, kind of hanging over to deter climbing critters. He thought it worked because the racoons or whatever didn't like how floppy and unstable that part was when they tried to climb on it.... hmmmm.

Sorry to be so windy here...I was planning on putting our coop a little in front of the garden and use kennel panels that we have to go down the length. Some netting or fencing over the top of the chicken area, then flipped to go over the other side the following year. There is a good chance that we'll put a 6 foot wide chicken run completely around the garden for pest control, especially if we need to corral the girls out of the garden. Too much fresh poo isn't a good thing...

Marianne
The procrastinator's motto: It's a work in progress.'

 

[chcknrs]

My mom had a problem with an eagle (yes, she saw it!) snatching her koi from her pond, so she covered it with deer netting and the problem stopped. This looks like a great idea, and we just got land cleared for our garden, so I'm gonna talk the hubby into it!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

What a great post / article!

I'm amazed at how well our chickens have performed perfect weed abatement on our whole back yard. In fact, this year I didn't let them into the whole back yard for a few months and the area remained weed free because all the plants / seeds had been eaten the years before.

Great soil, great cleanup, less weeds. I really like this idea!

 

[Presto]

What a great idea! thanks for posting this.

L.

 

[FourIsWaltz]

It's a nice setup, but that's not much space to garden. You could always look into square foot gardening or other methods to maximize production, though.

As for access, can you get a garden hose in, around, and out? Will a wheelbarrow, rototiller, other garden tools or equipment fit through the gates? (I don't think my tractor and disk would turn around in there). What if you wanted to back up a truck to load or unload produce or soil amendments, bales of straw, bulk shavings...

Gutters and downspouts on the shed to a rain barrel would be a great water-saving touch.

That setup will take some careful management of soil nitrogen (and other nutrients) especially if your hens are on shavings. Alternating the poultry run and garden will help with disease load, but a single year isn't always enough fallow time, so you can't get too complacent.

A setup like this with the coop sitting over part of a catfish (or carp) pond was one design used by agricultural extension in developing countries in southeast Asia and the pacific. Veggies, fish, eggs, and chicken on the table or for sale, and lots of nutrients cycled back into production.