Barn Coop and Run placement help

[Fetz]

Hi Everyone, soon to be first time chicken owners. We will have 5 black australorp, 5 barred rock, and 5 easter eggers (wife insisted on having multicolored eggs) as well as a barred rock rooster arriving this spring!

I have gotten some good feedback here that has reassured me using one of the stalls in our old barn for a coop is a decent idea. But now I am having a tough time deciding what the best location for the run is. I am anticipating a future flock size of up to 25 so I'd like a 250sqft run. We hope to be able to free range as much as possible but we have frequent predator activity so the option to leave them in a run at times seems best. I am mostly concerned with sun and wind exposure. We are in Central Illinois with cold winters and hot summers. Winds are predominantly from the south in the summer and from the southwest to northwest in the winter.

Option 1 (yellow) is on the north side of the barn. The barn would cast shade over almost the entire run all year and the coop itself would get little to no sunlight. The ground here is a bit of a muddy mess. This side also faces the road but is enclosed in a fence. When we free range they would be able to access this entire paddock up to a creek and could probably fly over the 4' fence onto the road if they really wanted to.

Option 2 (red) is on the south side of the barn. It would receive full sun all day all year. a south facing window would let sunlight into the coop. When free ranging they would be restricted to the barnyard with no shade unless I leave the barnyard gate open to give them access to a large paddock with lots of shade.

Option 3 (orange) would just convert the lean-to shelter on the west side of the barn into a run. This would be by far the cheapest and easiest option but I don't know if that would be suitable for them. It would also restrict me from using it for anything else in the future.

What option would you say is best? Is it better to have them suffer full sun in the summer or be in the shade all winter?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

What are your prevailing winds during your wettest and coldest seasons? If you can use the barn to block those, you make the run more useful in your worst weather.

As to drainage, the time to fix that is now - once you've decided where to place the run, of course. Add some berms and swales to direct water away from the barn and run.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1: Major down side is the "muddy mess" - it'll get worse with the addition of chickens if you can't address the mud/drainage issue. Shade isn't really a problem and would be preferable to all sun.

2: Full sun would be fine until summer, then they must be given some access to shade during the hotter days. I like the idea of letting sunlight into the coop but heat is much harder for chickens to deal with than cold.

3. Could you use this area but extend the run to include some of the space in front (next to where you have the red rectangle) so they get both sun and shade? The fact that the area is already roofed is attractive especially since you probably get pretty snowy winters.

So I'd vote orange if the run could be expanded to include a bit in front or behind the current lean to.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Being in Michigan, and roughly the same weather. I vote Red.
South side away from the north winds and sun all year with the addition of shade for summer.

As a side note.. and if I'm not overstepping your plans. If you added a Black Copper Marans (BCM) roo instead of the Barred Rock (BR), you could hatch out some Midnight Majesty Marans and Olive Eggers from your hens, for more colors in your wife's egg basket.
Just need a plan for the extra boys you hatch....

 

[Fetz]

Winds are almost always from the northwest during a winter storm, which certainly favors the South face. But it seems those are far and few between now, and there is a good block of forest to the north and northwest that would block those winds a bit.

I may have overstated the mud problem, really in both locations there's just bare dirt and it's soft and moist right now. No actual mud or flooding. We are in a small valley so moisture is quick to gather in the creek and the barn is on a high ground.

 

[texsuze]

Predator-proof and convert the roofed lean-to area to a covered run and expand it outward the same width by attaching 2x4 framing with hardware cloth walls and roof; decide on some ample square footage for that expansion. That way you have both a covered (shaded/rainproof) and uncovered (sunny) space for a single, large run. Depending upon where your stall coop will be within the barn, you could create an opening through the barn wall from that lean-to run straight into the stall coop. You might even consider building a coop that will sit underneath the lean-to (instead of inside the barn) and do the exterior run extension.

 

[Penpal]

Australorp are really good at flying. You'll need a high fence, or clip their wings.

 

[Fetz]

Australorp are really good at flying. You'll need a high fence, or clip their wings.

Really? I know nothing compares to real life experience but all the books, articles, and forums I've read have stated that the Black Australorp and pretty much all heavy set dual-purpose breeds are not good flyers.

Either way they will have ample free ranging space to keep them busy so I'm hoping they don't venture to the neighbor's too often. He's a pretty good neighbor anyway so I don't anticipate any conflicts.

 

[Penpal]

Yeah, I also read that they are not good flyers, but they flew over my 4' fence. One could also fly up to the rafters of the greenhouse to be with the Orpington hens. That's about 11 feet, but I think he was using the roost to take off from, giving him a two and 1/2 foot advantage.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Really? I know nothing compares to real life experience but all the books, articles, and forums I've read have stated that the Black Australorp and pretty much all heavy set dual-purpose breeds are not good flyers.

Either way they will have ample free ranging space to keep them busy so I'm hoping they don't venture to the neighbor's too often. He's a pretty good neighbor anyway so I don't anticipate any conflicts.

"Not good fliers" is not the same as "incapable". Sufficient motivation allows incredible feats, and some individuals are simply exceptional.

I'm not a good runner. Humans, generally, are not sprinters - we are built for endurance running. (honestly, i can't that either) ...and then there's Usain Bolt.