Chicken experts! Can you help a soon to be new chicken Mama out?! Advice, tups etc for coop and run placement.

[kryan91871]

I need some expert opinions please I was going to use an existing bldng for my coop and attach a run. That's no longer an option. Where would be the best place to place the coop and run in my yard??? I ordered the coop and have to build the run. Do I want the coop in the run? Please help a new chicken Mama.
**(The pic with the coop and run is what I'm thinking of. Not my pic)

 

[Ridgerunner]

My strongest criteria for where to put the coop and run is drainage. If water drains away from it so it stays pretty dry life is a lot easier. If water runs to the area and stands life is usually not good. Look at your drainage and find a place to put the coop and run so the area stays dry. Some people may talk about sun or shade or wind direction. All those things can be managed. If the area is wet life is not good.

My next criteria, and it is way down on the list compared to drainage, is your comfort and convenience. If it is a pain for you to take care of them you will not do a good job for long. Where are you going to get water? Where will you store feed? You'll probably be out there a minimum of twice a day, once in the morning to open the pop door and feed and water them. Once in the evening to gather eggs and lock the pop door. Maybe more often, my minimum was three times a day. Will you have to cross a low area with running water if it is raining hard? Will you need to climb or slide down a hill covered with ice or deep snow in winter? Are fences and gates in the way?

You can do the run two different ways. Many people build a run so the coop can sit anywhere inside. That way you don't have to worry about attaching the run to your coop so the pop door opens in the run. And the area under the coop provides shade and maybe a dry place to put feed. If it is in the run you have better access to the area under the coop.

If you put the coop next to the run and fix it so the pop door opens into the run you don't have to go into the run to gather eggs, but how does that pop door work? Do you still have to go inside to open and close the pop door?

 

[3KillerBs]

How many chickens are you planning on getting?

Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters so we'll give better advice if we know what sort of weather you'd be coping with.

My Little Monitor Coop is designed to meet all the minimums for 4 hens in a warm, wet climate but if you have a means of blocking the side window for winter it should work for a cold climate up to the point where deep snow blocks the ventilation in the monitor.

 

[Parront]

HI! Welcome to BYC!
I see you have very nice green lawn. Chickens love grass! I have attached a photo of my grass after chickens.

• I second having water close by. You are always filling water dishes or rinsing off something.
• Close to where you unload you car after a trip to the feed store, the bags are 40-50 pounds each. That is a cute coop for ~3-4 chickens, but it does not include a place to store feed bags out of the weather and away from rodents. Looks like you have a nice big garage, where you could put a metal trash can for feed storage. So close to the garage would be nice for carrying out the food to them, they eat all the time!
• Looks like a nice pool, you will probably not want the chickens up-wind of it, or very close to it, or you will be finding feathers and straw or shavings in your pool a lot. I used to have a pool, and a previous owner had planted a nice flowering Bougainvilla that dropped stuff in it all the time!

 

[BDutch]

Important :
Fresh water
Feed storage
Ventilation
Shade
A good roof that blocks the rain from openings.
Electricity if you have winters with freezing temps.
Not too close to you’re bedroom if you want to keep a rooster.
Not to close to you’re neighbours if you want to keep a rooster.
Nice: a view on the chickens if you look out of the window.
Nice: a very safe run with an open connection to the coop for the chickens to have access to the run first thing in the morning or an automatic pop door.
......

 

[kryan91871]

How many chickens are you planning on getting?

Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters so we'll give better advice if we know what sort of weather you'd be coping with.

My Little Monitor Coop is designed to meet all the minimums for 4 hens in a warm, wet climate but if you have a means of blocking the side window for winter it should work for a cold climate up to the point where deep snow blocks the ventilation in the monitor.

I am in West Springfield, Massachusetts. I'm getting 6 hens on May 6th

 

[3KillerBs]

So you will need 24 square feet in the coop -- a minimum of 4x6 feet but larger is better if your run won't be roofed so that the chickens will be literally cooped up in the winter,

60 square feet in the run -- 6x10 or 8x8,

6 feet of roost bar,

2 nest boxes,

And 6 square feet of ventilation, ideally placed above the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost and, in your area, sheltered in such a way that it can't be blocked by snow.

As for location, think about winter and having to shovel your way to the coop and carry water. Also, as noted above, think about drainage. Western Mass's spring thaw was one of the soggiest situations I've ever experienced (I once lived in Monson).

 

[BGcoop]

All very good replies. Think “convenience” above all else. Get/build bigger than you think you need. Chicken math is REAL!!! Also the more space you have per bird, the less often you have to clean. I prefer a walk-in type coop for cleaning purposes.

 

[Friday_Matinee]

Chicken math is indeed real.
Got 9 day olds at the start of the pandemic and after one of my dogs played with 2 of them and sadly killed them, I looked in the coop and saw the 7 ladies all on one of the roost bars.... hmmmm I thought, I could definitely fit 7 more in there now. So I just got 8 new ladies last wednesday. We only eat a few eggs a week so have about 2 dozen extra every week that I give away.

I agree with building the coop close to the house for ease of egg collecting in the winter. We had 2 spots picked out and I went with the one closest to the back door. The thought of running all the way to the back of the back yard when it's 4 degrees out didn't sound fun at all.

For the original 9 ladies I built a 4x8 coop. I have the nesting boxes in there and a closet that are both accessed from outside the run. Automatic pop door so they come and go in the morning and night on their own. All I have to do is go out at some point and lock the run door. (they free range mostly, I have an enclosed open run attached to the roofed and enclosed run for them, then a gate on that fence for them to be locked into that area or they can have access to the whole .25c yard). So inside the coop is closer to 4x7. Enclosed run is 8x16 and the open run is 35x20 ish.

More room is ALWAYS better. We still haven't had a single disagreement between the girls. No pecking, no aggression no nothing. They all get along great. I attribute that to the excess space.

We shall see soon if the ladies are just really nice or the space helps when I introduce their 8 new sisters (I hope they're all sisters!) and see if their temperments change at all.

 

[aart]

For the original 9 ladies I built a 4x8 coop.

Just about perfect.

We shall see soon if the ladies are just really nice or the space helps when I introduce their 8 new sisters (I hope they're all sisters!) and see if their temperments change at all.

It's not going to be pretty, you will see the other side of those "nice ladies".