Hi everyone. I haven't been on here in a while due to a chronic illness I have been dealing with. Weeks have turned into months and months into years and I am not improving as much as we thought I would. It could still happen, but who knows when. That being the case, we have decided to downsize. Our goats are now 14 years old so once they pass, there will be no more as I cannot handle their care, milking, kidding and so forth. My husband and I have decided to keep our chickens though, as I enjoy them so much and I am able to care for them for the most part. It isn't that my husband won't help, but I lost my job due to my illness and he is now working 6 days a week to support us and I don't like asking him to do animal chores on his only day off. He has tons of house projects to keep him busy. Besides, I enjoy caring for them and don't want to give that up.
So we need to make a new area for the chickens that is very close to the house and easy for me to work in. Our chickens and goats currently share a 15' by 10' shed and a 24' by 32' pen. This is an extremely nice shed that was here when we purchased our cottage. It has electricity and so forth and my husband would like to have it back to make a workshop for himself and a small section for me to use as a soap workshop. If we only have chickens, it is overkill to keep them in this area. We could use the pen for raised bed gardens as our yard is very small and we have been struggling with where to put a garden.
I came up with a plan. Our back yard is very small and backs up to a senior mobile home park. It is small and they are quiet, but they are right on top of us. Our neighbor to the right is very close to the property line as well. We don't use this area and making it into some sort of useable area will be expensive. There is also an extension built onto our house back there and sticks out 10' ft into the 12' wide yard so the whole area behind the extension is unusable. I don't really like it back there due to the closeness of the other homes.
I am thinking of attaching a coop onto this extension and using the backyard as a covered run. It is surrounded by 6' tall block walls, so we would only have to build 2 walls on the run and same for the coop. The new coop would be in a nice sheltered spot that gets morning sun and has a large pine tree outside it for afternoon shade. It would also have electricity and a cement floor It is the same length as our current coop, so our perch/nest box set up could just be removed and re-installed in the new coop. There is also a water spigot very close by so we could run a water line right into the run. This set up would make it very easy for me to care for the chickens, as well as keep an close eye on them. We have coyotes, raccoons, owls, rattlesnakes, bob cats and the occasional mountain lion as predators. While they aren't that far from the house now, they are not as secure as I would like them to be. The goats seem to protect them as we have never lost a single chicken to a predator, but once they are gone, our current set up will not work at all.
I did a search here and only found one other thread with a chicken coop attached to a house. They had a window that looked right into the coop. That will be our situation as well. There is a stationary window on the 10' long wall that would look into the coop. It is a bedroom window that is usually kept covered because it faces the very close neighbor's house, so we won't be losing a nice view or anything like that. I think it would be fun to see into the coop anytime I want to.
I have had chickens since 2001, but never had a coop attached to the house. Do you see any problem with this? I keep the coop extremely clean. We have poop boards that are easily cleaned and sand on the floor which I rake out weekly. There is no smell and my husband is diligent about keeping their pen raked up as well. We like to keep things clean so we don't attract rodents. I consider my chickens as pets rather than livestock and this would make it so easy for me to enjoy them and care for them. Of course, the coop/run would be painted and decorated to match our little cottage home. There will be room for me to add a small covered path from the patio to the run and plant a few vines and flowers. We will be installing a wall of lattice from the edge of our house across the patio, so when everything is done, you won't even know it is back there.
What do you think? Is this a dumb idea? Do you foresee any major issues or problems? I think it would be good use of and unattractive space. Sorry this is so long, I just want to think of everything before I suggest this to my husband. Thanks!
Cheers,
Vicki
So we need to make a new area for the chickens that is very close to the house and easy for me to work in. Our chickens and goats currently share a 15' by 10' shed and a 24' by 32' pen. This is an extremely nice shed that was here when we purchased our cottage. It has electricity and so forth and my husband would like to have it back to make a workshop for himself and a small section for me to use as a soap workshop. If we only have chickens, it is overkill to keep them in this area. We could use the pen for raised bed gardens as our yard is very small and we have been struggling with where to put a garden.
I came up with a plan. Our back yard is very small and backs up to a senior mobile home park. It is small and they are quiet, but they are right on top of us. Our neighbor to the right is very close to the property line as well. We don't use this area and making it into some sort of useable area will be expensive. There is also an extension built onto our house back there and sticks out 10' ft into the 12' wide yard so the whole area behind the extension is unusable. I don't really like it back there due to the closeness of the other homes.
I am thinking of attaching a coop onto this extension and using the backyard as a covered run. It is surrounded by 6' tall block walls, so we would only have to build 2 walls on the run and same for the coop. The new coop would be in a nice sheltered spot that gets morning sun and has a large pine tree outside it for afternoon shade. It would also have electricity and a cement floor It is the same length as our current coop, so our perch/nest box set up could just be removed and re-installed in the new coop. There is also a water spigot very close by so we could run a water line right into the run. This set up would make it very easy for me to care for the chickens, as well as keep an close eye on them. We have coyotes, raccoons, owls, rattlesnakes, bob cats and the occasional mountain lion as predators. While they aren't that far from the house now, they are not as secure as I would like them to be. The goats seem to protect them as we have never lost a single chicken to a predator, but once they are gone, our current set up will not work at all.
I did a search here and only found one other thread with a chicken coop attached to a house. They had a window that looked right into the coop. That will be our situation as well. There is a stationary window on the 10' long wall that would look into the coop. It is a bedroom window that is usually kept covered because it faces the very close neighbor's house, so we won't be losing a nice view or anything like that. I think it would be fun to see into the coop anytime I want to.
I have had chickens since 2001, but never had a coop attached to the house. Do you see any problem with this? I keep the coop extremely clean. We have poop boards that are easily cleaned and sand on the floor which I rake out weekly. There is no smell and my husband is diligent about keeping their pen raked up as well. We like to keep things clean so we don't attract rodents. I consider my chickens as pets rather than livestock and this would make it so easy for me to enjoy them and care for them. Of course, the coop/run would be painted and decorated to match our little cottage home. There will be room for me to add a small covered path from the patio to the run and plant a few vines and flowers. We will be installing a wall of lattice from the edge of our house across the patio, so when everything is done, you won't even know it is back there.
What do you think? Is this a dumb idea? Do you foresee any major issues or problems? I think it would be good use of and unattractive space. Sorry this is so long, I just want to think of everything before I suggest this to my husband. Thanks!
Cheers,
Vicki
