Hi everyone! Long time lurker on the forum, first time posting. I'm still working on convincing my husband that we should get a few chickens, and also trying to figure out the best place for a coop in our yard. I would like shade for summer because the heat and humidity can be terrible, but most of our yard has poor drainage and can be soggy in the spring. The only way we can have a garden, with this poor soil, is with raised beds. So I was thinking maybe I could build a raised bed for my coop and run area. Even 6" deep would create a nice dry run, and I believe we could make it large enough for a good sized run for 2 or 3 chickens. There is a lovely maple tree that would be the perfect shady spot for it, too. What are the thoughts of all you experienced chicken people? Thanks! Kathy
It's actually okay for the run to be muddy. Sure, they won't like it, but it'll be fine. If you want to keep it simple, just raise the coop up. If you raise is about 2 feet off the ground, then it can also provide shade for your chickens.
Definitely raise the coop up off the ground by 2ft or more. As long as the coop stays dry and has decent circulation, it's all good. Just be sure to have some extra wide doors for you to be able to get in there to clean it out. Having to bend over in small door is just no fun!! If you're planning to get your chickens real soon and don't have time for more detailed work on the run, just set up your fencing for it and deal with it in the summer months. You can have a raised bed, rock on the bottom level, compacted sand on top to get proper drainage going through there. Good luck!
Not planning on getting any this year. Planning on building the coop next year and maybe by the end of the summer I'll be ready for them. I was thinking of building everything on top of a raised bed. I'd like a coop tall enough that I can walk into it, but maybe I'll need to build it raised off the ground instead. That would give a little more ground space for the chickens, too.
Quote:Defiantely argee! My yard likes to flood during the spring so we had to put our coop up off the ground.
Quote:I elevate all my coops to provide chicken space underneath, even the ones that are tall enough for me to stand up in. I just put steps up to the door. Other coops are small enough that I can reach in to pluck birds off of the roost at night without having to chase them.
My coop is raised on blocks because we have flood irrigation. I love that we did this because we can also get flash floods during heavy monsoon rains. (really, in AZ!) plus, I believe having it raised has cut down on some pests and allowed me to not have to dig the sides in or put it into concrete. We put to the coop on a concrete block foundation, and anchored it with hurricane anchors. It has a wood floor and I use rice hulls, along with alfalfa hay. I don't do deep litter, rather I clean it about very 6 weeks, adding the litter to my compost. The run is rock, which I layer pine needles and alfalfa hay on, raking the old onto my compost about every three months. I let them out during irrigation if it's daytime and they go insane over the bug hunting feast! Crickets, roaches and beetles come up from everywhere. We irrigate every two weeks so it's really nice to have the chickens eat all those nasty bugs.
Cement floor is a good idea, but unfortunately it's outside of my budget! I thought it was bad if the ground in the run gets wet and muddy in the spring, or after heavy rains. That's what made me want to raise the run up a few inches, at least, even if I decided on an elevated coop.
