Coop on a hillside - roost heights

[Jac Jac]

Been a while so posting an update. Haven’t made as much progress as I would like because we are battling the winter. But the runs are done and their roofs are on. I now have doors and windows in the coop. Step by step getting there!View attachment 2016571View attachment 2016572

Hey, can I be a tenant in your coop digs? That's a beautiful chicken house. (It certainly trumps where I'm living now - which is one reason I need and must have my own farm. your building skills rock.

 

[aart]

Looking GOOD!

I filled the bottom run (the first to be finished) with soggy wet leaves as soon as it was enclosed, and just a couple of weeks later they are all completely dry.

Has it rained hard enough to see the flow patterns around the coop and runs?

That big drain in the foreground of your second pic above is interesting, could certainly be advantageous during a downpour.
Where does it 'go'?

 

[RoyalChick]

Looking GOOD!

Has it rained hard enough to see the flow patterns around the coop and runs?

That big drain in the foreground of your second pic above is interesting, could certainly be advantageous during a downpour.
Where does it 'go'?

Yes very good question I have survived two torrential rains and one 3+ inches of snow and of course watched very carefully! The area around the coop and runs is a mud slide - we are all walking around on discarded plywood scrap and tar paper cut-offs otherwise you slide down the hill and land as I did on my backside in the mud! I am also sprinkling pine straw so we can get some traction. In all this wet, the coop and runs stay dry and the mud around it is in part because we are tramping all over and have destroyed the grass. And of course there are no gutters on yet so the drip lines turn into small rivers. I might do a short section of open French drain (not sure that is actually the right word) to get the gutter water out past the runs. Something like an artificial dry creek bed - a trench lined with landscape fabric and then filled with boulders so the water can run off in the right direction out to the wildflower meadow (I think I can make it look attractive and the wildflowers will appreciate the extra water too).

 

[Cryss]

Yes very good question I have survived two torrential rains and one 3+ inches of snow and of course watched very carefully! The area around the coop and runs is a mud slide - we are all walking around on discarded plywood scrap and tar paper cut-offs otherwise you slide down the hill and land as I did on my backside in the mud! I am also sprinkling pine straw so we can get some traction. In all this wet, the coop and runs stay dry and the mud around it is in part because we are tramping all over and have destroyed the grass. And of course there are no gutters on yet so the drip lines turn into small rivers. I might do a short section of open French drain (not sure that is actually the right word) to get the gutter water out past the runs. Something like an artificial dry creek bed - a trench lined with landscape fabric and then filled with boulders so the water can run off in the right direction out to the wildflower meadow (I think I can make it look attractive and the wildflowers will appreciate the extra water too).

Wood chips! Works for coops and will certainly work for your muddy walkway. Last year I put a small amount on the mud path that develops in these cold months. It gave me traction. When warmer temps arrived and grass grew the chips disappeared. I’m betting the grass will become greener in the summer walkway because the wood has composted.

 

[RoyalChick]

Wood chips! Works for coops and will certainly work for your muddy walkway. Last year I put a small amount on the mud path that develops in these cold months. It gave me traction. When warmer temps arrived and grass grew the chips disappeared. I’m betting the grass will become greener in the summer walkway because the wood has composted.

I love wood chips but I am too cheap to waste them on a construction site walkway! Mind you, I just had to have an Ash taken down because of ash-borer destruction so I do have some to spare. The weather is going to be terrible for at least the next week so everything will be on hold and I can assess the mud once we get back to work. I can get into the coop via that glass door in the photo door without dealing with meaningful mud so I am all set for daily chicken chores. And the chickens of course are happy in their bone dry leaves no doubt wondering what all the fuss is about.

 

[RoyalChick]

Looking GOOD!

Has it rained hard enough to see the flow patterns around the coop and runs?

That big drain in the foreground of your second pic above is interesting, could certainly be advantageous during a downpour.
Where does it 'go'?

Sorry @aart I didn't actually answer your question about the big drain in the foreground and where it goes. It is a soak-away kind of drain to deal with water that comes down the driveway from further up the hill (I live on a hill too - it isn't just the chickens). It has an overflow pipe that comes out just about 4' from the chicken run and I was concerned that it would cause a problem by emptying into the run. But I studied the water flow for a while before selecting the site, very little water makes it to the overflow - mainly the water sits in the hole under the drain and gradually soaks away into the soil. Of course every year or so it needs to be dug out so it doesn't fill with debris but it is amazingly effective and not really threatening the chicken run at all.

 

[Ted Brown]

... I might do a short section of open French drain (not sure that is actually the right word) to get the gutter water out past the runs. Something like an artificial dry creek bed - a trench lined with landscape fabric and then filled with boulders so the water can run off in the right direction out to the wildflower meadow (I think I can make it look attractive and the wildflowers will appreciate the extra water too).

"French Drain" is a correct term although that usually refers to a drainage hole filled with rock rather than a longer bed but no matter.

I think your idea of artificial creek bed is excellent. You can use coarse gravel (grey/pink granite would complement your excellent building) along both sides rather than boulders, far less expensive. You could even drain them into buried plastic drain tile and funnel the runoff whereever you want if the lower area is also a concern. [Around here (along the escarpment that I live on) the farmers have trenched entire fields (they bring in rolls of bigger drain tile that fill a flatbed) and used it to manage drainage. Makes usable fields that are otherwise flooded with escarpment runoff into late Spring; the transformations I have seen are remarkable.]

 

[aart]

Yes very good question I have survived two torrential rains and one 3+ inches of snow and of course watched very carefully! The area around the coop and runs is a mud slide - we are all walking around on discarded plywood scrap and tar paper cut-offs otherwise you slide down the hill and land as I did on my backside in the mud! I am also sprinkling pine straw so we can get some traction. In all this wet, the coop and runs stay dry and the mud around it is in part because we are tramping all over and have destroyed the grass. And of course there are no gutters on yet so the drip lines turn into small rivers. I might do a short section of open French drain (not sure that is actually the right word) to get the gutter water out past the runs. Something like an artificial dry creek bed - a trench lined with landscape fabric and then filled with boulders so the water can run off in the right direction out to the wildflower meadow (I think I can make it look attractive and the wildflowers will appreciate the extra water too).

That's great!
Gutters and end of construction should help heal your hilly walkway....
...or maybe you don't even walk there when not building a chicken run?

I also have an uphill driveway, floods the garage if I don't keep the drain swale(just a trench dug into the ground) off edge of garage apron open. Swale leads right into what is now the chicken run, so had to bury a pipe to get it past the under the coop portion of run.

 

[RoyalChick]

I haven't posted here for a while but in case anyone else ever has the question I originally asked, I thought I would post on how it all turned out.
In a word it is fantastic.
Specifically to the roost preference they all seem to like to be at the end where the ground is furthest away - in other words they walk up to the roost using the ladder at the 'shallow end' and then they sleep at the far end of the deep end as demonstrated by Maggie and Diana in this short video clip.

Of course distance to the ground is not the only difference between the two ends so I can't say for sure whether it is driven by the perception that it is higher up but they do have a strong preference for that end.

 

[aart]

More pics!! Inside and out!