Coop placement relative to the house?? (Smell? Noise?)

[PamelaTX]

Hi all!

I've been lurking here on BYC for some time now....dreaming, learning, and planning. I don't have any chickens yet and my coop is only in the drawing board stage. I live on a large ranch and can place my coop either very close to or quite far from the house. I'd like to have it close to the house to enjoy seeing the chickens from the windows and so that trips to the coop to care for them will be easy. But I'm also concerned about the noise (are chickens very loud?) and the smell of the coop. What advice you you experienced chicken owners have for me?

 

[Creed Bennett]

Mine is about 150 feet from the house and down wind! Unless the windows are open I don't hear them. A rooster can be pretty loud but I love hearing them.

 

[Arms319]

Don't put it too far away from the house because you will find that you don't go out too it near as much. If it is close to the house you will make several more trips taking food scraps and other treats to them.

 

[farmgirl1995]

I wouldn't put it too far away from the house. The number of chickens you have could be a deciding factor. And really if you keep the chickie's home nice and clean there isn't much smell

 

[hmmcc123]

My chicken coop is 10 feet from the back door. I can look out the kitchen window while doing dishes and watch them. As long as you keep your coop and run clean, and no drainage issues, you shouldn't notice any smell. I use the deep litter method in the coop and currently in the run for the winter. I rake around the shavings in the run each day when I visit them and it takes maybe 3 minutes. I add fresh shavings weekly to help keep things dry and fresh. I also sprinkle the roost dropping boards with shavings and clean them once a week. It's nice to walk quickly to the coop when the weather is awful. I have 10 chickens and I do hear them loud and clear when they lay an egg! If I had been able to place my coop further out, (I have a tiered yard so I chose closer to the house so I didn't have to hike up a level) I think 15-20 feet would be perfect.

Hope this helps!

 

[GardenGal]

We're down to three hens, but even when we had four hens and two roosters I really liked having them right by the house. When the windows are open I can hear them murmuring, and it's easy to run out to clean up or bring treats. How many chickens are you planning to get? Good luck!

 

[kari_dawn]

Mine are litterally RIGHT outside my kitchen window...they are not too loud, and they do not smell bad enough to bother me (the coop also gets cleaned frequently). I really prefer them close to the house. It is easier to get motivated to clean, collect eggs (when I had birds that were laying), and watch after them. Further away from the house, you may not notice predators trying to get in at night...

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

If you have a thousand chickens, there will be a smell that's not pleasant.

If you have a few, like, ten, they could live in your yard and be nothing BUT pleasant.

One day, last winter, DH and I stood out in the coop and looked at each other funny.

"you thinkin what I'm thinkin?" "Yeah." "Smells like chicken in here." "Not bad".

 

[colonel sander]

Like many have posted smell is not bad if you keep up on the cleaning. Noise well my coop is about 80 feet from my back door and I can here them when the egg song comes around

Also they do like to talk to you when they know you are around. Noise is not a problem as I like to here them talking to me and one another. If I had a better way of doing it mine would have been closer to my house.

 

[ChickEngineer]

We had a starter coop just outside our patio door. Had shavings in the run, wind blew shavings everywhere. Changed to sand, the dust from their dust bath covered everything. The new coop is about twenty feet from the patio door and visible from the kitchen window, dining room and front room. We enjoy watching them.
As to noise, we only have four hens, no roosters, just the chuckling and talking after the egg laying. The Red's do like to talk.
We never have any odor, the sand run gets raked twice a day, poop tray emptied every morning. Shavings in the coop area stay pretty clean, they only go in there to lay and roost at night.
Life is good!!