nminusyplusm
Crowing
LG, great advice! You make me wish I'd known you before I built my coop and garden!
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I move my run with the start of every vegetable growing season. Then plant my garden in the vacated spot. My chickens kill all the grass in no time. I have a lawn tractor with grass catcher that I empty the grass clippings into the run all summer long. It is a symbiotic relationship where everyone seems to benefit.wondering if there is any concern about having the coop and run too close to a vegetable garden?
OOOOHHHH!!!! Excitement!!!!! Info, please???? What is your general location? How big an area are you setting up for your garden? For your coop? For your run? How many birds to you hope to have? Are you new to chickens? New to gardening?
What is your soil like? Is your yard void of trees, or do you have to work around lots of shade and tree root issues.
General recommendation is for 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird.
There are lots of different ways you can set things up, and each way has it's own advantage/disadvantages.
Tell us how much room you have to work with, what you have for soil, how much available sun, how many chickens you want, and how much time you intend to spend gardening, and we'll be happy to help you out! Any physical limitations to gardening? Back issues? Do you intend to use a tiller?
Suggested reading: Any of the books written by Ruth Stout, Lasagna gardening by Patricia Lanza, view the Back to Eden movie. You can do a google search for it. Also, this book is very helpful for flock management: https://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-Poultry-Flock-All-Natural-Approach/dp/1603582908
I am absolutely passionate about gardening, and my flock is an integral part of that passion. I would LOVE to help you with your planning stages so that your garden/coop/run can work well with the space you have.
Immediate first suggestion is this: consider deep litter in both coop and run. This will provide LOTS of fantastic compost for your yard. Make your coop bigger than you think you will need. IMO, 4 x 8, with walls 6 - 8' high is an absolute minimum, no matter how few birds you intend to have. If you have a very small flock, the extra space will be enjoyed by your birds, and it will make your flock management a breeze instead of a headache.
I would place the coop on the back North side of your chosen area, with space for a run/garden on both the East and West ends of the coop. You could have a pop door on each end of the coop. The first year, you would use the East end for a chicken run, and the West end for the garden. When you finish harvesting your garden, you could then open the garden, and close off the current run. This would allow the soil to rest in the old run, while the birds glean the weeds, left over plants and insects from the old garden.
As long your growing space is fenced, you can have the chickens as close as you like.
The bigger issue is where you compost the manure. You don't want to put it directly on the plants. If you're just using a small bin composter for a handful of chickens, no big deal. But a larger flock with heavier clean out requires a little more planning.
Thanks for all the great info! south central Virginia, the area for the garden, coop and run will be approximately 70 x 90 feet. most of it is on a gentle slope/hill that has full sun most of the day all year around. The soil is workable with hand tools relatively easily. Chickens - thinking maybe 6 to 12 but haven't decided on the exact number yet. So, in reality, I am starting new with very little current knowledge or skill in gardening and about zero knowledge regarding chickens - but I am very excited and hoping to learn and do a lot in 2018 - so we will see how it all turns out.
As far as trees - we are blessed to have some huge trees on our property, oaks, pines, maples, and a few others that are mainly close to and near the house and the other side of the property away from the garden area. There are about 4 large pines toward the north-west side of the garden area but they do not affect the sun for the area... though I am considering putting the coop near these trees - don't know whether that is a good idea or not or whether chickens have any issues with pine needles and pine cones or not??? Back and health issues ?? Currently and thankfully no - and I am blessed every day to be in far better shape than I probably should be at this age, especially considering what I have put my body through over the years. Thanks for your recommendations on the books.