Coop/run sharing a wall with garage?

[NinjaSalad]

Our plan is to turn this unused 1/2 lot into our own little urban homestead with veggie gardens and chickens. The black chainlink fence on the right is the neighboring property.

The only structural requirement our city has for chickens is that coops/runs/etc are at least 50 feet away from any neighboring buildings. We have plenty of room to meet this requirement.

So we were thinking about building the coop/run along the right side of the garage and using it's structure as one of the walls. This would help reduce costs somewhat and provide some protection from the elements.

We will apron the 3 sides of our coop/run to prevent digging critters from getting in. The garage walls are CMU but the floor inside is gravel and dirt. Do you guys think that it's possible for a very determined predator to get inside the garage and dig into the coop on the other side of a concrete block wall? I have no idea how deep the garage wall foundation is in the ground...

 

[eggbert420]

Very unlikely. But anything is possible.

 

[wholehearted]

I agree with Eggbert....anything is possible, but it's not something I would be worried about. In our last house, we built a coop onto the side of a detached garage like you are considering (although ours was on concrete). It worked out really well for us. We've since moved, but I really miss that coop.

Good luck with your project!

 

[drumstick diva]

agree with Eggbert

 

[mandelyn]

I'd say highly unlikely. Do you know how much sun exposure that slice of ground gets? Between the trees and the building, you may be looking at plants that are part sun instead of full sun.