Designing housing for urban chicken keeping

[Brooke215]

Those coops are often(very often) too small..... for many reasons.......and cheaply built.
Be very careful before purchasing.

I've heard this from other people. Just to clarify, I liked some of the style elements like the sliding door and the location of the roosting bars. My husband is building my coop, and I used the pic for inspiration.

 

[aart]

Quote: Those sliding trays for cleaning often do not function as well as the pretty picture would imply.

Not sure of this exact model, no interior pics or link,
but often they are too low and the birds end up sleeping(and pooping) in the nests.

Do some careful studying on coop designs here...what works and what doesn't...before settling on your design. It's well worth the copious amount time it will take to plan well.

 

[Flock In Texas]

A low profile tractor may meet your needs. You can move it around the yard and hide it when needed. They can eat more grass and bugs and fertilize more yard.

 

[Brooke215]

A low profile tractor may meet your needs.  You can move it around the yard and hide it when needed.  They can eat more grass and bugs and fertilize more yard.

That's a good point. My house sits in view of everyone driving past, so I'm playing with ideas that might let me hide in plain sight. I don't want to offend anyone in my development with my hobby. I've got a large fenced garden area that I'm thinking of using something like this in. The fence would block the view of everything but the window side which would not be viewable from the road. I'd gladly give up some of my gardens footprint for a few chickens.

 

[Daox13]

I'm scrapping the garage idea. The chickens need more ventilation than I could get in there. I have a fairly private front garden. I'm thinking of putting something like this behind the fenced area:




Do you think this is a better way to go?

I have a coop similar to this and I got a summer use out of it but I my three girls have already outgrown it. so in a quick fix I would say its a viable option, but in the long run you will want to upgrade. mine as Aart said is not very protective. There are so many Urban coop designs out there from super cheap to super expensive.
My suggestion is this, google DIY urban coop, see which design fits your needs and look requirements and then post your pics on here and the experts will tweak it for you. Everyone always wants to just purchase a prebuilt coop and while I respect that, you end up in the circle of cost... Security=Size, Size=Weight, Weight = cost
a basic 2x4 frame and some siding and you would be surprised at the amount of money you save.

as far as discretion, lattice and climbing vines with pretty flowers are a great addition to a yard and whats behind them is no one else's business