Elevated garden bed over chicken run

[Aunt Angus]

how the keeper would access the run if/when needed.

This is what I was thinking. If you can get in there, then it might be just fine.

 

[australorpia]

The run is 2' wide? Or is that a typo? I'm trying to imagine how this would work in such a narrow space.

The raised beds you posted look fantastic. Don't see why it wouldn't work as long as the chickens are kept excluded from accessing the beds and tearing out your plants. Obviously you will need to steer clear of chemical fertilizers and overwatering as that will drip onto the area below that the chickens would be accessing.

Yes, the run is 2 feet wide due to living in the city and tight quarters but made it work somehow. There are 2 parts to the run. One part is 6ft tall, 10ft long, and 6ft wide that I can get into to give food and replace the wood chips in that run. In the 2 feet wide portion, I lift up the hardware cloth from the top to access it, so If I build this garden, i would have to access it from the side to add on wood chips and remove composted wood chips/manure.

This is the reason why i would like to reclaim back some of the growing space to hopefully plant shallow rooted crops like greens, dwarf tomatoes, etc... Everything used in the garden is OMRI approved, but I wont even use anything anymore due to the 6 compost piles going at this time plus the rabbit manure we get from our rabbits.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yes, the run is 2 feet wide due to living in the city and tight quarters but made it work somehow. There are 2 parts to the run. One part is 6ft tall, 10ft long, and 6ft wide that I can get into to give food and replace the wood chips in that run. In the 2 feet wide portion, I lift up the hardware cloth from the top to access it, so If I build this garden, i would have to access it from the side to add on wood chips and remove composted wood chips/manure.

This is the reason why i would like to reclaim back some of the growing space to hopefully plant shallow rooted crops like greens, dwarf tomatoes, etc... Everything used in the garden is OMRI approved, but I wont even use anything anymore due to the 6 compost piles going at this time plus the rabbit manure we get from our rabbits.

So the only part you're planning to put a raised bed on is on top of the 2' wide portion I assume?

Since I doubt there's many folks who've tried doing a set up like this, you might want to start small and do one shorter section of garden bed for year 1 and see how things go, as far as how this affects the run underneath. I think as long as the chickens have a drier section of the run to use it might be okay, but hard to say without actually testing it out.

 

[Krugerrand]

When I needed easily removable hardware cloth sides, I wrapped the hardware cloth around sections of cattle panel. I found them easily 'hingable' and lockable. If you do something like that, it's good to build your height so that it corresponds to where the cattle panel will hit. (And, I'm not sure offhand, if cut lengthwise the 2 halves would be the same height, as one side has a few tighter sections than the other.)

 

[Aunt Angus]

When I needed easily removable hardware cloth sides, I wrapped the hardware cloth around sections of cattle panel. I found them easily 'hingable' and lockable. If you do something like that, it's good to build your height so that it corresponds to where the cattle panel will hit. (And, I'm not sure offhand, if cut lengthwise the 2 halves would be the same height, as one side has a few tighter sections than the other.)

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Clever!

 

[Krugerrand]

Clever!

Thanks! I originally copied the idea for my run door from res's Hoop coop brooder with roll up sides. Then, I used it twice for my isolation tractor.