DH swears he will call the town to find out about any regulations on Monday. Since we found out that one of the more upscale towns nearby permits 10 laying hens/household it seems promising.
So I'm thinking positive and came up with a concept drawing for my 6-hen coop and I'd appreciate some feedback before presenting it to my DH to be transformed into an actual building plan.
This first picture shows the orientation, with the coop on the east side of the 8X10 metal garden shed and several runs wrapped around the shed.
The dimensions are somewhere between 4x7 and 5x8 according to DH's reworking to make my idea fit the commonly available sizes of lumber. There are large, deciduous trees to the south that provide shade all summer though the eastern exposure would provide some morning sun. The south face would be in the sun in the winter when the leaves have fallen.
And this picture shows the view looking uphill (to the west), with the south and east elevations shown at the bottom.
The dashed lines are because the dimensions of the run are a little iffy due to the position of a large shrub we don't wish to remove (especially since it would provide shade in the summer and a windbreak to the north in the winter), and because DH needs a certain amount of space between the southeast corner and a large tree to the southeast (summer shade for the coop), to walk through to his office in a larger shed to the north about 15 feet past the indicated fence.
The theory is to have the section of run next to the coop hardened against predators so that the chickens could have full, day and night access rather than having to be shut into the coop itself every night. The rest of the run is divided into 3 sections to try to rotate them so I can grow green feed for them in the 2 unused sections.
We want to have the food and water in the hardened run in a way that's accessible from the outside though there would be room to put them into the coop on the coldest winter nights.
The ground slopes gently to the east so there would be room to stand under the overhang of the shed roof on that side and be out of the weather when tending to the food and water.
I've indicated windows on the south and east sides and am planning triangular openings on the north and south sides at the top of the wall under the roof overhang. Should there be a vent at the top of the west wall where it sticks up past the shed roof?
Since I'm in the steamy southeast where 95 degrees and 95% humidity are normal from June through August and winters are mild enough that the ground rarely freezes hard I was thinking more about keeping the chickens cool than keeping them warm.
Would it be desirable to partially close off the east window in the coldest months since its next to the perches? To install some kind of windbreak panel on the hardened run at that time?
So I'm thinking positive and came up with a concept drawing for my 6-hen coop and I'd appreciate some feedback before presenting it to my DH to be transformed into an actual building plan.
This first picture shows the orientation, with the coop on the east side of the 8X10 metal garden shed and several runs wrapped around the shed.
The dimensions are somewhere between 4x7 and 5x8 according to DH's reworking to make my idea fit the commonly available sizes of lumber. There are large, deciduous trees to the south that provide shade all summer though the eastern exposure would provide some morning sun. The south face would be in the sun in the winter when the leaves have fallen.
And this picture shows the view looking uphill (to the west), with the south and east elevations shown at the bottom.
The dashed lines are because the dimensions of the run are a little iffy due to the position of a large shrub we don't wish to remove (especially since it would provide shade in the summer and a windbreak to the north in the winter), and because DH needs a certain amount of space between the southeast corner and a large tree to the southeast (summer shade for the coop), to walk through to his office in a larger shed to the north about 15 feet past the indicated fence.
The theory is to have the section of run next to the coop hardened against predators so that the chickens could have full, day and night access rather than having to be shut into the coop itself every night. The rest of the run is divided into 3 sections to try to rotate them so I can grow green feed for them in the 2 unused sections.
We want to have the food and water in the hardened run in a way that's accessible from the outside though there would be room to put them into the coop on the coldest winter nights.
The ground slopes gently to the east so there would be room to stand under the overhang of the shed roof on that side and be out of the weather when tending to the food and water.
I've indicated windows on the south and east sides and am planning triangular openings on the north and south sides at the top of the wall under the roof overhang. Should there be a vent at the top of the west wall where it sticks up past the shed roof?
Since I'm in the steamy southeast where 95 degrees and 95% humidity are normal from June through August and winters are mild enough that the ground rarely freezes hard I was thinking more about keeping the chickens cool than keeping them warm.
Would it be desirable to partially close off the east window in the coldest months since its next to the perches? To install some kind of windbreak panel on the hardened run at that time?
