Good place for a coop? What do you think about my landscape plans?

[Sammimom]

My vote is no poultry netting...go straight to the hardware cloth. It is so much stronger to protect your birds. My friend had a raccoon catch a hen through poultry netting, hold it there, and rip it out one bit at a time. Really a horrible way to go. I attached hardware cloth with washers and screws, to make it really hard to rip into.

 

[Sammimom]

Quote:

I'm not sure...I know some folks here have amazing high flying chickens! My hens have never bothered flying over our four foot fence, but to get to the garden portion of the yard we have an 8 foot netting to keep out deer, so I can't say I've tested tasty veggies vs. chickens with anything shorter then eight feet. My chickens do like to jump in the two foot tall whisky barrel planters I have, and they do that like it was nothing, so I'd say four feet at least? There must be others with much more solid opinions on this topic then me, however. Maybe start a new thread?

 

[PineappleMama]

One quick (probably stupid) question... by Enclosed Run you mean 100%... and No Free Ranging??

If not covered and/or free range well... Nectarines are citrus aren't they?

I thought I read somewhere that chickies weren't supposed to have those.
Or are they smart enough to leave them alone?

I LOVE the design, it's beautiful, that one thing just popped into my head is all.

 

[teach1rusl]

If you used wire fencing around your garden areas, I don't think it'd have to be that tall. I don't think fence to keep chickens OUT is as much a problem as fence to keep chickens IN. If it's mostly wire (as opposed to a wooden fence) that may help too. I've read that often, if chickens can't really tell where the fence ends, they typically won't shoot for it. But if they see a railing or something along the top, they have a goal. Some people swear by it. Of course whether the chickens swear by it or not may be entirely different...lol.
Your set-up looks great! Four chickens should do well! You could go a few more if you DO end up letting them out into the yard pretty much daily. Don't know how big your yard is, but know that it will not look as lovely as it does in those plans after a few months of free ranging if you have very many chickens...
I saw a comment about having to walk through the run to open/close the pop door; just set it up on a pulley system so that it can be managed from outside the coop!! Works great with my set-up! I want your yard/garden area!! It's lovely!

 

[Omran]

I like your plan. looks like you are going to have alot of fun building your chickens coop,

 

[patman75]

Looks great. My only concern is protecting the veggies when they free range. have fun!

 

[gsim]

Teach1Rusl nailed one thing good. Make the pop door opener a rope/pulley affair accessible from the outside. Use hardware cloth mesh . From your plans it seems that the coop will support 5 chickens while the run is sized for around 3. Could you trim up the nearest tree to allow more room for the chooks? They will be happier and less likely to fight amongst themselves. That translates into more eggs.

Be sure to provide plenty of ventilation up high where the top of walls meet the roof or in gable ends, maybe two sq ft or so in two places or more. Put in a min of two operable windows for varying ventilation in warmer weather. Build roost to be higher up than nests to prevent them sleeping and pooping in nests. Consider a pull-out drawer for the whole floor since the coop is so small. Mount the feed trough on a wall and not same wall roost is on, if feeding inside. If feeding outside, make food trough accessible from outside so you can fill it without going inside run. Do all watering outside if possible. Since run is small, screen it overhead too. Will keep crows, hawks, owls, and starlings out along with their diseases and keep them from your food. A scaled-down hog feeder would be great at the front of the fence where you could fill it from outside. Do run both water line and a 20 amp elec line to coop area. You will be glad you did.

 

[PhilErvin]

Quote:
You are obviously in a warm climate evident by the choice of fruit trees. The shade provided by the Nectarine, Apple and Asian Pear is only during the growing season and will fall off when the weather cools. So Your girls will have plenty of sun during the winter months. If the top of your map is North then your girls should have unobstructed south sun during the winter. Your Avocado and Magnolia are evergreens but I wouldn't worry about their location to the run.

 

[PhilErvin]

Quote:
Nectarines are NOT citrus. I think you may be thinking of Tangerines which are citrus. Nectarines are a fuzzless peach.

 

[mightieskeeper]

I wish I could plant fruit trees like you have. But the cold would kill them, for now just apple trees. Good luck on your chicken coop. I would make it bigger than you need. You may want to add more birds.