Help my sis pick a spot for her coop!

[nuthatched]

It's impossible to give you advice without seeing the yard. It's actually pretty hard to 'dox' people as you say, unless you gave your phone permission to attach location to your pictures.
Put them in the yard, not on the pavers, you can make a raised, high draining bed to put the coop on and make a secure, fully enclosed run.

 

[mowin]

Yeah, but it's pretty easy to dox people nowadays.

Walls are concrete.
No roof, open sky.
Sliding impact glass doors seal off the atrium from the house.
The pavers are about 10 or 11 inches long, shaped like a capital "i", made of concrete, and about 6" wide at their widest.

How are we going to "dox" (whatever that means) from a pic inside a atrium with concrete walls?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Overall I think this is a bad idea along the lines with what others have said - chickens need ground to scratch around in, the plants will get destroyed anyhow.

I'm curious if this atrium has any direct access to outside, without having to go through the house. I've had relatives with an atrium that was basically an open air "room" fully surrounded by the house's walls but with no direct outside access other than the sky above and the earth below. IIRC they put a koi pond in there but the lack of direct access to outside made it difficult to install and then later remove because EVERYTHING had to go through the house.

If there is no outdoor access, does your sister's family relish the thought of carting wheelbarrows of bedding or buckets of poop through the inside of their home? You mentioned letting the chickens have backyard time - if they need to be carried in and out of the house, they do know chickens will happily poop even if you pick them up and carry them?

 

[CoupDuke]

Overall I think this is a bad idea along the lines with what others have said - chickens need ground to scratch around in, the plants will get destroyed anyhow.

I'm curious if this atrium has any direct access to outside, without having to go through the house. I've had relatives with an atrium that was basically an open air "room" fully surrounded by the house's walls but with no direct outside access other than the sky above and the earth below. IIRC they put a koi pond in there but the lack of direct access to outside made it difficult to install and then later remove because EVERYTHING had to go through the house.

If there is no outdoor access, does your sister's family relish the thought of carting wheelbarrows of bedding or buckets of poop through the inside of their home? You mentioned letting the chickens have backyard time - if they need to be carried in and out of the house, they do know chickens will happily poop even if you pick them up and carry them?

This is the kind of response we were looking for! Yes, the atrium is completely surrounded by house. This is very helpful.

Someone else mentioned raised ground. How would that work?

 

[rosemarythyme]

This is the kind of response we were looking for! Yes, the atrium is completely surrounded by house. This is very helpful.

Someone else mentioned raised ground. How would that work?

You can either bring in extra dirt and raise the level of the ground at the location of the coop and run, like a berm, or it can be built up naturally over time via accumulated layers of litter.

 

[CoupDuke]

You can either bring in extra dirt and raise the level of the ground at the location of the coop and run, like a berm, or it can be built up naturally over time via accumulated layers of litter.

Not sure building it up over time is a good idea since yhe flooding can get to a couple inches in the whole backyard. So, basically, she'd have to build something like a raised garden bed and put the run and coop on that?

 

[Chicken_man_J]

Agreed with other posts concerning chickens need to foliage, scratch, along with taking dirt paths. Additionally, the "atrium" connected to the house and the pavers will result in tons of chicken poop that attracts flies into your house. Having free range chickens that bring numerous flies resulted in putting an additional section of fence. Thus, distancing further from house cutting down on flies.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Not sure building it up over time is a good idea since yhe flooding can get to a couple inches in the whole backyard. So, basically, she'd have to build something like a raised garden bed and put the run and coop on that?

Something like that, though I don't know if it'd be recommended to put in some sort of surround to keep the dirt in place, or if simply heaping it up and leveling it off would suffice. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about construction and landscaping can answer that.

I have occasional flooding to deal with and my run is very slightly elevated just from accumulated litter. Can't tell by looking at it but floodwaters will tend to go around it up to a certain depth. My coop (at far left) sits up on concrete blocks and PT skids so so far flood waters have gone under it but not touched the actual structure.

 

[mowin]

I'm out of this one. Good luck OP.

 

[3KillerBs]

Not sure building it up over time is a good idea since yhe flooding can get to a couple inches in the whole backyard. So, basically, she'd have to build something like a raised garden bed and put the run and coop on that?

That sounds like the best option if flooding is frequent.

They'll need reliably dry housing, which should be fairly large since they won't always have access to their run, and she probably should avoid feather-footed birds and manage things carefully to prevent mold.

An Open Air style coop is, IMO the best option for a hot climate. The sort of ventilation she'll need for the temperatures will facilitate drying things out after wet periods.

Repecka Illustrates Coop Ventilation
Hot Climate Chicken Housing and Care