Housing on sloped land

[swatchick]

I built my chicken house and run on one of the very few flat spots on my land, which seemed like a brilliant idea t the time, but it turns out that it is also the wettest spot aside from the actual creeks. So, I am trying to come up with some ideas for building something more sustainable on the slopes (which range from moderate to steep).

What I'm really looking for here are pictures. If you built a house/run on a slope, I'd be ever so grateful if you'd share a photo or two! Thanks in advance!

 

[speckledhen]

We just couldn't take down a big healthy oak if we didn't have to so we lost about 10 s.f. by jogging around the tree, but inside, it made two nice, deep alcoves. One has the two-over-two nest boxes and the other has a ladder roost, as you can see in the picture below.

 

[GhostRider65]

You could always build them an underground shelter coop dug out at the near top of a steep hill, it would very warm in winter and cooler in teh summer.

 

[mtnhens4]

Our coop is 4x6 and the run is 15x6. Plenty of room for our 4-6 hens and VERY secure. My DH worked very hard on the dutch door and I love it, not easy with all of the funky angles. The run roof is Sun Tuf and smoke colored which helps to keep everything dry and offers some protection from the sun, when it's hot the girls all hang out under the coop.

 

[joan1708]

I posted earlier about my concern that the back part of my sloped run was dangerous, too small and tight and too many sharp edges.
I don't want to fill it in because it could affect drainage in the rest of the yard. So I extended the top part out.

I added a fence pole to support it. I used cattle fence to frame it.

I put plastic hardware cloth over that and up the back wall for about 18 inches. This is to help hold in the litter and to get rid of gaps at the edges that beaks or toes could get stuck in. Then I put "rubberized pavers from home depot over that.

I put down cement pavers at the edge to cover the ends of the cattle panel. It's fairly sturdy. It will certainly hold the weight of 3 silkies and 5-6 inches of litter. I'll know in a couple months if it works or not.

Here is the coop and run. The slope down to the stockade fence is a little steeper than it looks in this picture.

 

[Dutch552]

We have very few flat spots on our land also. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post up how I elevated the coop floor off the ground to level it. It makes for a step up into the coop but it creates a nice, level, dry floor for you and your birds.

 

[shella]

i am also interested as my land is on a slop i have a coop at the bottom but thats where the water collects
so if anyone can us with pictures that would be great
sorry for hijacking your thread swatchick

 

[speckledhen]

We have very few level spots here, either. Here is the main coop, when we were adding 12' to it. That window became the doorway between the two sections. (we live on a small mtn, as you can tell from the drop-off).





(**Was going to link you to the pages of construction photos here of the original 8x8 coop, but seems the links are all messed up. Will ask Nifty what the heck happened. It's the Clutch Hutch in the Large Coops section.)

 

[HEChicken]

I love how you built it around the tree, Cynthia!

 

[swatchick]

Thanks for the photos, speckledhen! How high above grade did you make it? Any problem with chickens or other critters going under it? That's one of the things I've trying to figure out -- a run on a slope, because where I'm at, without a predator proof run, the whole lot of them would probably be gone in about half an hour even during the daytime.