How close or far away is your chicken coop to your house?

[Shayna]

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It's great that you're putting all of this planning into it starting out. Go the extra mile on making sure it is secure from all those predators. You won't regret it! Be sure to use hardware cloth - it's worth the extra money. 1/4" is best so nothing can squeese through. wayfair.com is a great resource if you haven't planned where you will get it from. As long as you make it very secure, how far away it is from your house shouldn't be a big issue if you don't mind walking the distance.

 

[vjbakke]

We have a small flock, only 5 , will be 8 next spring. Our 12x12 run is about 5 feet away from our back door. Our coop is inside of our garage. Our girls see us at the back door from the run and get all excited like they might get a snack!

 

[Chemguy]

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This is the advice I was given, and I have found it to be good. I don't (and cannot) have electricity or water running to my coop, so I had some latitude in deciding placement. Of two sites with shade in the summer, I chose the site that is 40 feet from the house rather than 200 feet and downhill. Hauling water aside, I am usually bleary-eyed when I open up the coop in the morning. I enjoy not having to take a hike before I have a cup of coffee.

 

[WaldensRidge]

Shayna, how are the 6 pot belly pigs treating you? I'm interested in raising some tasty bacon

Quote:
It's great that you're putting all of this planning into it starting out. Go the extra mile on making sure it is secure from all those predators. You won't regret it! Be sure to use hardware cloth - it's worth the extra money. 1/4" is best so nothing can squeese through. wayfair.com is a great resource if you haven't planned where you will get it from. As long as you make it very secure, how far away it is from your house shouldn't be a big issue if you don't mind walking the distance.

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

Layers that live here year-round are fairly close to the house, at the back end of the garage, perhaps 60 feet from the back door. That decision was driven by the snow we get here. Close in, situated that I can keep a path open to it with the throwsnower.

Meat birds are further away. Not that I find them smelly (I keep them as clean as my layers), but there was a good level spot for their accommodations that will give them a right-time-of-day mix of sun and shade on the coop, as they are strictly a warm-weather proposition for me.

My neighbor (Poor man! his kids drove him into the chicken business only because of mine!) is set up similarly with larger distances. His layers are in a coop up at the front of his place, at the edge of the yard he keeps plowed out, maybe 40 yards from his back stoop.

His meat birds have part of a larger building down toward the back of his property, maybe a couple hundred yards away. They share a building with his hogs (also a warm-weather proposition and are tended morning and evening as are the hogs. Kind of odd, since he got into it, as the meat birds grow and require more frequent cleaning, he's a lot more attentive to the hogs' bedding. Not that he ignored it prior. And the hogs only come in to sleep, but he tends their bedding every time he does the meat birds.

Bottom line, it's the snow that drove my decision on where to put the Pullet Palace.

 

[Caat]

well probably 50 feet from the door BUT there's a garage attached to the house and it's like 20 feet from the garage! they are next to the dogs. we are on 2 unfenced acres in the BC Rockies... bears, coyotes, owls, eagles, hawks, osprey, deer, elk and so on no longer "visit"... 160Lbs & 120Lbs dogs seem to keep most things out of the yard

 

[ontimeborzoi]

My first coops were about 200 ft from my house, but over time I have learned that everything is easier the closer the chickens are to my house, so I built new coops and now they are about 20 ft from the house...close to water and electric and i can see everything thats happening...its easy in rain or snow to get TO the coops. I have roosters, the noise does not bother me. If it did, I would move the boys to those farther away coops that I no longer use.
For me, the key to enjoying my chickens is having them where I can observe them from the comfort of my house.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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That was going to be my question.
Water, electric and compost bins nearby, on high or well drained ground with lots of shade are the most important considerations to me.
I like to be able to see them from the house just in case of a daytime predator attack (read that as the neighbors pack of huskies)
I think chickens are great for an orchard, they're hard on young lettuce though.

 

[PHILMAN]

Ours are about 20' from our back door . Quick and easy to collect the eggs . Out and back in within a minute or two .

 

[daver]

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Same here.