How does this spot look?

[HollyDutton]

So we are looking through plans for a coop. We will probably cap out at a dozen or so chickens to keep at a given time, so not a huge coop.

The part of the yard with space is in the southeast corner of our lot, and is shaded pretty much all day, so grass doesn't grow there (see pix). Water does pool when it rains sometimes, so I'm thinking of putting pavers down in the low-lying spots with gravel fill, to keep the birds up out of water.

The area we could make for their fixed run is roughly 11'x16' - that is from the corner of the (currently unused) raised bed on the left of the photo, to the front edge of the shed there. Could expand our into the yard a big more, where there is grass, but I'm hoping we will get to where we trust our two small dogs enough that the chickens can free range in the yard a bit, on a daily basis.
We are in Houston, so winters are mild, but summers run from May - September and get hot and muggy, so I'm thinking this shaded corner is a good spot for outdoor animals.

We'd have to put a cover on the run (wire most likely) because possums are somewhat common, and we have had families of raccoons before (not to mention stray cats). Not seen snakes though.

The coop itself would be raised (cleaner, safer, easier egg collection).

Anyone see anything here I'm missing?

 

[Compost King]

My only concern is if that corner floods when the rain gets heavy. But you are keeping it off the ground so that may not be an issue. I keep my coops and runs on high ground as flooding leads to odor issues. If it is the low ground and you do something to raise it up, just make sure runoff water has somewhere to go.

 

[HollyDutton]

My only concern is if that corner floods when the rain gets heavy. But you are keeping it off the ground so that may not be an issue. I keep my coops and runs on high ground as flooding leads to odor issues. If it is the low ground and you do something to raise it up, just make sure runoff water has somewhere to go.

Yeah. It doesn't flood per se, but it does pool up a bit. The fence is 7 years old and no sign of rotting (stained pine), so water doesn't stay long.

Thinking about putting in French drains, in addition to the pavers.

 

[Criticalicious]

Is that a neighbor on the other side of the fence? I hope their bedroom isn't nearby - chickens can be loud even hens. I assume chickens are allowed in your neighborhood. Some places restrict how many you can keep at any time.

 

[HollyDutton]

Is that a neighbor on the other side of the fence? I hope their bedroom isn't nearby - chickens can be loud even hens. I assume chickens are allowed in your neighborhood. Some places restrict how many you can keep at any time.

It's an empty structure - that lot is used to store heavy equipment. We do have a neighbor on the left hand side, and have spoken with them. They are cool with us getting chickens. City ordinances are 100' from neighbors (which we'd be about 20' short of that for the ones we asked who are fine with it), and up to 30 hens.

 

[Compost King]

Sounds like you have the standing water issue handled. When I looked at the picture my first thought was that I can't see where run off water would go. You put effort into figuring out problems before they happened so you should be successful. Even if you missed something, you will adapt.

 

[Acre4Me]

Looks good! Keeping the coop raised is a good idea. You can probably get away with just dirt/sand/gravel on the ground as chickens like to scratch around, rather than using pavers. But if you have a very wet spot, maybe put pavers there and then the stand for their water - or something that would benefit from a more solid/ flat surface.

Good luck.

 

[Acre4Me]

We are currently building ours - and we can get "flooding" for a short time with heavy rains. This area we are using was previously a dog run lined entirely with 16x16 pavers, so the ground was elevated a bit, then sand added, then pavers, so this helps as it never flooded. We will be adding some corrugated roofing to keep the run dry since this is an issue. My neighbor has chickens and it was muddy and very wet when it rained where his run was at. He said he and wife spent time hauling sand and gravel and raising up the area to keep it drained and dry. His chickens are much happier and drier.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/current-build-please-assist.1240365/#post-19905100