Kinda funky idea, want your thoughts. :)

[JNorth]

I would like to run an idea past all you experts. We were given a small dog house recently. My husband will take almost anything made out of wood, if we can't use it the way it is he salvages the wood for other projects.

Would it be stupid to raise the dog house off the ground a few feet and place within our run (which happens to be a large dog kennel that was left on the property by the previous owners), along with our coop to house the food and water? Since we are using sand in our coop (bottom only, we are using hay in the nesting boxes) I was thinking we could use it there as well. My thoughts are that it would keep things clean and hopefully keep critters away since it wouldn't be right out in the open. My only concern would be that the chickens would try to nest in there too, but if I don't give them anything to get comfy in would they nest there?

Thoughts?

 

[ECBW]

It should work. Dog houses are usually small, so I imagine 2 to 4 birds?

My coop is attached to the run rather than inside, so I do not have to walk thru poopy area at all. I am also using sand on the coop floor and straws in nest. The key is making sure the roost is higher than the nest. I use leaves in the run and making sure picking the site at high point to ensure good drainage.

 

[JNorth]

I re-read my post and it's a little confusing, sorry. We already have a coop with nesting boxes, for 8 birds. I was just thinking of adding the small dog house, not attached to the coop, just in the run to house just the food and water.

Like this:

 

[JNorth]

I pitched the idea to my husband and he likes it. Any reason not to do it?

 

[Nigellas]

That should work fine. I have a dog house I use for when my hens go broody and are raising up chicks. Works great!

 

[JNorth]

That was our first thought for the dog house, for use if a chicken needs to be separated. But, we also have a very large woodshed so that would most likely be where we would quarantine a chicken if needed. I wish we would have had this when we first stared, it would have been great for chicks!

 

[AhyokaAcres]

It seems like a good idea, and it will give them more living space with the food and water separate.