Location of coop advice

[Ridgerunner]

My suggestion is to look at drainage. If water stands there you will have problems. A wet coop or run is a dangerous coop or run from a disease perspective and will stink. If it drains well you will probably be OK.

 

[maguijo]

My suggestion is to look at drainage. If water stands there you will have problems. A wet coop or run is a dangerous coop or run from a disease perspective and will stink. If it drains well you will probably be OK.

Thank you! Basically that's how I identified these two spots. They both are the driest areas on the property when it's been raining for 40 days and nights (A.K.A. Ohio springtime) that also get shade. I've been lurking on this site for a while reading all the questions and posts while I was dreaming about finally having chickens of my own some day. Someday is finally happening!

 

[aart]

I'd go with the best shade...heat can be a real problem for chickens and all day deep shade is the best for helping to keep them cool.
How close to the road...close enough for plow wash to hit the coop?
The noise shouldn't bother them...tho folks might get ideas if area is not secure.

 

[maguijo]

I'd go with the best shade...heat can be a real problem for chickens and all day deep shade is the best for helping to keep them cool.
How close to the road...close enough for plow wash to hit the coop?
The noise shouldn't bother them...tho folks might get ideas if area is not secure.

It's about 45 feet from the highway, and there's a really deep ditch that the highway folks dug which keeps my property pretty dry. There's also a fence that the highway people put up and maintain so it's highly unlikely they'd come to any harm living near the highway. I would of course add additional fencing to be sure they didn't get out through the highway-style fence for when they free-range. Also I'm in a real rural area, lots of farmers and I don't think I'll get any "folks with ideas" here, and they'd have to really work hard to get to them with the ditch and the state fence and my chicken-and-predator-proof fence.

 

[maguijo]

Here is a photo of the property. It's very windy. The winds seem to blow mostly Northwest to Southeast or straight West to East across it. The tree with the X over it got taken by the Ash Borer.

 

[Molpet]

the mulberry trees are my birds favorite to hang out under
my birds eat the mulberry leave in the fall when they drop or are about to drop. they don't care for the leaves in spring-summer.. of course they may be too busy eating the berries.
They also like to eat the maple whirly bird seeds

 

[Killer Tomato]

You might want to check the legalities for where you live, just in case... But I vote for the easiest walk, and the nicest shade tree. My chicken coop is at the back of the lot, and the hens hear the trains all the time -- they aren't bothered at all (if you do decide to do the roadside coop)

We have to have chicken coops a certain minimum distance from the house, front property line, neighbor's property line, outer fence, etc. Not like there's a Chicken Coop Police Force around here or anything. Our town is so overwhelmed with their own bs and infighting, we could be having satanic blood rituals on our street and no one would notice. My geriatric neighbors would think it was cool.

 

[aart]

Nice illustration!!

You might want to check the legalities for where you live, just in case... But I vote for the easiest walk, and the nicest shade tree.

Good points^^^

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have a mulberry tree in my run. When I open the pop door in the morning the first thing they do is run over to eat any that fell during the night. It does not hurt them at all, but the poop can get a certain "sheen". Cooked beet skins and red cabbage can color the poop too. It does not hurt them.

 

[Compost King]

I always advise to make sure your coop is on high ground and not where run off water passes through or where it floods. Its a factor that is often not realized until the first heavy rain after coop construction. As far as other factors... Mulberry trees are a great thing to have a coop under or near. If you keep it clean having it near the house is a positive not a negative unless someone in the house is averse to the sound of clucking chickens in the late morning and early afternoon when they cluck the most.