Looking to be new Chicken family in Australia

[Chipmunk Chicks]

Hello everyone, excited to join the community. We are a family of 5 living in Canberra Australia and looking to get some chickens for the first time.
We currently have a couple of bee hives as pets and greatly enjoy looking after them and enjoying their honey.

In canberra we get both cold and hot climates but with low humidity. Can be below 0 degree Celsius in winters, but we don't get snow. We do get 30+ degree summers, sometimes even hitting 40+.
We are looking to get between 4-5 chickens, with varieties being a mix of Isa Brown and Australorp.
I've been reading some books on chickens and lots on the web, so getting a good mental picture of what we'll need etc.

Main problem: We have been tossing up between either getting a chicken tractor, or getting a chicken coop and building a run.
Footprint of the tractor is obviously smaller and involves less litter materials and cleaning, but we are a little worried a tractor might mean that our lawn gets destroyed. I've seen a couple of posts on here about this, but didn't feel I saw a really solid answer to my exact dimensions so thought I'd ask here.

The tractor we'd be looking at is this one:
https://www.royalrooster.com.au/chicken-castle-royale.html
It is 2.9m (9.5 feet) long by 1.2m (3.9 feet) wide and puts the roosting and nesting boxes up off the ground, and we'd get a seperate side nesting box for external access of the eggs.
Main question: I measured our yard, and we could move this tractor 35 times before it'd need to return to the original spot. If we move this tractor once a day, will we see holes in our lawn, i.e exposed dustbaths. Or will it not even be noticeable that 5 chickens were there for the day? What about the levels of droppings, will this be noticeable and will it make our whole backyard smell?

This is the deciding question for us? If we will notice, then we would rather go the coop option. Which we are looking at this one:
https://www.royalrooster.com.au/chicken-palace-small-extension.html
The most off putting part about a permanent coop for us, was the aspects around maintaining a deep litter, and also needing to create a small chicken run which further takes space in the yard. However if it means we don't have a destroyed lawn, this is still the preferred option.

I've attached a photo of our backyard, indicating where a permanent coop would go, and the orange line indicating the direction i'd be building a run (probably only up until the cubby house), but it'd be very small (just over chicken height) and only very skinny, sitting in the garden bed.

Would love to hear peoples thoughts so we can make the right decision and enjoy looking after our ladies.

Thanks again

Welcome! There's no right or wrong way to do it, and you may discover that you need to tweak your plans, whichever way you start off. We had a pre-existing coop that we rehabbed, and were free ranging, but now we use a rather heavy enclosure for most of the daytime that gets moved around about every couple weeks. We do re-seed the grass to help it fill back in, but one thing is ours is so heavy that it's not easy to move often, and I can't do it by myself. Lol He bought wheels that have yet to be installed, so that's another story. If you have secure fencing to let them range within your yard, and just go into the coop at night, that's would be great! Moving a tractor around, even a light one, I'm sure would get old, but you could do that too. GL and enjoy your chickening!

 

[blackpotato]

Thankyou everyone for your input it’s been most valuable.

We have cut back a tree so we can do a longer coup/run all in one.

Design is as attached.
Key feature - 7.1m long by 1.6m. 2.2m high at apex of roof.

I’ve built a external base frame from 200x75 sleepers and plan to 2/3 fill with blue chip 20mm aggregate for drainage, covered by a Geofabric. Then the last 1/3 I was planning a coarse grain sand. The structure will then sit on this base and I’ll place a deep litter inside it on top of the fox proof wire mesh flooring.

Does anyone see a better base material I should be using for the structure to live on.

I had three goals for the base.
1. It should drain water really well
2. It should be firm enough to not sink the structure over time
3. It should allow a chicken to scratch the base layer through the gaps in the fox proof flooring if they work to the bottom of the deep litter.

I am placing a manual free ranging door, as well as a large human door on the front side which is visible from our kitchen window, so we can ensure it’s all closed at night.

External nesting box is on left side and will be permanently shaded.

Solid roof along whole structure which avoids any rain issues. Going Australorp chickens which look to be able to enjoy 24/7 shade due to their black coats.

Would love any feedback. As we trimmed the tree it’s now integrated inside the coop which I quite like, it’s a variegated pittosporum which is evergreen. Though mostly just a stump at the moment after I chopped it down to fit within the size of the structure.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thankyou everyone for your input it’s been most valuable.

We have cut back a tree so we can do a longer coup/run all in one.

Design is as attached.
Key feature - 7.1m long by 1.6m. 2.2m high at apex of roof.

I’ve built a external base frame from 200x75 sleepers and plan to 2/3 fill with blue chip 20mm aggregate for drainage, covered by a Geofabric. Then the last 1/3 I was planning a coarse grain sand. The structure will then sit on this base and I’ll place a deep litter inside it on top of the fox proof wire mesh flooring.

Does anyone see a better base material I should be using for the structure to live on.

I had three goals for the base.
1. It should drain water really well
2. It should be firm enough to not sink the structure over time
3. It should allow a chicken to scratch the base layer through the gaps in the fox proof flooring if they work to the bottom of the deep litter.

I am placing a manual free ranging door, as well as a large human door on the front side which is visible from our kitchen window, so we can ensure it’s all closed at night.

External nesting box is on left side and will be permanently shaded.

Solid roof along whole structure which avoids any rain issues. Going Australorp chickens which look to be able to enjoy 24/7 shade due to their black coats.

Would love any feedback. As we trimmed the tree it’s now integrated inside the coop which I quite like, it’s a variegated pittosporum which is evergreen. Though mostly just a stump at the moment after I chopped it down to fit within the size of the structure.

I think the birds will love a tree in their run! Chickens love levels and you will probably find them using it often. Nice!

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

Welcome to the coop! I use the Forums and Articles tabs at the top of the page to do research. You can get lost for hours. It's nice to know you are minutes away from getting help with questions and emergencies! I always check in the "What's New" section as well at the top of this page. This way I can read how I may have a similar question or help give some advice
I would go with a permanent coop. Dress it up like the playhouse and you will love it.

 

[MaryJanet]

Thankyou everyone for your input it’s been most valuable.

We have cut back a tree so we can do a longer coup/run all in one.

Design is as attached.
Key feature - 7.1m long by 1.6m. 2.2m high at apex of roof.

I’ve built a external base frame from 200x75 sleepers and plan to 2/3 fill with blue chip 20mm aggregate for drainage, covered by a Geofabric. Then the last 1/3 I was planning a coarse grain sand. The structure will then sit on this base and I’ll place a deep litter inside it on top of the fox proof wire mesh flooring.

Does anyone see a better base material I should be using for the structure to live on.

I had three goals for the base.
1. It should drain water really well
2. It should be firm enough to not sink the structure over time
3. It should allow a chicken to scratch the base layer through the gaps in the fox proof flooring if they work to the bottom of the deep litter.

I am placing a manual free ranging door, as well as a large human door on the front side which is visible from our kitchen window, so we can ensure it’s all closed at night.

External nesting box is on left side and will be permanently shaded.

Solid roof along whole structure which avoids any rain issues. Going Australorp chickens which look to be able to enjoy 24/7 shade due to their black coats.

Would love any feedback. As we trimmed the tree it’s now integrated inside the coop which I quite like, it’s a variegated pittosporum which is evergreen. Though mostly just a stump at the moment after I chopped it down to fit within the size of the structure.

Great work! This sounds like an awesome home for your future Australorps. Coarse grain sand will be fab.

Maybe check the toxicity of pittosporum wrt chickens. I saw a post in which @DobieLover said mock orange (a type of pittosporum) was not OK.

 

[blackpotato]

Great work! This sounds like an awesome home for your future Australorps. Coarse grain sand will be fab.

Maybe check the toxicity of pittosporum wrt chickens. I saw a post in which @DobieLover said mock orange (a type of pittosporum) was not OK.

Thanks for making me aware of this.

I just did some more research on the tree and it’s actually Pittosporum Eugenioides ‘variegatum’. Definitely not the mock orange. Hopefully this variety isn’t toxic also but we do see lots of other birds hanging out in these trees so I’m assuming they are ok.