tpatricco
Songster
First time flockers, our new coop arrived on Tuesday. After following along in the chicken world for close to a year, I learned quickly that we'd outgrow a little starter coop in a hot minute, so we decided to "buy it once, buy it right". That said, I'm a backyard chicken keeper in mostly suburban New Jersey - I have a 2 acre plot of land, and our town ordinance technically says I'm allowed to have up to 6 hens, no roosters, no free ranging.
Here's the coop. It's a 6x16 overall footprint. We built a pad for it out of pressure treated lumber, gravel to level - with a full layer of 1/2" hardware cloth under the pad now buried in gravel. Now that the coop is placed, we plan to topdress the gravel with some material that will be more chicken friendly. I'm interested in recommendations. We do have sizeable pile of woodchips from some recent tree work about 2 feet to the right of the end of the run...so that might be a good idea. But definitely open to suggestions.
Thanks!
Here's the coop. It's a 6x16 overall footprint. We built a pad for it out of pressure treated lumber, gravel to level - with a full layer of 1/2" hardware cloth under the pad now buried in gravel. Now that the coop is placed, we plan to topdress the gravel with some material that will be more chicken friendly. I'm interested in recommendations. We do have sizeable pile of woodchips from some recent tree work about 2 feet to the right of the end of the run...so that might be a good idea. But definitely open to suggestions.
Thanks!