New coop idea ramblings

[dragonchick]

I need to make a new chicken coop for my hopefully new chickens. The coop will be located with in our 1 acre goat pen in the backyard. The coop will be free standing so it will have to be insulated as it does get pretty cold here. I would like to use this plan with a few mods to keep the goats out.https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=39082-best-chicken-coop-4-to-12

I only plan to have 5 or 6 birds with only 1 being a roo. IF we have any extras that hatch out I will learn how to dispatch and eat them.

Now the questions,

The area I am planning on building the coop sometimes has water when heavy rains come. The water drains off well when it stops. I would be using straw on the ground to keep them out of part of the mud. Will this work? or will it be more mess than anything?

I need to keep the goats out of the chicken pen and viceversa and chicken wire alone won't do it. If I make a walk way using field fence 3ft from the chicken wire will that work?

I have a picture in my head but I don't really know how to describe it, and that picture keeps changing as I think about it.

I guess I need to fence off the area with field fence so I can at least have somewhere to work without the goats trying to help, unless anyone knows how get goats to help build constructively.

Anyone else have chickens in with their goats have any ideas on how I should do this?

 

[LynneP]

About the water/drainage. I would absolutely not build a chicken coop where there is a drainage problem, not even an elevated coop. Not only would your footings be subject to washout, no matter how well you establish them, but a wet run is subject to coccidiosis and wet chickens are prone to fungal disorders and to skin parasites. The manure stench will be considerable.

Straw, if used, should be dry- it forms a stinking clotted mess when wet and the empty shafts in the stems provide perfect protection for parasites like ticks and mites. Please reconsider the site.

Where are you geographically, and do you have other options? What kind of housing do the goats have? That is a very good coop plan, and in a dry location I think you will be very pleased with it.

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, that really does not sound like a good situation for a coop site. Either put the coop elsewhere, or get a large truckload of gravel or roadbase dumped there to raise the area of the coop and run. Also gutters/downspouts/trenching may help (it sounds like they will not help *enough*, but may limit the amount of gravel you need to buy).

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[dragonchick]

The goats have 2 houses, well 1 is more like a BIG 3 sided doghouse. The other is the former chicken house. There is one other location I can put the chickens that is a lot dryer but its sorta on a hill. The only time there is a drainage problem in the previously mentioned location is when we get a lot of rain for days on end like we have right now. I am in Northeast Arkansas and its a bit flooded right now. Once it stops raining the water does go down rather quickly, but its still rather wet and muddy.

I just asked DH if he had a problem with me building the pen on the hill beside the garden and he said it was fine. This might even be better since it won't actually be in the goats pen but rather in front of it.
The chickens have to be totally enclosed because of the free running dogs. I can elevate the house so its level but the run and ramp will have to aimed downhill. IF the water ever gets this high, we are in a lot of trouble and my house will be on an island.

Since we are tearing the old privacy fence down I can use the boards to build the coop and run. I would only have to pay for the wire fencing.

If you have any other ideas please let me know.

 

[bigoakhunter]

Trying to keep the goats out, I'd use welded wire instead of chicken wire. A little more cost but alot stronger than chicken wire....my 2 cents

 

[dragonchick]

The welded field fence is a given. My goats would look at that chicken wire and laugh.

Speaking of the chicken wire, DH just reminded me that we have a couple hundred feet of the stuff lining the goats present pen. We used it when we put the home raised bottle babies out in the big girls pen to keep them in. When they were first put out they were having none of it and squeezed through the 6x6 holes. Well now the babies are too big to fit and the chicken wire is not needed anymore in that capacity. Its only 4ft tall but I think I can make this work perfectly.

 

[Omran]

I would deffinetly build on the hill beside the Garden, that way you know your coop will stay dry, and even though I still will install a drain pipe around the coop and the run to make sure that the least amount of water will get into my run.
Please post some pictures of the land if you can, that makes things very easy to understand.
Good luck.

 

[dragonchick]

Quote:
I will post some pictures as soon as I can.

 

[Mahonri]

Pics will help... We are all arm chair coop developers!