Hey all. I live out in the country, we’ve been at this house about 2 years, and I’m finally getting around to chickens.
I have this old shed sitting on our property. It’s made of metal, and needs some work done, but it’s sitting on a 4-6” concrete slab, and that is a huge bonus for me.
We have lots of predators, coyotes, rattlesnakes, hog snakes, hawks, owls, skunks, foxes, fields rats and mice, and (supposedly) opossums. The coyotes and birds are my main worry, though.
Here is an aerial photo of my property, and where I’m planning to put my run.
The square is roughly where my coop is, and the big white building is a barn. I have about 100' between the coop and the property line.
My coop/shed sits on the edge of a small hill/incline. The last owner had a big trash hole next to where the shed is. I will be removing all of that and filling it in. He also used the shed to toss junk in. I'm honestly afraid to fully go in it.
Here are some pics of the shed and surrounding area.
Front:
Left Side:
Back side:
Right Side:
This somewhat shows the height of the incline behind it.
Here is the creepy inside, home to mice, rats, and possibly snakes. Definitely spiders...
There is about 6-8" of dirt that has accumulated from dust storms to being washed in during a heavy rainfall. I will be hiring someone to clean this out. I'm usually not a baby, but the thought of black widows over my head as I walk in.... nope. Not going to happen.
I have 2 or 3 holes like this, maybe from an axe?
Now that you see what I'm working with, here are my ideas and a question.
Would you use existing shed, or knock it down and rebuild? Building isn't in terrible shape, but needs work. New roof, holes all patched, door and windows replaced.
If I use the existing structure, I was originally trying to think of how to run the coop from the door, up the slope, to extend over the flat area behind. Then I mentally kicked myself and realized the door is for me. I will cut out a chicken door on the right side, facing the run.This way, I can level the dirt around the coop to be even with the high ground out back. They would need a ramp to get to the door, as it would sit roughly a foot off the floor.
I plan to use tin sheets and railroad ties as a retainer wall to keep this dirt in place, and not run down the slope and erode.
This is a crappy sketch of what it would look like from the inside.
For the run, I am planning on 60' x 40'. I can get the lumber for the supporting structure for free. I plan to cove the sides, roof and floor of the entire run with hardware cloth. I plan on putting several inches of soil over the hardware cloth on the floor of the run. It may be overkill, but with the field rat problem, and numerous gophers, I feel safer this way.
Any thoughts on this?
I have this old shed sitting on our property. It’s made of metal, and needs some work done, but it’s sitting on a 4-6” concrete slab, and that is a huge bonus for me.
We have lots of predators, coyotes, rattlesnakes, hog snakes, hawks, owls, skunks, foxes, fields rats and mice, and (supposedly) opossums. The coyotes and birds are my main worry, though.
Here is an aerial photo of my property, and where I’m planning to put my run.
The square is roughly where my coop is, and the big white building is a barn. I have about 100' between the coop and the property line.
My coop/shed sits on the edge of a small hill/incline. The last owner had a big trash hole next to where the shed is. I will be removing all of that and filling it in. He also used the shed to toss junk in. I'm honestly afraid to fully go in it.
Here are some pics of the shed and surrounding area.
Front:
Left Side:
Back side:
Right Side:
This somewhat shows the height of the incline behind it.
Here is the creepy inside, home to mice, rats, and possibly snakes. Definitely spiders...
There is about 6-8" of dirt that has accumulated from dust storms to being washed in during a heavy rainfall. I will be hiring someone to clean this out. I'm usually not a baby, but the thought of black widows over my head as I walk in.... nope. Not going to happen.I have 2 or 3 holes like this, maybe from an axe?
Now that you see what I'm working with, here are my ideas and a question.
Would you use existing shed, or knock it down and rebuild? Building isn't in terrible shape, but needs work. New roof, holes all patched, door and windows replaced.
If I use the existing structure, I was originally trying to think of how to run the coop from the door, up the slope, to extend over the flat area behind. Then I mentally kicked myself and realized the door is for me. I will cut out a chicken door on the right side, facing the run.This way, I can level the dirt around the coop to be even with the high ground out back. They would need a ramp to get to the door, as it would sit roughly a foot off the floor.
I plan to use tin sheets and railroad ties as a retainer wall to keep this dirt in place, and not run down the slope and erode.
This is a crappy sketch of what it would look like from the inside.
For the run, I am planning on 60' x 40'. I can get the lumber for the supporting structure for free. I plan to cove the sides, roof and floor of the entire run with hardware cloth. I plan on putting several inches of soil over the hardware cloth on the floor of the run. It may be overkill, but with the field rat problem, and numerous gophers, I feel safer this way.
Any thoughts on this?
