Newbie with some sloping questions

[woogiebear]

Hey all!
I'm brand new to the forum and new to the chicken game. Have always been interested in raising some chickens and am buying a new house so it will give me a chance to get started. In my backyard there is a shed that is setting out over a hill with the back supported by posts. My thought was to enclose the open portion underneath and build a really cool coop. One question I have is - is it ok for the chickens to have their pen on a hill or do they need flat land? My property isn't that big, only 1.2 acres. Their areq would be sloped and semi sun and shade. Any thoughts? I close in 2 weeks!!
Thanks!

 

[patandchickens]

Having the run on a bit of a slope is perfectly fine. Because it will tend to go to bare earth unless it is a HUGE run in relation to the number of chickens, there can sometimes be erosion problems. When/whether this occurs will depend on your soil and on your degree of slope. If you think it is a possible issue, you might want to either build an extra-really-big run so's to encourage some vegetation to stay, or proactively install some landscape ties or whatnot to hold back some of the earth (sort of micro-terraces) and do everything possible to divert uphill runoff *around* the run.

It would be best to have the indoor henhouse floor flat, if possible. In fact if it's on a slope I think that, b/c it is almost guaranteed to get runoff wanting to come thru, you'd be best off with a raised wooden floor, perhaps with 18" or so underneath it that the chickens can use as a covered portion of the run.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[woogiebear]

The landscape ties are a great idea, thanks! Yup, I was planning on keeping the coop level and having them walk down a ramp to the ground. Thanks for the advice! i was just looking thru the forums (Yup, it IS addicting) to find out how many chickens fer square foot is good. I'm only looking to raise about 5-10 max. Thanks again!

 

[LilMissPetie]

I agree. I'm new too and haven't even been a member for 24 hours. I'm ADDICTED already

 

[bryan99705]

Only issue I see with a pitched floor is watering the birds unless you use a leveled piece of gutter or nipples you may have to put waterer on a dug in & leveled platform (mine are on 2X6 frames with hardware cloth stretched over it to keep hen feet out of mud)