Plans for a new backyard coop/run build

[ATXInstantFlock]

Hi all, hoping to get some advice before I start doing any real construction. After buying a bunch of items that were both probably too expensive and insufficient for my flock's needs, I realized that I needed to add quite a bit more run space to hit the suggested benchmarks that everyone was giving me. As I'm a planner and aspire to be a reasonably decent carpenter, but have limited experience, I wanted to do more upfront planning and do less work on an ad-hoc basis. Spent a little bit too much time learning how to mock everything in SketchUp, so wanted to stop and get some advice before I start buying lumber.

Here's the rough space that I'm looking at. My quick sketches using my phone are slightly off-axis, but hopefully this will give a decent gist of the space I'm considering.

Here's a similar view a few hrs later after I had put some stakes down to get a better idea of where I need to account for the live oak wrt height. Ironically, by 3:30PM when I took this, the vast majority of my outlined space is now unshaded.

Here's roughly how things look with the snaplock coop inside the pen which is similar to an open air coop design that I've seen other people successfully use in hot weather. gray roofing is corrugated galvanized steel. Greenish roofing is proposed to be the corrugated plastic.

This is a similar view, but with some of the trees modelled.

View from the other side showing a 2' hardware cloth skirt.

Here are my constraints/goals:

• Stay within all governmental regulations and be a good neighbor which means ~15' min distance from neighbors' property line.
• Maintain a happy/healthy flock size of 10 (Crossing my fingers that I do have 1 rooster and 9 hens, as predicted).
• Use the already purchased 8'x8'6" Producer's Pride Poultry Pen as an "open air coop" and my Snap Lock™ Large Chicken Coop for inclement weather and/or nesting boxes.
• Provide enough space that the zoysia that I do have doesn't get completely destroyed and turned into a pile of dirt. About half the area that I'm incorporating is in great shape, and the other half is dirt/weeds. I'm looking at ~224sq ft of space or 22.4 sq ft /chicken. Is this pointless? If they're going to destroy everything anyway, maybe I should make my build elss ambitious.
• Last year I had started looking into lawn levelling using sand. That's what they do for golf courses and it's become popular advice on all the Youtube lawn care guys. Would that help with chicken resilience? Thinking it would help keep the top layer of soil dry when it gets bombarded by chicken poop.
• Due to low tree limbs near a shady area that I think would make a great summer habitat during the day, I'd like to make an unroofed section (only hardware cloth ceilings) that's about 3' tall. It would be about 4' deep, so that I could still reach in there with a rake if I wanted to. This would allow me to keep most of the build using right angles for most of the construction while still providing access to a nice shady area. Previous designs required me to do things such as using tunnels to connect different chicken runs together.
• Since the commercial coop (~10.5 sq ft) I purchased has been deemed too small for my flock once they reach full size, I had planned on using galvanized metal roofing over the metal poultry pen that is turning into my main "coop". I quickly realized that this is getting VERY expensive for my ambitions of run size, and wanted to experiment with run sections that are covered with some plastic roofing and/or no solid roof (just 1/2" hardware cloth). How bad of an idea would that be? Note that I'm in Central TX which doesn't get a lot of rain, but when it does, it tends to come down pretty quickly in buckets. No worries about flooding, per se, but some areas will likely get wet for a little while.
• After doing some more measurements, I realized that I could actually move everything a few feet closer to my neighbor which greatly simplifies my access to a large patch of grass, but it does get quite sunny over there.
• Plan to use Pipe straps screwed to 1'x3" furring strips to be used as purlins to attach the galvanized roofing to the metal poultry pen.
• Any/everything not covered by a solid panel will be reinforced with 1/2" hardware cloth, including the poultry pen since it has holes that are 1"x2" or bigger.

 

[DobieLover]

governmental regulations

Do you have a copy?

rooster

It shocks me that the above regulations permit you to keep a rooster in your residential zone. I see a lot of houses over the privacy fencing. I can hear the roosters crowing at the farm on the next road over, about 1/4 -1/3 mile away. Everyone around you and several streets away will here your boy crow. I guarantee someone will complain so make absolutely sure you can keep him legally. Otherwise rehome him immediately before you get attached.

Provide enough space that the zoysia that I do have doesn't get completely destroyed and turned into a pile of dirt.

22.4 sq ft /chicken.

No way. They will denude that space in a matter of weeks.

maybe I should make my build elss ambitious.

I would make it as large as you possibly can. Just use wood chips or some other dry organic matter for run litter and it will be just fine.

Would that help with chicken resilience?

The sand will not help with chicken resilience. They will scratch and dig and mix everything up.

Since the commercial coop (~16 sq ft) I purchased has been deemed too small for my flock

That thing is dinky.

I would move the little plastic coop to the unshielded area so that you can install a roost in the protected area and give them plenty of room in front of it for a landing zone. About 5' would be good. I would just use the coop for egg laying. The girls waiting their turn can loiter in the 'coop' floor area which is really, really small.

I'm very glad you are providing them with an open air design and much more space. You will never regret it.

 

[Penpal]

I am still concerned about a raccoon or opossum climbing up that tree and dropping into your run.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

Do you have a copy? It shocks me that the above regulations permit you to keep a rooster in your residential zone. I see a lot of houses over the privacy fencing. I can hear the roosters crowing at the farm on the next road over, about 1/4 -1/3 mile away. Everyone around you and several streets away will here your boy crow. I guarantee someone will complain so make absolutely sure you can keep him legally. Otherwise rehome him immediately before you get attached.

Yes, ma'am. I actually made a new post for City of Austin in the other section, since the existing regulations were stale. Roosters aren't expressly forbidden, but "excessive noise" is forbidden. The house directly on the other side of the street actually has a large iron fenced yard where they regular watch 5+ dogs on Rover, so some good amount of daylight noise/barking is already expected.

We're going to try and give a "no crow" collar a shot at seeing if it's palatable and we're probably going to look into an automatic door situation if we can practically work one into the design.

As soon as we figured out we had a rooster, we started having talks with the kids about possibly sending him off to freezer camp. One of my kiddo's classmates apparently has a cousin with a farm, that we may try also reach out to. It's not ideal, but this whole chicken raising enterprise is also about teaching our kids responsibility and mortality.

No way. They will denude that space in a matter of weeks.

That's a bit of a bummer. I had delusions of them frolicking in my miniature grassy meadow. I stumbled across this guide in hopes of being able to learn some tips and I might still give it a try. My backyard has an irrigation system that I plan to still run (largely at night while chickens should be sleeping. If they aren't going to sleep in the plastic "coop", I might need to figure out some better sprinkler protection schemes.

I would make it as large as you possibly can. Just use wood chips or some other dry organic matter for run litter and it will be just fine.

The sand will not help with chicken resilience. They will scratch and dig and mix everything up.

The sand idea wasn't entirely to try and keep the grass alive as it was to try and keep the area a bit more dry with better drainage.

Technically the 15' from the fence line along the road is not part of the city regulations, just my way of maintaining a bit more distance from cars and an area that my dogs can run around in. I could easily add another 100' sq ft if I wanted to. I was thinking I might try and build some of the run as a modular design that snaps together like Tetris blocks with using latches so that I can reconfigure parts of it any given time. I might revisit that idea. Perhaps I might also revisit that wonky area by the horizontal tree. It really does seem nice and shady. I bet they'd love it in the middle of the summer.

That thing is dinky.

I would move the little plastic coop to the unshielded area so that you can install a roost in the protected area and give them plenty of room in front of it for a landing zone. About 5' would be good. I would just use the coop for egg laying. The girls waiting their turn can loiter in the 'coop' floor area which is really, really small.

Hmm. Thanks, I will keep that in mind. I did start thinking once you put that roughly 3'x3.5' coop into the 8'x8' poultry pen, you don't have a ton of space to pull out the poop trays.

I'm very glad you are providing them with an open air design and much more space. You will never regret it.

Thanks for the reassurances there. I greatly appreciate your time/advice/candor on all of the various threads you've contributed.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

I am still concerned about a raccoon or opossum climbing up that tree and dropping into your run.

They can't "drop" into the run as all roofs that aren't covered by solid material are covered by 1/2" hardware cloth. We do have hawks/owls in this area, so I don't plan on ever letting them roam free without overhead protection.

 

[TexasBlues]

I’m in austin. I think it’s 50’ from neighbor’s buildings. I let mine roam free in the yard and return to an open air style coop. I have one rooster and noise isn’t too bad.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

I’m in austin. I think it’s 50’ from neighbor’s buildings.

It's not. They changed regulations in 2022 to make the city more friendly to backyard chickens as part of their push for more sustainable waste management, and it's now 30'. I posted the updated regulations here.

 

[DobieLover]

We're going to try and give a "no crow" collar a shot

I strongly advise against this. Those collars have killed many a rooster.

I might need to figure out some better sprinkler protection schemes.

You do not want any added water in their run. It will stink to high heaven.

you don't have a ton of space to pull out the poop trays.

If the birds are going to be roosting in the open air section (and they will if you provide them with a roost) the poop trays become a moot point. I would set the roost even with the bottom of the wind block. You could install a poop board under the roost (about 1' under works well) and scoop that daily to keep the majority of the poop load under control.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

I strongly advise against this. You do not want any added water in their run. It will stink to high heaven.

If the birds are going to be roosting in the open air section (and they will if you provide them with a roost) the poop trays become a moot point.

I specifically meant the ones that are part of the SnapLock. They make the floor of that "coop" and they slide out the back, opposite the door, so you need about 3' of space in the back to pull them out.

I would set the roost even with the bottom of the wind block. You could install a poop board under the roost (about 1' under works well) and scoop that daily to keep the majority of the poop load under control.

 

[TexasBlues]

It's not. They changed regulations in 2022 to make the city more friendly to backyard chickens as part of their push for more sustainable waste management, and it's now 30'. I posted the updated regulations here.

You mentioned you were only 15’ from the neighbors.
What is your total square footage for the run?