Prevailing winds in relation to your home

[Ridgerunner]

How much a problem is the smell, and whether that smell travels that distance.

If you can keep your coop and run dry smell should not be an issue. Well-drained is a great start on that but you may need to manage the poop so it doesn't build up too much. If it builds up it can stay wet.

Will the fact that they are able to be out of the coop/run most of the time cut down on their smell?

Yes. They poop a lot wherever they are. The more that is spread out the less likely it is to build up and smell. At night on the roost they are not moving so poop can build up. You'll probably have to manage that.

The others make some good points about where they will go and the damage they can do. The only way to control that if it becomes a problem is to either fence the chickens in or fence them out. For some people it's not a problem. I fenced in my garden, but that was for deer as much as the chickens. It was necessary for both.

I find that each flock has its own dynamics. When I change a few flock members, especially the more dominant ones, flock behavior can change. Some flocks stick pretty close to home. Others can roam a long way, several hundred feet. Some stay under cover more than others. Some stay in one flock, others split into sub-flocks and cliques. About the only thing consistent with chicken behaviors is that they are inconsistent. But that can make them a lot of fun to watch.

 

[whitenack]

You probably do have the skills. You surely know someone who does. "Handy" people love building coops. I am sure you know someone who you could tell them you'll buy all the materials if they can help you build it and it would make a great weekend project. Building coops is not building houses- heck some people keep chickens in wooden boxes and plastic barrels... they don't care, so give it a shot.

Totally agree with this. You'll need a few tools, but if you have the right tools, you can get the job done. Just watch some youtube videos and read some blogs and don't be scared to make a few mistakes. Once you get some of the basics down, your world will open up to all the possibilities that you can create.

 

[whitenack]

This ^^^ - free ranging chickens near the house will drive you insane. You know that perennial you have been trying to get to grow right for 5 years and it just started standing upright this spring? Well they just chicken-scratched it to death and pulled out all the roots. And then they pooped on your grill.

We're kind of having fun with you- but the truth is they will wander easily a few acres and if you have 5- you should put them at the far end of the 5. They don't mean to cause chaos... but they do.

If you do stick with that spot- the smell won't be an issue as long as you keep the right amount of chickens and not overcrowd them. The only reason chicken houses smell so much when you pass one on the road is because they have literally hundreds of thousands of them smashed into a tent-like building and it is just a horrible mess. You won;t have that issue outside.

Oh and if you have a dog- they'll love eating the chicken poop... yeah.

Thank you so much for this advice. I have that exact scenario (a perennial I have been trying to grow correctly)...if the chickens got into that it would really put a damper on this adventure! And I'm pretty sure my wife would riot if the chickens soil her porch furniture.

For those that locate the coop far away from the house, I assume that provides a better environment for preditors? And having to walk farther to collect eggs/manage the flock? But that is a tradeoff you are willing to live with?

 

[Acre4Me]

What’s your climate like? Generally tolerable OR ncludes snow/ice/winds/heavy rain etc? Will you walk 2x or more per day to the coop to feed/water/check the girls in bad weather if you move it too far? If snow, you might need to shovel a path, etc. my older neighbor will get rid of his chickens this fall bc he found it too tedious to care for them thus past winter. The 2x per day, water, food treks were hard on him and his health and mobility are decent. The distance from his back door to the coop is approx 25 yards, FWIW. We get snow, ice, wind, low temps here: west central Ohio.

Above comments are correct: they poop everywhere chickens go, and they seem to pay special attention to walkways, decks and related items. But, you can free-range them in a larger fenced area to mitigate this.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Both of my chicken coops are 70yds from my back door. They sit straight west of our house. I have a poop board with PDZ and sand that gets cleaned out 1x a week, and use the deep litter method for the rest of the coop. The deep litter gets cleaned out every 6months. I take it straight from the coop and toss it directly into the run to "finish" composting. I have not had any issues with smell, even up close to the coop. I free range from 6am - 8pm, they typically stay with in 200yds of the coop. I have open fields around my farm, and its not uncommon to see them foraging in the middle of the field or across the street in the neighbors field.

 

[Feath3rDust3r]

Thank you so much for this advice. I have that exact scenario (a perennial I have been trying to grow correctly)...if the chickens got into that it would really put a damper on this adventure! And I'm pretty sure my wife would riot if the chickens soil her porch furniture.

For those that locate the coop far away from the house, I assume that provides a better environment for preditors? And having to walk farther to collect eggs/manage the flock? But that is a tradeoff you are willing to live with?

I lock mine in at night and the coops are pretty well built and sturdy...so I haven't had a predator issue as of yet

 

[whitenack]

What’s your climate like? Generally tolerable OR ncludes snow/ice/winds/heavy rain etc? Will you walk 2x or more per day to the coop to feed/water/check the girls in bad weather if you move it too far? If snow, you might need to shovel a path, etc. my older neighbor will get rid of his chickens this fall bc he found it too tedious to care for them thus past winter. The 2x per day, water, food treks were hard on him and his health and mobility are decent. The distance from his back door to the coop is approx 25 yards, FWIW. We get snow, ice, wind, low temps here: west central Ohio.

Above comments are correct: they poop everywhere chickens go, and they seem to pay special attention to walkways, decks and related items. But, you can free-range them in a larger fenced area to mitigate this.

We are central KY, so we don't have terrible winters usually (rare snows, rare days below 0*F.). These will be my son's chickens, so it will be "his responsibility" to make the walk 2x per day (he's a teenager, so take that with a grain of salt). I know what you mean about that, though. The easier it is to manage the flock, the more likely the flock will be managed properly.

My main concern with locating the coop far from the house is preditors. We live in a pretty rural area, with coyotes, fox, possums, raccoons, etc. trotting right through our yard. Not to mention red tail hawks, falcons, buzzards, etc.. The house would provide some layer of protection from more skittish animals.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I also suggest that you build an automatic feeder and waterer to save on time/effort. A few minutes here and there adds up quick over the week. As for predators, I have an issue with 4 eagles trying to take up residence on my farm. I left a fence row between my yard and my field grown with blackberries and raspberries. This provides a strip of cover between my mowed 2acre yard and my 30ac field. Kind of a buffer between the field and the coop. My wife took some pallets and laid them flat on some large concrete blocks, so the sit approximately 16' off the ground, this has given the chickens something to run under with the eagles come around.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My coop and run (I don't free range) are about 20', if that, from my living room. When I first started, and the run was just torn up dirt that turned into mud, it really smelled awful. I started building up deep litter in there, and now we don't smell a thing, even though we're wet half the year.