roof top chickens

[andehens]

WoW! That far exceeds a simple rooftop garden! I only see space in the far corner for a coop? Something to keep in mind, your chickies will be happy to eat your garden for you!

 

[Buckaroo]

Chickens love to scratch, and the only thing to scratch, is your garden. They would have that roof looking like mud hole, you will need to keep them penned up.

 

[mamaKate]

What an impressive garden! Everyone is right about the free ranging; you'll definitely need an enclosure.

 

[Omran]

Erik, That is a very beautiful Garden, you did a great project, I love gardening, and I think it is the most relaxing thing I do in summer.
Omran.

 

[rebbetzin]

That looks wonderful!! I wish my garden looked so good!!!

 

[Mahonri]

What kind of a building is it and where? (I lived in Milwaukee for four years...Marquette grad)

I'd say you'd have to enclose them.

You'd also have to be certain to have a heat lamp in the coop. It gets so very cold there.

And with the trees there... I'd try to place the coop where it could get some shade.

 

[artisan1]

Thanks all, for the feedback and helpful thoughts. The good part of my space for the plants and produce is that it has no real shade, but it can get very hot. But then it also will hit the extremes of cold in the winter. Heating seems easy enough, but is a well-ventilated coop going to be enough to help the chicks and hens tollerate the heat? Do I need an additional source of shade? And the asphalt roof won't be too hard on their feet in their run? Or should I put a nicer walking surface in that area?

 

[andehens]

You will want to put in some type of bedding material for the floor, ie pine shavings, lots of info here on deep litter method for instance. How hot does it get on your roof? Mahonri lives in Phx, I used to live well north of Phx, and I kept chickens. Lots of shade, open type that allows movement of air, almost the opposite of what you need in the winter!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If your raised beds are all the same size then I would do this.....

She ain't on the roof but her videos are pretty good for city farming.

 

[columbiacritter]

Why don't you build a chicken tractor that fits over a raised bed. That way you could fit it over beds you're not using for the chickens to clean up and fertilize?

Remember chickens are just nto that bright so they will try and fly of fyour roof.