Stealth Coop Plans

[TheCooper]

I'm in the process of building a stealth coop.

I'd like to have 4 pullets.

I live in an in-town neighborhood and have about a 1/2 acre to work with.

I'm thinking that my coop will be something like this:
1. insert trellis under my deck (which is about 10' off the ground).
2. Line with hardware cloth.
3. Build a "potting shed" that is really my coop behind the trellis.

Does this sound reasonable? How wide would be the minimum that I would need for this project? Any tips?

 

[reptileink]

Are chickens not allowed in your city?

Going to be pretty hard disguising them from neighbors/curious authorities. While chickens aren't that loud, they still make SOME noises. Also, just having mass amounts of poop/compost could also draw attention.

I'd hate for you to go through all this work just to have your chickens taken away, or you falling into issues with the town.

Chickens are legal in my town, however, my back neighbors have children from hell. I am building my coop to be under the fence line and protected, but it is still visable from the street.

 

[TheCooper]

Nope, not legal. And unfortunately can't be made legal until the upcoming election is over.

If necessary, I can send them to a friend's farm, but it's my hope to keep them under cover. Since both of my adjacent neighbors detest the local council, I think that's fairly feasible.

 

[sue121507]

Why risk keeping illegal animals? If you get caught they will get confiscated and killed, not to mention the major fines you will probably get. Why not just wait until you can live in an area where chickens are allowed?

 

[henless]

How are you going to explain the noise?

I have all hens, well, I do have 3 little roos, but they are 7 weeks old and not saying anything, yet. My hens get really loud at times, specially right before/after they lay an egg. Maybe you'll get lucky and your hens will be more quite.

 

[redsix]

I think 4 ft. by 4 ft. would be large enough for the floor area. Get as much height as you can for next boxes and a roost. Might want to spray paint the hardware cloth so it is not so shiny. A chicken tunnel might be your best bet to give them some room to move around the property.

 

[TheCooper]

Sorry for the delay in replying -- I had trouble logging back in.

My neighbors are down with the plan. And I plan to buy them off with eggs. I also know several people raising other illegal animals in town, and they've not had issues. However, I don't want to flaunt the chickens, so I need to be subtle.

I'm going to post a photo of the area I'm considering. I have an even more covert option of putting them inside with an exterior run, but that won't give them as much light.

 

[TheCooper]

Here's where I'm thinking:

I'm planning to put up trellis to shield all of the areas where the walkways are not. So that would be the left, center and right bays and the segment under the part if the house that juts out. I could use the combined space behind the meters and such and the right bay. There's about a 10' space under the deck back to the house, but I wouldn't want to make it so deep as to take up the whole thing.

 

[Wise Woman]

I will not criticize you for keeping animals illegally. Sometimes it is the only way to get things changed. I did it myself and do it to this day. Sort of. I kept miniature goats. Zoning said we had to have 2 acres for two mini goats. But you could have 4 horses on 1/2 an acre. So when a neighbor called code enforcement on us, we moved the goats. No one will confiscate and kill your animals. You will have an opportunity to comply.

When the property our goats were on got sold, we had to move them back home. Same person turned us in yet again and this time I decided to fight it. We won and to this day we have our mini goats and the ordinances have not been changed. Our code enforcement is pro active and can only open a case if there is a complaint. They don't go around looking for violators.

All of our other neighbors love our goats and chickens and we got letters from them stating that they know there are there and are ok with it. We have since moved to a different house (same street though)and the zoning there has no restrictions on goats or chickens, only pot belly pigs. Don't ask me why there is different zoning rules for houses on the same street. If I got another citation, I would go to court again. It cost me no money other than the $100 fine, which they had to refund to me when I won my case and a couple hours of my time. I am ready to fight city hall if the need should arise. There has to be someone willing to take the risk in order to get these stupid ordinances changed. Everyone should be allowed to keep some chickens.

My only suggestions would be to build them as large of a space as you can and make it predator proof. The suggestion to spray paint the hardware cloth is a good one. Green or brown comes to mind. Plants can do a lot to hide something and muffle sound so maybe you could plant something in front of your trellis like honeysuckle or climbing roses and so forth. When we first got our goats, we didn't have room for a birthing area and one was due very soon, so we made a small goat pen under a back deck. We enclosed it in lattice, added a door and covered the deck above with a tarp in case of rain. It worked perfectly. Mom had the baby in a secure, cozy space, had her own food and water source and was close by so we could keep an eye on her and the new baby. Good luck in your venture. I hope you get the rules changed!

 

[Blooie]

I must put out a scenario for you here. Imagine this: I'm a town official. You live in my town, and chickens are illegal but you go ahead anyway. One of those "all in favor of it" neighbors suddenly gets a thorn in his/her kilt because the noise and possibly odor will be more than any of you expect, and turns you in. Or your chickens are spotted by someone else who takes exception to them. Do you seriously think you can hide chickens in your backyard and not have a police officer or town maintenance worker drive by with their windows down hear the singing of the egg song? So we send someone out to take a look and to give you a cease and desist order. You then take your chickens to your friend's place until you can get the law changed. So far so good.

Time comes up for the hearings on whether or not to allow chickens in town. You come armed with all kinds of information prepared to defend your position at all costs. How do you think we are going to react to your pleas? You'll make all kinds of promises that you'll follow every regulation we enact. Tell me, why should we believe you when you've already shown blatant disregard for the laws already in place regarding poultry? See, if your 5 year old has broken every lamp in the house with a ball, then promises if you get him a new ball he'll never break another lamp again, would you get him another ball and turn him loose in the living room? It's the same thing. And because you put the cart before the horse, if there are others who are working for the right to change the law to allow backyard chickens, you've just pi**ed in their path of progress.

If you so firmly believe that the ordinance will be changed after the next election, why not wait until then rather than risk having the town council, planning and zoning, and whatever other entity governs your community already distrust your word? I can almost guarantee what your post will be in a few months - "The evil Nazis in our community's government told me I have to get rid of my chickens and pay a fine. They are nasty and horrible money grubbers and I love my chickens and don't want to get rid of them." And there'll be two pages of sympathetic folks who will agree.