Trying to be a good neighbor

[mobius]

Now, just saying, are your chickens going to be let out into your back yard to range? If so, you may not need that big a run. Mine are in a coop, then have a run and are let out everyday into the yard from the run...and easily closed up at night...sounds nice and roomy otherwise!

In other words, perhaps the run flush with the coop and all along your back fence from looking at the pics...if you plan to let them out in the yard...

 

[KenStorm989]

the left side of the yard has a fence, and the right side of the yard has a nice hedge row, but the back is open and so is the front. so i wont let them range all over, thats why i was a nice big run for them to play.

Now, just saying, are your chickens going to be let out into your back yard to range? If so, you may not need that big a run. Mine are in a coop, then have a run and are let out everyday into the yard from the run...and easily closed up at night...sounds nice and roomy otherwise!

In other words, perhaps the run flush with the coop and all along your back fence from looking at the pics...if you plan to let them out in the yard...

 

[aart]

Quote:

the left side of the yard has a fence, and the right side of the yard has a nice hedge row, but the back is open and so is the front. so i wont let them range all over, thats why i was a nice big run for them to play.

Agrees your situation needs a big run...but you might want to rethink the size and shape so it fits into something you can cover with at least a mesh roof that keeps chickens in and hawks out.

I went with 8' wide because it fit my mesh roof support construction choice. Better to go narrower and be able to support a good roof, than wide and have snow load and BOP problems. I started with 30' length then expanded to add another 20' in length in an 'L' shape.

I bent conduit into 'rafters'... then devised a clamp to attach them to T posts.
Livestock panels and T posts would be an easier technique.
Build with flexibility in mind, I like T posts because they can be pretty easily moved if necessary.
Have done a lot of 'temporary' day pens with a few T posts and 6' high 2x4 welded wire fencing.

Just some thoughts.

 

[KenStorm989]

Agrees your situation needs a big run...but you might want to rethink the size and shape so it fits into something you can cover with at least a mesh roof that keeps chickens in and hawks out.

I went with 8' wide because it fit my mesh roof support construction choice. Better to go narrower and be able to support a good roof, than wide and have snow load and BOP problems. I started with 30' length then expanded to add another 20' in length in an 'L' shape.

I bent conduit into 'rafters'... then devised a clamp to attach them to T posts.
Livestock panels and T posts would be an easier technique.
Build with flexibility in mind, I like T posts because they can be pretty easily moved if necessary.
Have done a lot of 'temporary' day pens with a few T posts and 6' high 2x4 welded wire fencing.

Just some thoughts.

Now here is a question, I've NEVER seen a Hawk any where near my place. The only real predators i can think will be a problem is, Raccoons, and neighbors Dogs that get loose....unless you think that having Chickens will attract hawks from other areas? that being said...i have 2 4lb to 5lb chihuahuas that run free in the yard and have never been bothered. thoughts?

 

[aart]

Well, maybe .....maybe not.
I live rural and knew there were a lot of hawks around, plus even tho I live rural I did not want free range birds.
I do know that BOP can exist in urban areas.
I do know that many folks who think they don't have many preds find out they do when they put chickens in the yard.
For your situation, a run roof is a good idea for keeping the chickens in the run....
....they can fly pretty high and I've read a ton of anecdotes where folks couldn't keep them in and it was PITA.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Well, maybe .....maybe not.
I live rural and knew there were a lot of hawks around, plus even tho I live rural I did not want free range birds.
I do know that BOP can exist in urban areas.
I do know that many folks who think they don't have many preds find out they do when they put chickens in the yard.
For your situation, a run roof is a good idea for keeping the chickens in the run....
....they can fly pretty high and I've read a ton of anecdotes where folks couldn't keep them in and it was PITA.

Birds of prey exist in urban areas, especially suburban areas. There were bald eagles in the suburbs where I grew up. More hawks than you could count, too. Also foxes.

I live in a neighborhood in a rural county. We have hawks, raccoons, coyote, opossum, and feral cats nearby. I do not have a pop door that gets closed at night and my run is a 4 ft fence. 3 hens and one gets out occasionally. Been this way for 9 months without issue, but we'll see how winter goes.

From what I've learned the feral cats are territorial and keep the coons at bay. I've never had problems with my trash getting run through either. I think it's worse in urban areas because predators are competing for food far more than they are in my situation.

 

[Folly's place]

Feral cats managing raccoons? Really? I doubt it, and live out in rural Michigan where we have both. When you have chickens, predators come out of the woodwork for chicken dinner! Sooner or later everyone will show up, and it's best to be prepared, or be ready for losses.

Mary

 

[aart]

Quote: I actually think it's worse in urban/suburban areas because they eat our garbage(we are feeding them-some folks intentionally)...
......and there are no 'natural' predators.
One of the best things about moving rural was far fewer squirrels and raccoons.

Folks feeding wild birds can draw hawks and other pests that want to eat that feed too.
Chickens can draw predators/pests due to just the feed, everything from mice to raccoons to even bears,
and sometimes those pests can draw other meat eating predators.

Ya just never know what might be lurking beyond our 'vision', both literally and figuratively.

 

[Howard E]

I actually think it's worse in urban/suburban areas because they eat our garbage(we are feeding them-some folks intentionally)...
......and there are no 'natural' predators.
One of the best things about moving rural was far fewer squirrels and raccoons.

Folks feeding wild birds can draw hawks and other pests that want to eat that feed too.
Chickens can draw predators/pests due to just the feed, everything from mice to raccoons to even bears,
and sometimes those pests can draw other meat eating predators.

Ya just never know what might be lurking beyond our 'vision', both literally and figuratively.

X2

When we lived in town, we had them all. Funniest event was early one morning when I was out back sipping coffee on the patio and momma coon and her 3 half growns were traveling through the neighborhood and had stopped to play in my yard, not more than 20 feet away from where I was. A neighbor walked by with her dog and the coons shot up a tree, where they watched her pass not more than 30 feet away. She or her dog never saw them. She passed by and the coons came down and moved on. We had possums too, coyotes and foxes, plus feral cats, plus hawks.....at least 3 resident versions, plus those migrating, plus owls. As AART suggests, more there than where we live now.

BTW, where I live now has a horse barn with 3 resident barn cats and raccoons get in there all the time eating their cat food, plus the possums and skunks in season. Trail cam tells the tale.

To the OP, if you want to know what potential lurks out there......the things that go bump in the night, leave a dish of cat food out where your birds will be and point a trail camera at it. You may be shocked at what shows up.

 

[Blooie]

I'm a little late to the party, but I think that the first thing I'd do is check with planning and zoning or your town council ordinances to find out about setbacks. I read the ordinance you quoted about having the animals, but all that really addressed was the keeping, not specifically the building of the facilities to house them. In most areas (mine included, where I sat on both the Planning and Zoning commission and the town council) setback requirements are for ANY construction, so they often don't break it down again separately in any animal ordinance. The general gist is that the setbacks are already spelled out under "new construction" and are, for the most part, iron-clad. With good enough reasons, you can go to P&Z and request a variance, which if approved then has to go before the town council for final approval, but that's a process that adds time to the project and puts you on the radar. I enlarged your photo (we would have killed for that kind of clear illustration included with some of the applications we got, by the way!) and if I'm looking at it correctly your setup practically touches the fences surrounding your property. So do look into setback requirements more fully before you commit to a design and construction. One other thing you might want to think about before you build....there might well be times when you NEED to be able to walk all the way around your setup to tend to things behind it. If you build as close to the fence as the photo looks, that might be an issue. Now, as I said, I'm just going by the photo and things might not be as close as they look.

We found ourselves in the same situation you are in - limited construction skills, living in town and having to build something aesthetically pleasing to the neighbors, but I stupidly had the added burden of already having 22 chicks in the house who desperately need to be evicted and no place to put them yet! When you add to that the fact that I was serving on the town council, I also had to follow the letter of the laws completely or risk that old, "Well, I guess when you're part of the government you can do what you want" complaint. I live on a corner lot so our setup is visible from the north side and the east side of the street. Here in Cowley, evening bike rides and strolls (or just walks in winter bundled up against the cold) are the norm - we're still in the sit-on-the-porch-with-an-iced-tea-and-wave-at-folks-as-they-ride-or-walk-by kind of community and people notice everything in our yards!

So for our run we opted for cattle panels. Yep, just $22.00 cattle panels, 3 of them, and some steel fence posts! Hubby and I are both in our 60s and both of us have some degree of disability, so we needed easy, fast, and good looking. It also had to withstand snow loads and regular winds in the 40 mph range with gust much higher! Why, here just this Tuesday we had a wind gust of 94 mph. Cattle panels fit the bill - cheap and effective. We pounded steel posts on two sides, then arched cattle panels between them and wired them into place. No elaborate framing needed, no fussing, and the two of us were easily able to handle them. We covered them in chicken wire to deter overhead predators, squirrels, and wild birds, which can create havoc when they get into the coop or run, then added an apron extending out over the ground almost 2 feet and a skirt of hardware cloth going up 2 feet, because chicken wire in and of itself is no true deterrent. This setup has exceeded our expectations, and when we opted to enlarge the run all we had to do was remove the end panel on the south side, add one more fence post on each side, add another cattle panel to the end, and then put the end piece back on. Took us old geezers about 4 hours. That's my kind of "home improvement!" The entire coop/run is easy to keep up, keep clean, and we can walk upright in it, which at our ages is a big plus!

As for predators, that's a mighty inviting looking tree right next to your planned coop. Great for shade and weather protection, but easy for anything - a stray cat, an owl or hawk, family of racoon or possum - to use it as a ladder to gain access, so covering and predator proofing would be essential even if you didn't get snow or need rain protection. For that we just use landscape fabric in the summer for shade and to encourage water run-off, and clear plastic in winter, ala greenhouse. Just because we don't see predators doesn't mean they aren't there, especially in the suburbs or in town where pickin's are pretty easy. I once watched an entire family of raccoon come up out of a storm drain in downtown Denver....yep, right downtown amid the brightly lit skyscrapers and traffic.



Our setup in summer....




And in winter.