Where to build

[Newfarmer36]

Since you live close to a highway will you free range?

The ones I have now are free range. They never go up to the road.

 

[Newfarmer36]

Since you are in LA, and you get humid, hot weather, I'd go ahead and put 'em under the shade trees. If you free range, they can go find their sunshine when they need it. Just my opinion.

That's a good thought!

 

[Newfarmer36]

What if you trained the dog to guard the chicken?

I have a spaniel but she's 11 and she's so tiny that it wouldn't do any good to try and train her. I have a boxer that's a year old but shes the smartest idiot I've ever seen so there's no training her.

 

[Newfarmer36]

My main criteria on where to put a coop/run has been covered. Put it where the water drains away from it, not toward it. Or even worse, where water stands. A wet coop/run is an unhealthy coop/run and will stink. A dry one makes your life a lot easier.

My next main criteria is to make it convenient to you. Where are you storing the feed? Where do you get the water? Will you be carrying a bag of feed from your vehicle to where it is stored? If you are going to run electricity to it, where is a good spot for that? Are you building from scratch or will you convert an existing building or build next to an outbuilding? Will you be taking poop or bedding to a compost pile, how convenient is that? Will you be feeding them excess from a garden, is that convenient? When it rains can you walk to the coop without putting on rubber boots?

I would not expect you to have really steep hills in Monroe but maybe. The steeper the hill the more prone to erosion you are. You might want to use swales or berms above it to divert rainwater away from it. If it is very steep the chickens will probably convert it to bare dirt and scratch a lot of it downhill. Or if you use bedding in the run it will get scratched downhill. On a gentle slope this is not a big deal but if it is pretty steep you might want to think about what you will do.

In your summers shade will be very important. That can be trees or you can build your coop/run in a way that shade is provided.

Do you want it visible from the road or not? For some people that might be important, depending on the neighborhood.

Just a few things to think about. Good luck with it.

I didn't think of any of this!! Wow! I have alot to learn!

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

I didn't think of any of this!! Wow! I have alot to learn!

Well, you've come to the right place to learn!