Where to put the damn coop!

[anniem]

So we have the plans for the coop, it's the garden coop which is 6'x10' enclosed run with a 6'x3' coop within it. And we have 6 chicks who are already 5 weeks old. They need their final home! They've been in 3 different spots already because they grow so darn quickly and the weather has been rather yucky.
Anyways...we have a good amount of space but it's also a weird set up with how neighbors are situated and that we have a post and rail fence, so none of the yard is very private (all of our neighbors own chickens already btw, 2 let them free range and have no fenced yard so they won't be the least bit bothered by us actually having chickens). This makes me more concerned with putting the coop where it won't look bad to a neighbor...on top of finding a place that isn't too close to the house, won't get too too soggy but isn't too sloped that it's a pain to level, and that it won't get too bothered by our boys playing...blahblahblah
Spot #1 here is higher ground, a dryer walk for us, decently out of the way of where kids play, gives a good size area that we can fence off for a chicken yard (they'll have free run of our entire yard sometimes but the dog has to be in for that) and pretty good sun. It'd be just this side and out a bit from the tree farthest to the left in the picture. A run would extend to the back corner of the yard.

Spot #2 would be just to the left of the compost area on the right hand side of the picture. Pros being that it is farther away from the neighbors house , and we already take stuff to the compost bin every day or 2 so it can be 2 chores side by side. But a fenced area would be a skinny one up the fence, and closer to the play structure. And is it bad to have them right by the fence like that and/or right next to the compost bin?

If you got this far, thanks for reading!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I would say your most important consideration should be that the area has good drainage and isn't soggy. A wet run is going to smell. If you have to put a run in an area with poorer drainage, then you should plan for it and build it in a way that gives it better drainage.

You could really put it in either spot and have it work out fine. I don't think coops look any better or worse than anything else people put in their yard, it just depends on how you make them look. Well managed, they shouldn't smell.

 

[pokeytolman]

I agree With Woodlandwoman we are new to this ourselves but my brother and sister inlaw have had them for years and their kids played around the chickens all the time they also put their coop next to their compost bin on purpose some scraps in the bin some to the chickies.

 

[Intheswamp]

What Woodlandwoman said and...

Close to the compost piles (looks like your neighbor has a casual one, too) would be a good location...the chickens could pick off a stray bug from the piles all along. That area also looks to be a "utilitarian area" by you and your neighbor. But...you've got a tad higher ground and a bit more room to the left on the other side of the gym set. I would almost have to vote for that area (to the left of the gym set).

More importantly for the area beside the compost bin... One thing you might think about is that some areas have set-back restrictions where you have to be so many feet from property lines when building a structure. You might check into that or at least inspect your area and see if it looks like folks are following some kind of set-back distance.

Best wishes,
Ed