Will a 4x4 base along covered run help keep it dry?

[3KillerBs]

Sorry video is kinda long…sorry! Note that the direction I am initially facing (towards the woods) is DUE WEST.

I didn't watch the entire video, but it isn't near so steep a slope as I was picturing. Some slope is good as long as you can direct the water around the chicken area instead of right through it.

We are right on the edge of Coastal Plains/Piedmont. Soil is fairly sand, but definitely still gets muddy. So yes, it can get VERY hot. The back yard gets a ton of sun. That's why I like that small grove of trees. Shaded with leaves on, gets a lot of sun with leaves off.

As long as it doesn't have a river of drainage through it or a pond in it after the rain the shade is ideal.

 

[3KillerBs]

that small grove of trees.

P.S. In the wild chickens are creatures of the forest floor so that makes a treed area even more suitable.

 

[762]

I didn't watch the entire video, but it isn't near so steep a slope as I was picturing. Some slope is good as long as you can direct the water around the chicken area instead of right through it.



As long as it doesn't have a river of drainage through it or a pond in it after the rain the shade is ideal.

Thanks. Yeah its not bad...but I will say to the left of where I want it (20-30 yards), it gets super muddy with lots of rain.

P.S. In the wild chickens are creatures of the forest floor so that makes a treed area even more suitable.

I plan on opening up the back fence and expanding it another 50 yards or so eventually.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks. Yeah its not bad...but I will say to the left of where I want it, it's

I plan on opening up the back fence and expanding it another 50 yards or so eventually.

You'll be preparing a chicken paradise.

 

[FunClucks]

I do plan on putting gutters in and collecting the rainwater from the coop and run. All of our land runs downhill...there really isn't a level area. Closer to the house is better because there isn't a spot that almost levels out, but shade is a problem. Also our friends said you don't want the coop too close to the house because of smell. But I'm also reading that the deep litter method works very well for smell. So I dunno.

We plan on having the chickens free range the backyard during the day, regardless. The covered run will be for yucky days or when we are on vacation (which won't be for awhile). The oldest 9 chicks are already almost 5 weeks old and the 20 young chicks are almost 2 weeks, so my priority needs to be getting the coop built. They are in a 4x8 outdoor brooder now, which I should have made taller.

I have noticed during absolutely torrential (record breaking) that the area down to the left of where I put the coop in can get really soggy. I don't think it gets too bad where I was thinking of putting them. I like that spot because of the trees. Excellent shade and our back yard gets LOTS of sun.

I'll take a video of the backyard and post it. Maybe y'all will see something I don't.

I have a few thoughts for you.

Roosters crow. They can crow a LOT. Everything from a couple times a day to continuously day and night. I have a rooster that is silent for several hours at a time, but he still occasionally crows at 2 am, 3:30, midnight, 4:30. Sometimes he crows 4 times and stops. Sometimes he crows every minute or so for over an hour at 3:30 in the morning. In the middle of the night. It varies from day to day, so I can't get used to it, predict it, and ignore it. Sometimes I go outside to see what predator he's upset about, and that helps him stop, but sometimes I"m too tired, or the weather is awful. My coop is ~150-200 ft from my bedroom windows, and it's still too close, in my opinion. The rooster still wakes me up. If he did it more often, he would have to find a new home. Unless you run a white noise generator in your bedroom every night, be prepared to hear the rooster(s).

Also, since you plan to free range them, you may want to look at the size of your yard vs the number of chickens you have, and consider the chicken loading for the amount of yard you have available. Don't quote me on this, but I think something like more than 5 chickens on an acre will have them tearing up your entire yard and eating all your grass - it will just be dust after a few months. Also, even if you only have a few chickens, they will dig holes in your yard in their favorite spots and poop everywhere and you'll have to fence your garden and any other plants you don't want eaten. I currently have my chickens in an enclosed covered run due to AI in my area, and I'd recommend even if you plan to free range most of the time to have a large enough run that they can be locked in there for a week or so (due to you taking vacations, poor weather, avoiding predators, etc), and not have it create behavior issues.

The minimum recommendation on here is 4 sq feet of space in the coop, 1 foot of roost space in the coop, 3 square feet of ventilation in the coop, and 10 square feet of run space PER CHICKEN, and the 3 sq feet of ventilation in the coop is for around North Carolina. I live in north Alabama, so our climate is somewhat similar, and I find that 15 square feet run space per chicken is actually much better from a crowding perspective for the type of chickens I have (helps prevent fights and gives you space to put things in the run, which is important to combat boredom and behavior issues).

Here's a link to my open air run that my chickens have been living in all summer in the 100F+ weather under mottled heavy shade. In a few months we'll have a shed coop built, but I could probably have added an open top box (huddle box) in the middle and used this run all year, if I wanted to. Might give you some ideas. I use ~6" wood chips/grass clippings/leaves/dirt in the bottom of my run, it keeps the chickens feet out of the occasional rain that seeps into my run during the occasional deluges. If it were worse I'd build a berm and/or a french drain/swale to keep the water out. I water the run occasionally with a hose to keep down the dust.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-now-i-need-a-coop-please-help.1519455/page-9

 

[3KillerBs]

Don't quote me on this, but I think something like more than 5 chickens on an acre will have them tearing up your entire yard and eating all your grass - it will just be dust after a few months.

That can't be right because I still have grass in my run -- which is constructed of 100 feet of electric poultry netting with 23-40 birds of various ages on it at different points this spring/summer.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

That can't be right because I still have grass in my run -- which is constructed of 100 feet of electric poultry netting with 23-40 birds of various ages on it at different points this spring/summer.

Oh Lord. I just tried to look it up. There are recommendations for 2 per acre, 50, 80, and 100!

 

[762]

Yeah we have 29 chicks to start, two breeds. They are straight run so I’m not sure how many roosters we will have….probably half each? We plan on deciding which breed works best for us. The breed between the orps and wyandotte’s that loses will have their roosters eaten, and then we will keep only 1-2 of the winning breeds roosters. I’m sure there will be loss to predators at some point or illness. I’m guessing we will end up with more like a dozen chickens, all said. I just hope we can tell the difference between each breeds eggs.

When I open up the back fence that will really give them some room to forage.

 

[FunClucks]

That can't be right because I still have grass in my run -- which is constructed of 100 feet of electric poultry netting with 23-40 birds of various ages on it at different points this spring/summer.

Awesome! I'm totally wrong in my memory then. That's a good data point. Works out to ~16 square feet per chicken...

I was thinking about the perfectly manicured and green yards that folks have in subdivisions, and how many chickens can live on that monoculture before you can see the dirt. I don't know...

 

[perkolator]

That's a lot flatter than I imagined. I don't think it will be a problem with water sitting there as long as the soil drains - kinda sounds like it doesn't based on the water pooling comment for other section of the yard. Bedding material accumulation and poop, etc. over time will raise ground level in the chicken area unless you're clearing it out all the time; then you've got all that organic material + chicken activity and worms, etc that will help permeate the soil more there. I think more of a problem for you will be free-ranging vs all the predators I'd imagine are living in that forest behind your property - that was my issue and we've lost many chickens over the last few years to fox, bobcat, owl, hawk, and raccoons, mostly when free-ranging.

My coop is located on more of a slope than your property. My structure is 8x24 and the low side of the original slope was about 24" lower than the high side - because of that I went with cinder block foundation so I could terrace it in 3 sections instead of leveling out the terrain - I have no tractor and do everything by hand. I also left some gaps in the block and put gravel underneath specifically in case water might need to flow if it flooded when water is sheeting off the hill above my coop. Water flow has not been an issue for me - but my soil type also drains well, and I use deep bedding that’s higher than the surrounding terrain.

To the comment about # of chickens per acre tearing up everything - I have 1.3ac and had 25 chickens at one point, free ranging daily for over a year and the only thing I noticed was poop everywhere.