Living in one of those satellite neighborhoods in the middle of the country that just seem to pop up after miles of corn, it just seemed fitting to have chickens… Only problem is one of those dreadful HOAs.
After reviewing rules, and wording, I found out that NO livestock were permitted… not knowing exactly what that meant, I looked up the definition, and thankfully, the USDA classifies pork, veal, beef, and lamb as livestock and all livestock as red meat. Poultry and fish are not included in the category.
One hurdle jumped, then onto the second, no outbuildings…. This one was trickier. How to fit in a coop and run, without making it separate…. With a fudging of the interpretation it became incorporated into a retaining wall, and made to look similar enough to the deck to camouflage the structure.
Because it was built into a retaining wall, I feel, that it makes the inside I a little more interesting.
Okay, lets get to it…
Easy, 100 square feet. This includes the run, and the coop. The coop itself is 3’x6’.
All of the plus numbers in ( ) are elevations above the lowest level, the ground…
I apologize for no construction pictures, I actually found BYC after I built it, and already had chickens… so I will try my best to paint the picture.
I started off digging a 2 foot deep trench around the perimeter everywhere there wasn’t retaining wall. In the four corners, and centered between them, I set 4x4 posts. Tying them all together across the heads, middles, and at the bottoms of the trench with 2x6s.
Once the general framing was in place I began focus on the coop, and duck pool.
The coop sits at 3’x6’x3.5’H. in the detail, you can see heights, and sizes. To sum it up, the gals all fight over the center window spots on the roosts inside.
For ventilation, you can’t see it well in the exterior photo, but the roof vents at the peak, and drip line, well over their heads in the coop, and pitched so as to block the majority of wind, and rain.
I know you’re looking at those nesting boxes scratching your heads wondering whaaaaaa!?
But the girls love them. I originally had built 1 foot cubes for them, but they wouldn’t even go near them. I had a couple 1 gallon metal buckets, and tossed them in. They LOVED them. So whatever works for you, right?
my chickens share their run with two ducks, a blue Swede named salt, and a white runner named peppa. They’re scaredy-ducks and very seldom leave the run, (I have a string on the ducks forum). They spend 99% of their time on the second level of the run. Their house is under the chicken coop, the pool is lvl 2 they love it.
they don’t require much so I let them be… I just can’t wait until they decide to go into the big duck pond 75 feet away, a 3 acre pond…
after building all of the interior stuff, I stretched the chicken wire. Starting two feet down I stapled it to the bottom boards pulling it taught all the way across. You know the drill… the hardest part is getting your lines straight. Once the chicken wire was secure, I started with my lattice camouflage.
In my opening photo you can see a tarp on the roof ( and an avacado tree) I didn’t realize that chickens weren’t smart enough to go inside when there’s a freak storm… I have been looking, and found that my local big box hardware stores carry plexiglass for pretty cheap, AND it comes in clear or tinted to any color I want. I like to be able to look down at them when I’m on the deck, and I can do the whole roof for about $100. Next project.
I guess in conclusion, there’s not much I would like to change. I constantly change around the stuff inside. Roosts, fountains, duck houses, random branches… my nephew told me that they’re like little parkour ninjas!!! So that’s how I treat them. I know if I was a parkour ninja I’d want plenty of obstacles…and they LOVE swings frickin adorable they started going on them about a week old bobbing their heads to swing…
The only big additions in the future will a garden perpendicular to the retaining wall off the coop /run. I plan on using that nasty smelly duck water in an aquaponics setup. It keeps me from having to change it every couple days. If you’re unfamiliar I highly recommend looking into it. I’m sure most people with ducks use that water on their plants. It’s daffy gold to plants. I’ll update on that when it’s completed. Not a project for this year.
