Choosing the Best Location for your Backyard Chicken Coop

Choosing the best location for a chicken coop is one of the most important decisions in getting started with a backyard flock.

Chickens need a secure home to sleep in and lay their eggs in. Called a chicken coop or hen house, it can be built from scratch, assembled from a kit, purchased turnkey or repurposed from a shed or playhouse. But regardless, the chicken coop location is of utmost importance.

The ultimate position of the coop is critical for your chickens’ health, happiness and, of course, safety.

As such, there are several considerations to take into account when determining the placement of your chicken coop.

And the position for your coop will be very unique to your property, although there are a few universal guidelines to follow that might help you narrow down several possible locations.
we very consciously positioned our coop in full sun, facing south, with a dense stand of trees to the north. This ensures that the coop gets the most sun it can during the long, cold winter months and is blocked from cold blasts of wind from the north.

I chose a walk-in coop style that had nesting boxes inside instead of jutting out from an exterior wall. The nest boxes are on the southern facing wall, again, to ensure they get the most warmth from the sun to prevent frozen eggs.

Our run is situated to the east of the coop. That means it gets the first sun of the day and starts to warm up early in the morning as soon as the sun rises. It is also sloped a bit so it drains and there’s no standing water after a rainstorm.

Other things to keep in mind when you’re choosing a location for your chicken coop include:

Distance from the house
Distance from feed and supply storage (if you don’t have room inside your coop)
Location of your water source
Ability to drive up to the coop to delivery feed/straw etc.
Choosing the Best Location for your Backyard Chicken Coop
Here are some steps to take that can help you choose the best location for your coop before you even order a coop or you start looking for plans or building your own coop.

Check Variances and Regulations
The first thing you need to do is check your local regulations concerning building or buying a chicken coop. Things such as the minimum distance from both your house and neighboring dwellings and the required distance from your property line are important to know before you go any further.

Some areas don’t specify anything as far as coop placement goes, but it’s still important to consider your neighbors.

Backyard Chicken Coop Concerns
The main concerns when it comes to a chicken coop are:
odor/manure
flies
noise
You don’t want to be bothered by any of these, and neither do your neighbors.

So be considerate and make sure that where you decide to put your chicken coop isn’t going to result in the heady scent of chicken manure wafting across the lawn and towards your neighbors home.
Too Close for Comfort
Although a well-maintained coop and healthy chickens shouldn’t smell, there still is a certain odor attached to any type of livestock that all neighbors might not appreciate.

And remember that chickens poop on EVERYTHING, and the closer to your house the coop is located, the greater chance your chickens will venture onto your porch, deck, vehicles, etc. and hosing or scraping chicken poop off your deck chairs and every other flat surface will become a full-time job!