The Chicken Coop Part 3 - Preparing the space

Our yard isn't super large, so whatever area we picked would have to be out of the way but accessible, and look nice without overwhelming the space. We picked a spot looking right at the house. That way we could easily and keep an eye on the chickens from our couch and they would get a lot of nice bright light. It was also an easily accessible area, and lent itself to a standard sized coop, instead of a long, skinny one that we would have used elsewhere. 

Clearing out the landscaping to make room 

Staking out the area, digging it up and pulling out the rocks

We laid chicken wire in the giant hole to block snakes, raccoon and other local wildlife from helping themselves to chicken dinner by burrowing under the coop. 

After tons of research, we decided to use sand for the chicken run (the enclosed outdoor part). Apparently this would help with drainage, not get mucky and muddy, reduce the overall poop smell, give the chickens a source of grit, and give them a place to "bathe". We primarily used masonry sand for the outdoor chicken run, and then supplemented with squeegee (a tinier pea gravel).  We started with the bagged stuff.

 Then we got smart - we went directly to a sand place to buy the stuff in bulk.  

I'd wager that the place had not seen a lot of people in the tiny Prius come to get mounds of sand 

An interim sand-pit for the neighborhood kids

Then we leveled the edges and lined it with cement blocks to make the foundation of the coop.