After 11 years of running Chicken City, I can confidently say that an integrated system is the absolute best way to design a chicken coop—especially if your goals are growing abundant food, keeping happy chickens, and minimizing your workload.
The Roof: Protection from Every Angle
People often ask if Chicken City has a roof. Yes—it's fine-gauge wire mesh rolled across the entire structure and supported by wooden beams. This protects against:
- Foxes climbing over walls
- Eagles attacking from above
- Wild birds stealing my berries, tomatoes, and fruit before I can harvest them
Without the roof, I'd lose a significant portion of my harvest to birds. With it, every single thing I grow is for me—no crop losses whatsoever.
Chickens as Your Orchard Maintenance Crew
I literally never have to weed under my fruit trees. The chickens haircut everything down to ground level constantly. This is exactly what citrus and fruit trees want—no competition for nutrients or water. My trees in Chicken City vastly outperform the ones elsewhere on my property that don't have chickens underneath.
The Veggie Room Rotation System
My annual vegetable rooms stay locked off from chickens while crops are growing. But when the season ends and plants are spent, I open the gates.
The chickens flood in and do all the turnover work for me:
- Eating spent plants
- Scratching and turning the soil
- Pulling out seeds and weeds
- Fertilizing with their manure
A month later, the soil is perfectly prepared for the next season's crops. I haven't added external fertilizer in years.
Free-Ranging Without the Stress
Because the entire structure is predator-proof 24/7, my chickens can go to bed when they want and wake up when they want. I don't have to be here at sunrise and sunset to lock them up. This gives me flexibility in life that traditional chicken keeping just doesn't allow.
The Fallen Fruit Advantage
When plums, apples, or other fruit fall to the ground, the chickens clean them up immediately. No fruit fly problems. No rotting fruit attracting pests. The chickens handle it all.
Multiple Uses for Every Element
Every design feature in Chicken City serves at least two purposes. The roof protects chickens and prevents crop loss. The chickens provide eggs and garden maintenance. The integrated rooms produce food and chicken forage.
Yes, building an integrated system like this requires more upfront investment than a basic coop. But the amount of food it produces, the time it saves me, and the safe haven it provides for my rescue chickens? Absolutely worth it.
If you're planning a chicken coop, I truly believe integration is the way to go.
More Chicken City videos:
- Secret Chicken Coop Features - Hidden design tricks and retrofitted additions
- Full Chicken City Tour - Walk through every room and meet all 25 chickens
Get more details on Chicken City, including rough plans
Find out more about my chickens and my edible garden ecosystem on Instagram - this is where I post the most regular updates on my Chicken City system!
