Coop and Run size?

Hi, We are building our coop and run and I want to make sure it is big enough. We are thinking for the coop to be 4'x4' with 2' under for shade. And the run to be 4'wide x 8'long x 6'high. We are thinking to have 6 hens total. What does everyone think?

I really hate hard and fast numbers with anything to do with chickens, especially housing. Each chicken has its own personality, each flock has its own dynamics, we all manage them differently, have different goals, have different set-ups, and we live in different climates. There is no way one number is going to work for each of us.

I have no idea what your climate is like. I'm talking about your worst, most severe, conditions, not a normal or best day or time of the year. The harsher your climate, hot or cold, the more room you need.

How you manage them is very important. Do you leave them locked in the coop area for a large part of their waking hours? If you do, you need more room in the coop. If they have access to the run or even free range while they are awake, coop size is a lot less important. Again, don't think just about how you would normally do it. What will you do if you are on vacation? Do you like to sleep until noon on a Saturday morning?

If your weather is such that they won't be spending much time outside the coop during a reasonable part of the year, your coop needs to be bigger. If they have access to the outside practically every day of the year, coop space is not all that critical.

If you have just hens or one rooster with your hens, they don't need as much space as a flock with two or more roosters. If you plan on integrating new chickens later or allow a broody to raise chicks with the flock, you need more room.

If you crowd them, you can have behavioral problems, anything from feather plucking all the way to cannibalism. You can manage that even in crowded spaces. Commercial operations trim their beaks so they can't eat each other. That way they can crowd them pretty tightly. After all, they are in it for a profit and providing extra space is expensive.

An important one for me. I find that the tighter I crowd them the more work I have to do. It's easier on me if I give them more space. I also have more flexibility in managing problems if I have more room to work with.

I know if you are starting out, you really don't have a clue how much space they need. You don't have any experience to base it on. Many people use a rule of thumb of 4 square feet in the coop along with 10 square feet in the run for each chicken. That will keep most of us out of serious trouble most of the time with a lot of different management practices. Occasionally people will still get in trouble with that, but usually not unless they are a bit of extreme in either weather or how they manage them. To me, that is a bare minimum for a small backyard flock, but I don't like to manage the poop a lot. That will work for most people but I think you are more likely to be happier if you provide extra room.

Good luck!

Technically the coop would be too small. If they go out everyday, that should not be a problem with sufficient space in the run. The recommendations are 4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per chicken in the run. Overcrowding can cause pecking and other ill behavior.

I have one run with 10 chickens in 160 square feet. There does seem to be a lot of chickens per square foot, but no problems to date. They had an adjoining run of the same size where they go from time to time. They also roam in the yard for a couple of hours each day.

As with many things, the numbers are guidelines. Your flock may vary.

Chris