Building the ideal chicken run

[momma of a chicken lover]

I just adopted 3 Brown Bovans. A friend found me a small coop (about 4ft x 3.5ft) for free on Craig's List. Now we just need to build a run. We have a chain-link fence and turkey wire. We were thinking of putting up a perimeter of at least 4ft high around the coop. Is it essential that we cover the run if we keep the chickens securely in the coop at night? We live in downtown Denver so our biggest concerns would be raccoons and foxes. Our neighbor has a dog which may deter them a bit.

I would definitely cover the run. A run is a safe place to be during the day that is freedom from being stuck in the coop. Hawks and other birds of prey can cause heartbreak. I would go higher with the perimeter if you need to enter it to get to the coop. Also, if it is sturdy, you would not HAVE to be home by sunset every single day... Liberating.

 

[davep763]

Hi, first time poster long time reader (but I couldn't come up with a great answer searching the forums).

I'm having a coop built and I'm building the run. The run will be approximately 6' X 10' but I'm wondering how high it should be. I'm 6' tall, should I build it that tall? The front part of the coop will be attached to the run. I honestly don't know how often I'll be in the actual run because I've never owned chickens before. I plan on using 2 x 4's and hardware cloth as raccoons and foxes are pretty common....but it would obviously save some money if I made the run 2' or 3' high. Feed/water/egg access will be outside the coop/run.

Also, the coop will be raised off the ground, what is a good height so the chickens can get underneath? 18"? 24"?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Gypsi]

Owing to the low doorway opening to my "run under the big tree" I bang my head anytime I get near it. If you you have an injured, ill or dead bird, or some other unforeseen problem, do you want to crawl on hands and knees to get there? Except for the gate all my runs are 6 ft tall. and I am 5 ft 4.

Gypsi


main coop is 24 inches off ground. Coop under the big tree about 18 inches off the ground.

 

[davep763]

Owing to the low doorway opening to my "run under the big tree" I bang my head anytime I get near it. If you you have an injured, ill or dead bird, or some other unforeseen problem, do you want to crawl on hands and knees to get there? Except for the gate all my runs are 6 ft tall. and I am 5 ft 4.

Gypsi


main coop is 24 inches off ground. Coop under the big tree about 18 inches off the ground.

Thanks, I'll build it a little over 6' tall and then have the coop about 2' off the ground.

 

[cntrywmnkw]

Great posts everyone. Lots of great ideas. Here is the run I had built for my girls, with their coop which was an old goat pen & shed converted to their coop. All openings are covered with 1/4 x 1/4 hardware cloth, bottom of coop had 2 x 4 fence wire buried about 8" down, plus I lined the perimeter with bricks or cinder block, just to deter anything trying to dig in & coop is surrounded by 2" x 4" fence wire pen 4' high. The new run is 14' x 30'.

 

[Jennsbirds]

I'm still designing my coop/run for when I move out and have a proper yard, but so far , a large enclosed space (like a dog kennel), with a roof, but with two 'stories' to add to the amount of space the birds can have. I'd like to add a climbing vine to the thing for them to have fresh fruit/veggies sometimes.

 

[davep763]

I'm building a 10 (maybe 12) foot long run but was wondering where the door should be located, closest to the coop or at the very end....or does it really matter?

 

[ChickenMama17]

We are planning the outdoor run for our 17 chicks that are currently 4 weeks old... I was thinking that I would put the hardware cloth on the bottom few feet and then bed about a foot of it outwards from the coop. Would this deter animals that want to dig in?? I really didn't want to have the bury the cloth too far into the ground. I thought I had read somewhere that if the mesh went outwards it would deter as they would run into it as they started to dig. My other thought was to dig a trench as use pavers as I could remove those later if needed easier than concrete. Also - could I get away with hardware cloth on the bottom few feet then use chicken wire on the upper portions of the walls of the run? or the 2" x 4" wire mesh? Trying not to spend a bundle since I already spent so much on our 8 x 12 coop!! Thanks for all the help for a newbie!!

 

[chickymommy]

It's so great that you're interesting in providing safe and effective fencing for your chicken run! 


There are many options for fencing, and you just need to figure out what works best for your comfort level and what materials you have available.


You can see some of my run in this picture; it's not the Taj Mahal, but it's very safe.  We used 4x4 treated posts, and chicken wire for the "roof."  Our posts are set in concrete, but I don't think they actually needed to be.  We used 3' wide hardware cloth for the bottom, and regular chicken wire above that, with a 1" x 6" treated board over where they overlapped, and we stapled it really well along the 1x6.  We put 2x4 treated board on the ground between each post and secured them with screws to the posts, and then secured the hardware cloth to the 2x4s.  Our run is almost 7' high, so we can easily walk around, and they have room to fly up into our "chicken trees."  The one thing we did not do in this run is bury the hardware cloth; what we did instead was, I think, overkill.  We dug a 12" deep trench from post to post and poured concrete into the trench.  The run we are building now will have buried hardware cloth rather than the concrete.


Good luck!

I LOVE your chicken tree idea! I might have to try it.

 

[chynasparks]

Love all these ideas. I need to make a moveable run for my 4 peeps. We spent 6 weeks of summer building a coop/run 4x8x6 for them. They are happy in the new coop but they need diversion, they need to get out on grass to simulate free range. I can't let them free range for their own safety for several reasons. Thinking about cattle panels and 2x4s as the bottom frame. I would love to hear some more ideas to make a moveable run. I don't have a lot of money left to do this. I really want to let them get out. I have for pullets that are approaching 16 weeks. They seem to be doing fine in their enclosure but I want more for them. Thanks in advance for ideas.