Building a run to add on to coop

[Nellydog]

Have any of you built a run to add on to a coop how much does it cost? For 3 or 4 chickens

 

[cmom]

I see you recently joined BYC, Do you shut your birds in their coop at night? My main concern is that usually during the day the birds will be out in their run most of the day except to lay an egg, so for me the more room the better and if down the road you want to add another chicken or more, you will have the room. Mainly for me as long as there is enough roost space for how ever many birds you want in the coop and a good amount of space for the birds in the run you can make it any size you have the room for a run. Some people and in many books and websites will give how many feet for each bird. Also it depends on if your birds are large fowl or bantams. The optimum space for chickens is 3 to 4 square feet per bird in the coop and for the run 10 Sq Ft of ground space per LF chicken and 7.5 Sq Ft of ground space per Bantam chicken. Good luck and have fun

 

[cmom]

Also the materials and size would dictate the cost. Many people won't use chicken wire because of coons ability to break into chicken wire. I have both chicken wire and welded wire. I do have electric wire around my coops and pens for predator control which has been working great.

 

[Blooie]

We haven’t had chickens for a year now. But the run we built is still going to get used as a greenhouse, and it’s still as sturdy as when we built it. Not expensive, so easy two old geezers with slight disabilities, and went up in a weekend. For details you can click on My Coop under my avatar. The run build starts about a quarter of the way down the page. I’d never have chickens without a run....there are always times when we can’t be home to just let them free-range or when the weather stinks but they can’t be tightly confined to the coop.

 

[snow5164]

It’s really hard to give you a price , do you want to stand up in the run? Don’t use chicken wire , dogs and raccoons can break threw it .

You’re going to need to plan on the size , you’ll need to draw it out and ask at a hardware store they will be able to price it for you .

Doing something right is never inexpensive, but replacing dead chickens is expensive too

Have fun planning

 

[Spartan22]

Depends on how big and how tall of a run your planning to build, roof or cover of the run, price varies on your location (sources of materials). My first run 10x12, 6 ft high without roof cost me approximately $250 and 2 days to build it.

 

[cmom]

My birds spend most of their time in their pens. We have pasture but not much shade in the pasture but all of the pens have shade trees, so I would also recommend some shade too. Even though I open the gates and they are free to roam out of the pens, they don't. They would rather stay in the shade.

 

[staceyj]

Have any of you built a run to add on to a coop how much does it cost? For 3 or 4 chickens

Your biggest expenditure will be hardware cloth.
Dang is it expensive!
But it is absolutely necessary if you want to build your enclosure once, and not have to go back and throw more money at it later after you’ve had a predator breach and suffered losses.

Whenever I see someone has put good wood out by the road, free , I jump out of my car!
My husband can’t believe the stuff I come home with.
We haven’t bought a piece of wood for anything in well over a year !
I have a huge pile.
So keep your eyes peeled!


You need to guesstimate a size first and you should really try to be generous for the sake of the bird’s and for chicken math which sometimes happens.
Are they going to be in the run full time or just part time? That makes a big difference. My suggestion is go as big as you can afford.

Even the minimum square footage requirement of 10sq ft/bird gets tight some days if there isn’t any enrichment inside the run as a boredom buster.
* scratching in grass doesn’t count (if it’s on grass) because there won’t be grass under it for long.

We have a small flock.
Small coop. (4x4quaker)
Small run. 4 x 14.
But the caveat is that we also freerange in a semi enclosed pen (over 1000 square feet) about 10 hrs a day.

In horrible weather, they stay in the run. They don’t mind but they’d much rather be out and about doing what chickens do.

If I were doing it over, I’d still have my snug and adorable coop but I’d have a run four times the size I currently have.

My two cents...

 

[Kfults]

We built a 12x12 totally enclosed run. We used furring strip ( pressure treated) and welded wire ( amazon cheapest price for the wire)
We only built 3 ft high and went around it with an apron of 2ft welded wire. I attached a pic. My husband built a lift hatch door so I could place water inside or go in to clean ( I have to squat to get in) LOL
I don’t close the coup door at night as the run is secure. Good luck!

 

[cmom]

That is nice.