Chicken Coop/Run, how big?

[Lizzy733]

Perhaps I could show the reality of run sizing by the currently recommended amount which is 10 square feet per chicken.
We often see runs and coops as recent projects and they look rather nice.
This is a 6 metre by 6 metre run; 36 square metres.
That's 387.5 square feet. Sounds big doesn't it?
According to the current often quoted recommendation and making the math easy lets say 387.5 divided by 30. This gives a bit over 12 square feet per chiicken if you keep 30 chickens in there.
This is what the run will look like after a few months even if you only kept 10 chickens in it.
If you've got the space and can afford the materials go for 10x the 10 square feet recommendation.
View attachment 2871524

Even my run looks like this! Though we do have some established plants - a few lavender, a kaka beak... And we do little reveg areas every spring - cut a quarter out if the run and let it grow like crazy for a few months before letting the hens loose on it, so it's not always a baren wasteland.

 

[Shadrach]

Even my run looks like this! Though we do have some established plants - a few lavender, a kaka beak... And we do little reveg areas every spring - cut a quarter out if the run and let it grow like crazy for a few months before letting the hens loose on it, so it's not always a baren wasteland.

Thankfully the chickens get out of the run these days.

 

[Shadrach]

Even my run looks like this! Though we do have some established plants - a few lavender, a kaka beak... And we do little reveg areas every spring - cut a quarter out if the run and let it grow like crazy for a few months before letting the hens loose on it, so it's not always a baren wasteland.

I guess if you're on the South Island your weather can get pretty wet.
Having enough run space so you can section a bit off to recover is a god idea.