Do Chickens Really Need a Run?

[Cyprus]

What about breeding pens, or bantam stag pens?
Given plenty of room 8x8/5 birds, and 4x4/stag, is a run stil necessary?

 

[Cyprus]

What about breeding pens and stag pens? Given 8x8/5 birds, and 4x4/stag.
Is a run still necessary?

 

[123RedBeard]

Battery hens are kept in small cages. OP is talking about a coop, which is generally much larger.

Yup, I know ... my point is ... they don't "need" a run ... however they probably would not squawk too loudly about have access to much more room ... even outside!

Then to address the OP's

Assuming that a coop meets adequate ventilation and square footage.

Who gets to put a number to "adequate"?

 

[The Moonshiner]

And you could survive locked in your bathroom as long as someone brought you food. I don't think you'd be too happy , but you'd survive. Maybe even have fun playing with the shampoo bottles!

I'll bite my tongue and just with that one.

 

[SueT]

Another factor to consider is egg quality. Nothing compares to pasture raised eggs.
IMO, if you can get your hens out on grass, your eggs will be superior quality and better for you.
Here are definitions used for commercial eggs:

• Caged: Hens are confined to cages with a 67-square inch space each. They never see the light of day and consume a corn or soy diet. Over 90 percent of eggs in the U.S.come from hens that are kept in cages for their entire egg-laying lives.
• Cage-Free: These ladies have more room than caged hens, since each is given less than 1 square foot. Still, they’re not entirely “free,” since they’re confined to barns and consume a corn or soy diet.
• Free-Range: Allotted less than 2 square feet per hen, these animals have more space than their caged and cage-free peers, but they don’t get outdoors as much as you may think. Some seldom get to see the light of day and many eat a corn- or soy-based feed.
• Pasture-Raised: These ladies are given at least 108 square feet each and consume some feed and lots of grass, bugs, worms and anything else they can find in the dirt. They tend to be let out of the barns early in the morning and called back in before nightfall.

"Pastured-raised hens also produce healthier eggs, according to a 2003 study out of Pennsylvania State University. In it, researchers found that one pasture-raised egg contains twice as much omega-3 fat, three times more vitamin D, four times more vitamin E and seven times more beta-carotene than eggs from hens raised on traditional feed."
from Certified Humane website

 

[ChickenCanoe]

This is a good discussion. I imagine the breed of chicken would make a significant difference. Those breeds that live to forage would, IMHO, not be pleased to spend 24/7 indoors and production would likely suffer.
Perhaps this is breed specific too but I find that roosters tend to wait till they go outside to mate.

Throughout this discussion, I was constantly reminded of a quote by Simon Barnes - "I'd sooner be a small bird in a hawk filled wood than a caged hen on a factory farm."

 

[lilmillefleur]

My chickens have adequate space, but their “run” is currently inside the barn. We are hoping to add an actual, outdoor run to the side of the barn that the hens can access. They seem to be doing fine as of now.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Although I don't know of any studies I am curious what benefits from sunshine cooped birds may be missing out on.

Not saying windows couldn't exist that allow sunshine into the coop.

I have south windows on my coop and on sunny days those are open letting sun directly into the coop.

Sooooooo...... Is a run necessary?
Probably not but it is cheaper to build a good sized run than a giant coop.......

 

[Acre4Me]

Another factor to consider is egg quality. Nothing compares to pasture raised eggs.
IMO, if you can get your hens out on grass, your eggs will be superior quality and better for you.
Here are definitions used for commercial eggs:

• Caged: Hens are confined to cages with a 67-square inch space each. They never see the light of day and consume a corn or soy diet. Over 90 percent of eggs in the U.S.come from hens that are kept in cages for their entire egg-laying lives.
• Cage-Free: These ladies have more room than caged hens, since each is given less than 1 square foot. Still, they’re not entirely “free,” since they’re confined to barns and consume a corn or soy diet.
• Free-Range: Allotted less than 2 square feet per hen, these animals have more space than their caged and cage-free peers, but they don’t get outdoors as much as you may think. Some seldom get to see the light of day and many eat a corn- or soy-based feed.
• Pasture-Raised: These ladies are given at least 108 square feet each and consume some feed and lots of grass, bugs, worms and anything else they can find in the dirt. They tend to be let out of the barns early in the morning and called back in before nightfall.

"Pastured-raised hens also produce healthier eggs, according to a 2003 study out of Pennsylvania State University. In it, researchers found that one pasture-raised egg contains twice as much omega-3 fat, three times more vitamin D, four times more vitamin E and seven times more beta-carotene than eggs from hens raised on traditional feed."
from Certified Humane website

Free-range = 6 hours/day. Not bad.

Pasture-raised= 1K birds/2.5acre (which is 108sq ft) but is specifically defined using the 1K birds.

However, these are standards for large egg producers, not really backyard chicken owners. Pretty sure if I found myself keeping 1K+ birds, I would no longer consider myself to be a backyard keeper, rather, I’m confident I’d be a government inspected grower/supplier.

Besides, OP is asking about backyard chicken owners thoughts on keeping their own flocks in a coop vs a coop and run.

 

[Doc7]

I thinking building a run of sorts is cheaper and easier than building a coop I would want large enough to handle confined birds 24/7.

I don’t make a big deal out of chickens being pets, but I think that confined 24/7 would be smellier and messier and much more likely to make me and my family dissociate from the chickens completely (as opposed to a colorful flock we see when pulling in and out the driveway, going out to collect eggs etc). I’d probably only have sex links and leghorns if I was going to confine them all the time and not look at them, and do a lot more coop bedding maintenance.

I don’t think any of my reasons are reasons that you can’t do it. Just consider your goals for your chickens and meet them accordingly. While I don’t find mine to be pets per se, I think I would view them more like I view my cat and his litter box - a dirty chore that bothers me - than I do when I see hens running around their run (even better when I let them in the yard, but due to predator control I prefer to give them 24-7 run access and only let them in the entire yard/woods on weekends for an hour or two while I work on outside projects. )