Is a 3 foot high run high enough?

Hi there! so looking for some advice from those with more experience.

I have 6 chicks who will be moving outside in the next month or so. We are trying to put together a coop and run as frugally as possible. We have come across a metal structure that we could use as our permanent run. It is 10 feet wide, 12 feet long, but only 3 feet high. It would have chicken wire or hardware cloth around it to be predator safe, and it would be attached to the coop.

This would be our chickens only run, we can't free range here due to predators... so I need to know if chickens can be in a run that is so low? Do they need to be able to fly/flutter around? Do they need height to be healthy happy chickens?

Thanks! The structure is at the end of a neighbours driveway.. so i need to act fast to pick it up if it will work - so any advice would be great.

 

Yes it will be covered. And the chickens will still have access to the coop at all times. The birds will be 2 months old at least when they move out of our basement, so they won't be teeny tiny. However, my concerns were what to do if I have to catch them in the coop, and if I need to clean it out, or add new ground material to the area.

Would it just be a pain in the neck from your experience? Do you find that you need to access the run often? We do live in a climate that gets lots of snow. Often in access of 3 feet.. so I just had the thought I would really have to protect the whole run in the winter so that it didn't fill up with too much snow...

My gut feeling is that it might not be the best idea.. yet the price is right! Free!