Roof overhang...

One a normal house....12". On a chicken coop, or similar, 6" to keep it in proportion. I've seen larger overhangs that look good, but it really depends on the house design.
 
Structurally, you don't need any overhang.

But---

How much overhang do you need to make the structure look proportional?

For instance with a small 4'X8' structure a full 12" of overhang may look out of place, but with a larger structure 10'X10', 12" of overhang has the appearance of being proportional.

I have a 4'X8' coop, I have about 3" of overhang all the way around. 12" of overhang would look way to long.

On the house, I have 12" of soffet on my home. Here in the south, you can see 12", 18, 24", 30', 36" or even 48" soffets.
 
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...of course if you have a raised coop then it would be nice to have an extended overhang over the people access and outside egg access so that you don't have to stand there getting soaked when it's raining. If you have any windows it is also nice to have a bit of overhang to protect the coop from sudden rain showers. I'm more utilitarian minded...
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Ed
 
I was thinking of some overhang to keep rain out of my vents which will be at the top of the wall. Sounds like 6 inches will do.
 
I'm going to need to re-roof my winter coop and run this year because of the lack of overhang. Very little of the area under my coop stays dry in rainstorms because wind blows rain in the sides. I'm planning on building at least a foot of overhang all around. Hope that fixes the problem.
 
I totally agree with the original poster, it is not mainly an aesthetic issue with coops, it is (or should be) mainly a FUNCTIONAL issue. In a typical chicken coop, the roof overhang plays several important roles and if you underbuild it you are making your coop much harder to manage, and work more poorly, than it should be.

I can't give you any hard numbers though because it depends on your situation. In a largeish coop that will never, truly NEVER, have very many chickens in it (like, 10-20 sq ft per chicken), you will not need as much ventilation as in a smaller or more intensely stocked coop (e.g. the 2-4 sq ft per chicken that so many BYCers are so fond of). The more ventilation you need, the bigger your vent openings will have to be and the bigger your roof overhang will need to be to keep most of the rain out.

Also, if you are in a climate where summer heat is a big problem, you want as much roof overhang as is structurally-stable, because not only will it provide (a little) shade for the chickens to sit in, more importantly it will shade the coop walls and windows so that the inside of the coop stays cooler.

And things like that.

A good general rule for most situations is to build as much as will be structurally stable (including in storm winds), IMHO.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat
 
Structurally, you don't need any overhang.


But---


How much overhang do you need to make the structure look proportional?


For instance with a small 4'X8' structure a full 12" of overhang may look out of place, but with a larger structure 10'X10', 12" of overhang has the appearance of being proportional.


I have a 4'X8' coop, I have about 3" of overhang all the way around. 12" of overhang would look way to long.


On the house, I have 12" of soffet on my home. Here in the south, you can see 12", 18, 24", 30', 36" or even 48" soffets.
 
I'm building a 8x4 coop which I will have to makes smaller to allow an overhang.does your 3" overhang work or not?
 
^^^I'd make the overhangs at least 6 inches. I am thinking about adding some additional roofing over the high end of our sloped roof coop, so when it rains and I'm out there, there will be a place to stand without getting wet. Our high end is the entrance to our run, it stands about 6.5 feet high. The top of the run is all covered with 2x4 welded wire, so I can easily attach a 3 foot roof section that joins onto the coop. My problem is how to slope it for rainfall/snow drainage.




Things have changed a bit since this picture, but you can see my overhangs and the high end I'm talking about, on the left side of the picture.
 

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