Run - question

[chicduckie]

Then you might want to concrete the main support posts into the ground.
...and make sure your roof framing is sturdy to hold up to snow loads.

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View attachment 3392014

We are in Putnam county NY. Good point about the weight of the snow! TY

 

[chicduckie]

I'm sorry to say this, but that's not a chicken coop, it's a dollhouse.

I get really angry with manufactures deceiving people with things like this.

Rules of Thumb

• If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suitable for toy chickens.
• If it's measured in inches instead of feet it's too small.
• If your walk-in closet is larger than the coop-run combo you're thinking of buying think carefully about whether you have an utterly awesome closet or are looking at a seriously undersized chicken coop.
• If a man of average height can't lie down in the run and stretch out comfortably it's too small.
• If it has more nestboxes than the number of chickens it can legitimately hold the designer knew nothing about chickens' actual needs and it probably has other design flaws too.

Don't waste your money. We can help you build something much, much better -- probably for less money.

This is a coop designed specifically to meet the guidelines for 4 hens: The Little, Monitor Coop. There are hundreds of other good designs on this site for any taste preference and any level of DIY skills.

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

4 hens

• 16 square feet in the coop. 4'x4' is the only really practical build for this given the common dimensions of lumber.
• 4 feet of roost
• 40 square feet in the run. 4'x10' or 5'x8'. 6'x6' is a bit too small, 6'x8' is more generous and easier to build than 5'x8'.
• 4 square feet of ventilation. A 2'x2' window is theoretically enough, but in practice doesn't create any air FLOW so better to spread the venting around (and even better to exceed the minimums, especially in warm climates).
• 2 nest boxes, to give the hens a choice

That looks good -- nice and roomy -- but 6 feet might be too short once you get a good layer of bedding in there.

At that size you'll probably want to build it pretty solid -- like you would build a carport or a picnic shelter.

I like metal roofing because it's so easy to install with self-tapping screws and a cordless impact driver. My husband and brother-in-law did the roof of our coop, but I did some metal work on my outdoor brooder myself and didn't have any trouble with it even though I have arthritis in my wrists.

Thank you for all the helpful points you are making. You have given me loads to think on further! There's so much to learn for y'all!

 

[triciayoung]

We are starting out with 4 chickens with room to grow. The prefab we are looking at is the Bungalow Chicken Coop at mypetchicken.com - its def not perfect but will be a good size for our four girls. It looks like there will be enough room for now. I wanted to build our own but that's down the road at this point since we have other house stuff that needs to get done. I like that you have half of yours is covered - do you have any trouble with aerial predators?

I should have been clear about my covered and uncovered. My entire run is covered with on the ceiling, but, half of it has a tarp and the other half doesn't. Yes, I cannot allow my chickens to free range- too many hawks. I also have a 80-foot chunnel coming out of my run. One of my coops is the large chicken coop from Formex. It says 7-15 chickens. I can tell you that I only have 6 in there and 3 are silkies and it is far from enough, while they are sleeping much less if I used it while awake.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The run will be 8X24 - it will be 6ft tall (as I want a walk-in and I am 5"10). The run will be wood and hardware wire. Will have a roof - not sure of the material yet for that yet.

I would firmly set treated wooden posts on the four corners (probably means concrete them in). You want your corner posts to be solid so they don't lean in and let your fence sag. For chickens it doesn't matter so much but for larger animals like sheep, goats, cattle, or horses you'd want to brace the corner posts. Your gatepost needs to be pretty solid too or the weight of the gate will cause the post to lean, maybe enough to make the gate (or door) unusable.

I don't know how much wind load you will actually catch with that wire mesh fence, but it could be significant. Many people in colder climates wrap their run in winter to keep snow and a cold wind out. Otherwise their chickens may be confined to the coop only for extended periods of time.

If you are fencing in larger animals a typical fence post spacing is 8 feet. You might be able to get away with 12 feet for your interior posts for chickens but I'd still strongly consider 8' spacing. The least expensive lumber typically comes in 8' lengths. The longer your span between supports the heavier the lumber needs to be to support your snow load and wind load. In a high wind the wind load on the roof can be pretty significant. If you were just building a fence I'd be happy with T-posts as the intermediate supports but with that roof load I'd make the interior posts wood and fix them in. You are not building a fence, with that roof you are building a building with open sides.

You do not want a flat roof. Rain water will stand on a flat roof and it will leak, rot if it is wood, or corrode if it is metal. You want the water to come off the roof where it will not run into the run, so on the downhill side.

When I walk I don't keep my head perfectly level. It moves up and down with each step. When you are looking at bumping your head you bump it on the bottom of the roof, not the top. So you are looking at clearance.

You could build a gable roof, they are typically prettier and pretty is important to some people, especially if you have neighbors that don't want you bringing property values down. If I were building this I'd make one side maybe 6' high and the far side 8' high. That does not meet most code requirements for slope but it will raise it up so you are less likely to bump your head and rainwater should drain off. Snow won't fall off so you will have snow load.