run size

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

OK please help settle a family disagreement for me! lol

We have 10 hens (orps, amberlinks, RIR, hamburg) so larger hens. They will all be sharing one large coop and a run, what is the minimum run size that will keep them happy, and free from pecking each other due to being overcrowded in the run.

Try to give me feet measurements as I am HORRIBLE with square footage conversions (really I am math ignorant) lol

Thanks so much

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Minimum....10ft x 10ft (100sf)....gives you 10sf per hen

I'd go bigger if you have the space!!

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

Yard full o' rocks :

Minimum....10ft x 10ft (100sf)....gives you 10sf per hen

I'd go bigger if you have the space!!

Thank you, this is exactly what I needed to know! I believe the area that we have is about 28x20 but DH and my Dad are trying to cut money corners and make it smaller so we wont have to use so much fencing and posts and then even more money to roof it in.​

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

MomtoSyd&Emma :

Yard full o' rocks :

Minimum....10ft x 10ft (100sf)....gives you 10sf per hen

I'd go bigger if you have the space!!

Thank you, this is exactly what I needed to know! I believe the area that we have is about 28x20 but DH and my Dad are trying to cut money corners and make it smaller so we wont have to use so much fencing and posts and then even more money to roof it in.​

If you have a coop, simply build the fenced run and "cover it" with chicken wire and attach to the coop.....that's how all of mine are. They can get inside out of the weather, or outside, free of hawks, etc as the run is covered

Hope that helps​

 

[gallinamama]

Boy do I hear you on that one, momtosyd&emma!! My husband didn't want anything to do with these chickens.. and still doesn't... he did however with some pushing and prodding help me put in the run.... Crooked and awful that it is not to mention too smalll... (because of expense)... but at least my chickens have been safe so far... My son however has promised to help me put in a larger one this fall when work winds down a bit. he says he will put a roof on it too and make it taller so I wont have to stoop when I go in to clean it. I have ( I think) 1 cockeral and 8 pullets I think that is the terms to use... but you can see my run is way too small... it is a little over 8x10 If I were you... have them put in a larger covered run... do it right the first time...

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

What a pretty coop and run! Yeah we HAVE to have it tall lol we are not into stooping and crouching around to get inside of it! The area we have now that is 3 foot fenced is what we built to keep our dogs from running the chickens when we first got them, the chickens (we only had 6 then) were in 3 small coops (tractorish) so we fenced in the area around their coops, well we now have a large coop and are wanting to make the fenced in area into their run. BUT trying to convince DH and Dad (who grew up on a farm, he is one of 12 kids) thinks I am nuts for giving the "girls" so much room! lol He is oldschool for sure!

 

[gallinamama]

I hear you.... Mine says, " What do you think they did in the old days?"...

I have so much room, I would like to have more room, and a cleaner shed.... I would like to make it more presentable.. my plan is to have bushes and shrubs, plant some trees for more shade... Obviously paint the coop...( have the paint already, just waiting for a free day with no grandchildren to watch.)... It is hard to paint and watch kids at the same time...

Do you have some pictures??? I love looking at the coops and getting ideas...

So far my group of chickens seems to be growing and doing well... haven't lost a one... I can't wait for my first eggs... mine are 17 weeks now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is no absolute magic number that will guarantee that you will never have a problem. There are a lot of different factors involved. Coop size, climate, and the personality of your individual chickens are important ones, but there are others. The rule of thumb on this site is that if you have a coop that gives 4 square feet per chicken, you need 10 square feet per chicken in the run. Most building materials come in 8' or 4' lengths, so those are usually good dimensions to start with. You can usually build something with those increments with minimum cutting and cost. Your building techniques and what you have to work with also enter in. If you are setting posts and stretching wire in between, 8' is usually a good distance to space the posts.

For ten chickens, the minimum I'd go with is 8' x 12'. That is slightly less than the rule of thumb but close enough. I strongly agree that more is better, but you would probably be OK with this size if your coop is of decent size. If you build the minimum, you have no room to increase your flock later without more building. I suggest you consider that.

sounds like you planning on covering your run? If so, I suggest looking at the standard dimensions of your roofing material and plan for a little overhang. That will help keep your run drier.

What is the width of your coop? An easy way to build a run is often to make it as wide as your coop and let your coop be one end or side of the run. So for 10 chickens, you need a minimum of 100 square feet. If you divide the width of your coop into 100, that gives you the minimum length you need for your run.

Say your coop is 6 feet wide. You divide 100 by 6 and you get 16 and a fraction. So a run 6' x 16' would work, although bigger is always better.

Say your coop is 4 feet wide. 100 divided by 4 is 25 feet, but that is usually not very practical. I like to have a run wide enough so a chicken can pass a bully and get to the food, water, and nest box without challenging the bully. For me, with 10 chickens, 6 feet is the minimum width I'd go.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[DarkWolf]

I agree with Ridgerunner, wholeheartedly.

I had that magic minimum number and several of my birds have bare backs and pulled wings. I blame part on that to the Barred Rocks I had.. They were the meanest of the bunch, which was comprised of red sex-links and EE mutts, along with a timid Wyandotte.

Mine is 8x16, which holds 12 hens.

I'm expanding my run to triple the space and will not expand the flock any further. However I'm still contemplating a few ducks. But I digress.

In short.. Go as large as you comfortably can and over the 10SF minimum.