What would be the benefits of building a larger run?

[Brizi]

Metal, I hope.

In the brutal heat of the southern US even partially-transluscent "plastic" (I always lose track of exactly which compound is which when it comes to these roof panels so I use the generic term), will create a fair amount of greenhouse effect.

I didn't even think of that. I'll bring it up for sure. We were looking at "foamed polycarbonate," but Home Depot also sells galvanized metal roof panels. We'll do some research on the foamed polycarbonate. If we can't find any definitive answer on how good it is at deflecting heat, the galvanized metal roofing should be fine.

 

[NatJ]

I didn't even think of that. I'll bring it up for sure. We were looking at "foamed polycarbonate," but Home Depot also sells galvanized metal roof panels. We'll do some research on the foamed polycarbonate. If we can't find any definitive answer on how good it is at deflecting heat, the galvanized metal roofing should be fine.

Obviously, do look at them in person before deciding for sure. If light can go through them, choose something else.

But from the pictures and description, I think those are opaque so they are probably fine. You want shade, not sun shining through to heat it up like a greenhouse or like a car on a hot day.

The roof itself will get hot in any case, but you don't want the ground or the air at chicken-level to get heated.

 

[3KillerBs]

The roof itself will get hot in any case, but you don't want the ground or the air at chicken-level to get heated.

Yes.

Good airflow directly under the roof minimizes this, but this is one of the reasons that height is your friend in a chicken setup.

 

[Brizi]

Yes.

Good airflow directly under the roof minimizes this, but this is one of the reasons that height is your friend in a chicken setup.

The run is going to be 6' tall, probably a bit taller with the roof. We're going to do an open air coop within the run, and I know it'll be at least 4' tall, but I'd like it to be taller. Today, my fiancé is going to measure the big wooden box we plan on converting into the coop, so I should have proper plans by tonight. Does the run and coop sound like it'd be tall enough? We could probably raise the coop height to 5' or so with ventilation at the top.

 

[3KillerBs]

The run is going to be 6' tall, probably a bit taller with the roof. We're going to do an open air coop within the run, and I know it'll be at least 4' tall, but I'd like it to be taller. Today, my fiancé is going to measure the big wooden box we plan on converting into the coop, so I should have proper plans by tonight. Does the run and coop sound like it'd be tall enough? We could probably raise the coop height to 5' or so with ventilation at the top.

That sounds good.

It's important to slope the roof -- as is shown in my ventilation article -- so that the warm air moves upslope to carry the heat and moisture away.

My brooder has a flat roof and is difficult to keep under 100F when the temperatures are over 90F despite over 16 square feet of ventilation plus additional supplemental ventilation, because the air doesn't flow.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/run-to-outdoor-brooder-conversion.76634/

 

[Krugerrand]

A bigger run also makes it easier to integrate new chickens. Integration can be tough and chickens can be jerks, but the more room they have the easier it is.

Lot's of good ideas. This one I find worth repeating. You're investing a lot of time, effort and money for chickens. As some point out, you may want more. But, also, they eventually die or get cooked, and you'll likely look to replace some. When you bring new chickens into the fold, the older ones can be really mean to the newer ones. The new ones need places to run and hide. So, you need more for a flock of 2 + 2 than you do for a flock of 4. You need more space for 4 + 4 than you do for 8. Building bigger now helps out down the road.

 

[neo71665]

I have 2 runs (well 3 actually) all are 10 x 20. One is attached to my coop and covered. The other 2 are open. The 2 open ones I swap which ones the chooks are allowed in as they eat the grass down.
I only keep about 12 birds at a time so it's way overkill.

 

[Brizi]

I have 2 runs (well 3 actually) all are 10 x 20. One is attached to my coop and covered. The other 2 are open. The 2 open ones I swap which ones the chooks are allowed in as they eat the grass down.
I only keep about 12 birds at a time so it's way overkill.

That's such a cool idea! Fresh grass all the time! Honestly, down the line, we may steal this idea and do something similar.

 

[neo71665]

That's such a cool idea! Fresh grass all the time! Honestly, down the line, we may steal this idea and do something similar.

Well saying all the time is pushing it. They can eat the grass faster than it can grow in the hottest part of summer and in the winter.

I'm also in process of building some chicken tractors to put over my garden in the winter. We about to get 10 new birds so they might live in that and move it around in the cow pasture the rest of th year.

 

[Brizi]

It turns out that the box I mentioned earlier is about 6' x 4' x 3.5', which is a bit smaller than I expected. However, I'm thinking that we could do 6' length x 4' depth, and add to the 3.5' height to make it at least 4.5'. I was thinking 4' in the back, 4.5' in the front to make a sloped roof.