What would be the benefits of building a larger run?

[3KillerBs]

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.

That should work.

The raised roof will make for excellent ventilation. Make the roof hang well over the walls to shade them and keep sideways rain out of the vents.

 

[dcduck]

We're going to be using this modular Retriever Kennel from TSC as the framing for the run. After pricing it all out, that additional 10x10 area would cost us an extra $500 or so. Personally, I don't think that's bad, but I need to run it by my fiancé again. We both agreed that we'd be willing to sink a good amount of money into this, so I don't think he'll have an issue with it.

I'm so used to seeing my chickens in a nice big 30x20 space, but that is ultimately what got our first 4 girls killed. We didn't predator proof it properly due to the size of the run.

I have a 10x16 covered run and I closed with hardware cloth all around it, with a small cheaper bought coop on one end attached to outside the run, and a very large coop I built on the other end. I started with 4 chickens and that cheap coop & kept it to 8 hens for 10 yrs now. The large coop looks like a house and has pop hole door with a ramp going down into the run that stays open all the time but can close if I need separation for any reason. The small coop has a pop hole door going into other end of run. The run itself has a motorized pop hole door that opens at daylight for them to go out in a separate location than the coops and closes at dusk. It goes out into an area of my yard about 125x 125. It is a temp fence with the metal poles hammered into the ground with the green rolled hog wire attached to the poles with wires ties. It’s so I can move the fence around during the year to allow grass to grow stronger from the free range. Having pop doors at both end of the run I can switch off which area they get to go out from & into for grass etc. I do have fishing nets over the outside fencing for hawk attacks so they are safe from the attacks that once happened. I divided my run in half by framing up scrape lumber from Home Depot’s and Lowes and chicken wire with a screen door in the middle so I can let them have the entire run or close it off when I need a sick/injury bay or young chickens to raise up or let the others get used to before combining together. It’s easy to add stuff in the run to suit your needs as you go, if you have the room. I even built some wall cages along an 8 ft side for little chicks or a hen needing more attention. The cages are 4 foot long each with chicken wire around them within the run. They can stay in the run during extreme weather and all the feed and water can be in the run and not the coops. The laying boxes are on each end of the coops which means you don’t need to go inside the run or even the fence area they free range in. Having a bigger run helps me have happy hens. I also use river sand as the flooring in my run and coops. I bought the biggest cat litter scooper and attached it to an old broom handle and I can sift the poop like a cat box and put it in my container everyday. No smell or mess in the run and only takes a few min everyday when I go out. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

 

[cacowit]

My fiancé and I are going to be building a new run soon. It has been expressed to us by some family members that a 20x10 run would be overkill for our 4 chickens. They say a 10x10 would be fine. Personally, I think that 20x10 is a great size, but I'd love to go with an even larger 30x10! They think I'm crazy but, thankfully, my fiancé and I are on the same page.

What would be the benefits of building a larger run? Or, for a small flock of 4 to 8 chickens, are there not going to be any real benefits?

Any input would be greatly appreciated! .

I would go for the larger run. I put a divider in my run at the end in case I had to separate a chicken. Also put in a mini hutch with egg boxes. Reasoning: separated chicken has a place to roost inside and lay..Hen can sit eggs for hatch and brood there, or adding new bird into the flock. Best to have a peaked roof on hutch to chickens off when not using Otherwise they poop all over it which is a pain..I also added a 10x10 area attached with separation and seeded it with appropriate grasses and plants and release my birds into it to graze every other day for about an hour. I toss meal worms into it and they go nuts..stress reliever. Clover, dandelion, so they don’t get crop impaction.

 

[Hondo7]

More space usually means you will ultimately end up with more chickens, that's how it always worked for me. Honestly, if you have the motivation and means to go bigger, go for it! Just don't be surprised if your 4 chickens become 12 or even 20. 10x10 is a good sized run for 4 chickens though, but they always appreciate more space especially if they don't get let out to range in your yard. Probably the biggest benefit will be for you if you like spending time with them, it's more fun when they're in a big run and you don't have to hunch around while doing chicken chores.

Just playing this back to you to make sure I understand your comment. Are you saying that more space encourages hen broodiness? And conversely, that limited space discourages hen broodiness?

We have had issues 'growing our own' (getting our hens to brood) and theorized it was because we use an 8'x16' chicken tractor to 'free range' the 20 chickens. This isolates the brooding hen from the rest of the flock all day long, and they inevitably end up abandoning their clutch of eggs.

We are now building a very large chicken run are attached to the coop (40'x64', divided into 8 sub-runs through which we will rotate access for the chickens to give the grass a chance to recover). All the chickens will have full access to the coop all day long. The hope is that this will encourage brooding hens to stay with their clutch of eggs, and eventually enable us to 'grow our own.'

If I am reading your point right, the mere fact of providing more space will also encourage that. Is that correct?

 

[Hondo7]

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.

I have a 1200 sf run & 6 chickens. There is really no such thing as too big, IMO. I also have the ability to close it off into 3 separate sections so that also works well for adding new birds, broodies with chicks or separating sick ones.

eta: easier to block off sections to regrow grass too!

This is great to hear. We are trying something similar, building a 2,500 sf run connected to the coop which is subdivided into 8 sections. 7 of them will be closed off on any given day to give the grass a chance to recover. I asked about this approach on another thread, and no-one gave any feedback. Thank you!

 

[NatJ]

Just playing this back to you to make sure I understand your comment. Are you saying that more space encourages hen broodiness? And conversely, that limited space discourages hen broodiness?

I think it is a sort-of joke: if there is more space the person will get more chickens to fill the space.

I don't think the size of the run has any affect on whether a hen goes broody.

 

[Birds of paradise]

You and your fiance are on the right page. Ignore the rest. Listen to the chickens. They would vote for free ranging so 20 30x10 it is.
The only con is the up front cost. Everything else is a pro.
More space per bird means less work for you, much happier/healthier chickens, the opportunity to grow the flock when chicken math strikes, less lawn to mow.

We had grass in our run, it lasted a few days. We added more grass, it lasted 2 days. We only have 5 pellets. I've been growing greens elsewhere in the garden and picking for them daily and I'm even struggling to keep up with that! (That's on top of their feed). Less lawn to mow indeed

 

[Birds of paradise]

We had grass in our run, it lasted a few days. We added more grass, it lasted 2 days. We only have 5 pellets. I've been growing greens elsewhere in the garden and picking for them daily and I'm even struggling to keep up with that! (That's on top of their feed). Less lawn to mow indeed

Autocorrect, the bain of my life. That was meant to say pullets.

 

[Krugerrand]

Autocorrect, the bain of my life. That was meant to say pullets.

FYI, for a limited period of time after making a post, you can edit it if you like.

 

[NatJ]

FYI, for a limited period of time after making a post, you can edit it if you like.

I think the edit period is 24 hours if you don't have a paid membership, and something like 6 months if you do pay.