Why are your runs so TALL?

[WIchickMama]

D. All of the above.

yep agreed---all of the above and more. half of my run is 7 ft tall and the other have is 3.5 ft tall. the 3.5 ft tall side is manageable but not easy that is for sure but I wouldn't change it now.

 

[762]

Access.
Access for maintenance, to retrieve eggs, to retrieve a dead or sick chicken.
I have two runs that are only two foot high and I made them with hinged lids so I still have access.

Right. And not 8’ tall. . It baffles me when I see a 30x8’ run.

 

[NatJ]

Chickens like to fly up to perches, and sit there watching the world.
Yes, they can seem happy enough without that.
But every time I have had enough height and some perches, I see chickens on the perches for quite a bit of the day.

 

[RoyalChick]

Right. And not 8’ tall. . It baffles me when I see a 30x8’ run.

I have four runs. Two are at 4’ and two are at 8’.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Because I dont wanna get scoliosis from bending over and croching to get in my run lol

 

[Percheron chick]

Right. And not 8’ tall. . It baffles me when I see a 30x8’ run.

If someone says the run is 30x8, that means the run is 30' long and 8' wide. 8' is easily the width of the coop and standard dimensional lumber length. If the run is not covered as in my case, 6' keeps chickens in and coyotes out.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Like others have said access is a major reason why I made my run walls 6ft tall, I honestly would have loved to go to 8ft tall but with the size of my run it would have easily costed a grand more (having to go from 8ft posts to 10ft, going from 3 ft tall hardware cloth to 4ft, etc) The netting on top starts at 8ft tall and goes down to the walls so it makes it feel a little taller too. I can easily enter my run and walk around, hang out with the chickens, clean the coop, collect eggs, etc. I also wanted it nice and tall to have dwarf fruit trees and large shrubs in my run for the chickens. It also allows you to add a lot of vertical height for the chickens which can add more space and prevent bullying. It also makes integration much easier since the new gals can escape up the perches if they need a break. I feel like the chickens appreciate some headroom.

 

[Krugerrand]

Another thing to keep in mind with run height .... if you keep adding wood chips without taking anything out ... the ground level gets higher - which has the practical result of making the roof get lower.

 

[KyCoop]

My run is 7ft tall. The area under the coop is 3 ft tall. Sick chicken under the coop = me crawling in after her.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

My first run was as you've described, tall then short. It's been 20years of trial and error that has lead me to no "short" runs. What a pain in the rear. I "thought" I could just get my rake under the short parts or whatever, not sure what I was thinking because how much money does it save really? You have to hardware cloth the top when it's short. Just not beneficial enough in my opinion. Predators will actually hang out on top of short runs but very few want to climb my 7ft. chain link.