Would like input on a coop & run/corral design

[Bobbelcher1316]

Hi, I'm Bob. A new member from Ohio.

I've got 16 chickens of varying breeds that unbeknownst to me, I don't know what they are. I inherited half my flock when I bought my property and doubled it with store bought chickens. Rhode island reds and another that the name is skipping by me right now.

Anyway we bought this property a year ago and there is a chicken coop on the property. It works. But it's a nightmare to clean. Short roof (I'm very tall) and it's slanted down. It has two windows that I can't close easily and the sides have rotted at the bottom. Short story short the mrs and I have decided to move them to a new bigger home.

We have an animal barn that currently gets used for storage of air and probably a few mice. We want to take a quarter of this barn and enclose it off and turn it into a big walk in coop. With a door that I can open and drive my tractor in to scrape the bedding off the floor and clean it out easier than the current coop which is removing the two windows and hand shoveling everything out.

Anyway the coop should be pretty straight forward. Although if anyone has any ideas on how to keep. Birds from pooping in their nesting boxes I'm all ears!!!

So anyway I plan on moving the automatic coop door from their current coop to the coop barn and add a run. This run is going to be inside of a 1 acre pasture field. The pasture field is fenced in with wire to keep cows and sheep in but not so much chickens or predators.

So my thinking is to add a 20x40 to 24x50 chicken run off the end of the building into the pasture for them to use. I plan on making it 8 feet tall so I can walk in it without hitting my head.

I've got a couple ideas as money is an object and would like to do this nice but cost effective. I have 4 ideas for the structure.

• Wooden frame structure covered sides and top with 2x4 wire fencing. Still trying to decide if I want to post it into the ground or just build it with walls and attach it to the barn and call it good.
• Metal canopy frame covered in 2x4 wire fencing. This option occured to me while trying to think of cheaper options than wood. I have a metal canopy that used 1 3/8 diameter poles and fittings for corners and can make it flat roofed or a pitched roof. I've thought wire fencing on the side and maybe the roof or bird netting over the top. But curious how long the bird netting lasts year round Ohio weather.
• PVC frame with the same concept and ideas as the metal canopy. This would be made out of 1 1/4" PVC pipe and furniture fittings. Covered with wire fencing on sides and netting on the sides.
• T posts and wire fencing with bird netting over top. This would be the cheapest option hands down I'd think.
• Fencing in the entire pasture field and then adding a bunch of cover and a small run outside the coop that would be covered. This option I just thought of a bit ago. I found some 4 foot tall x 330 foot long 2x4 wire fencing that I could staple to the existing pasture fence. This would give them a huge amount of land to roam in. And as long as the smaller run inside isn't too big, I could probably do it for about what I plan on making the big run for. Is 4 feet of fencing enough? Is it acceptable to have that much open land for them to free range on that's not covered as long as I'm giving them things to cover with?

Do any of these ideas stick out as bad or better than the others? I don't plan on solid roofing the run at all at least at this time. I want something that is large enough for them to roam without destroying the grass but not so ungodly expensive. I also don't want something that I will need to replace yearly or maintain all the time.

Open to any and all ideas and comments.

Thank you!

 

[aart]

Depends on how predator proof you want the run to be.
I used 2x4 for walls and roof, keeps the birds in and safe from hawks,
and slows down larger preds. BUT I am home in sight/hearing 90% of the days.
I wish I had a solid roof on my run for those nasty rainy/snowy days,
but I only have a small area in the run that is weather proof.

A larger pasture area might be nice, outside of a predator proof run, but 4' might not keep the chickens in.

There are so many options.
Have you browsed thru here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/chicken-coops.12/

 

[Bobbelcher1316]

Depends on how predator proof you want the run to be.
I used 2x4 for walls and roof, keeps the birds in and safe from hawks,
and slows down larger preds. BUT I am home in sight/hearing 90% of the days.
I wish I had a solid roof on my run for those nasty rainy/snowy days,
but I only have a small area in the run that is weather proof.

A larger pasture area might be nice, outside of a predator proof run, but 4' might not keep the chickens in.

There are so many options.
Have you browsed thru here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/chicken-coops.12/

So being relatively new to chicken ownership, I feel in the last year I've learned a lot about them and have as many questions.

With my flock being free range before I bought the house and afterwards too. I put an auto door on the coop so they could go into the coop at night and sleep and be safe from predators. I don't know if it matters much but I now have two large roosters as one of the hatched birds was a rooster.

But my thoughts were my flock didn't get attacked or anything while free ranging, how safe do I need to make it if I put them in a run. Now I know with free ranging they could hide out under trees and shrubs and I'd want to give them things to hide out under as well. But I have to think I don't have too much in the way of predators or at least none that I have to be extremely prepared for.

We also got tired of them pooping on our patio and chairs so we constructed a make shift proof of concept fence out of green snow fence and put it around our patio to see if 42" would be high enough to keep them out. And all summer it kept them out except for twice. The first time I didn't have the bottom secure and one got under that. The 2nd time we can only assume one flew over but may have used a planter to help.

So I'd think that 48 might be enough to keep them in. And if one did get out here and there I'd assume it would be okay free ranging until I got it back inside.

I also want to say the main reason for us doing this is because we are tired of the poop on our patio and all over the place and the destroyed mulch beds. But mostly because they wandered over to the neighbors and destroying their mulch beds too. Once we found that out we decided free range was no longer an option.

If I made a small run coming out of the barn that had a roof over it but necked down in one area to let them out of there and into the pasture area. Would that be safe? Thinking it would be a place they could go to be away from any hawks flying over head. And the opening being low and small to let them in and out on their own?

Thanks I will check that link out later when I have more time.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC! Good of you to give us your location. If you add it to your profile it will always be handy to reference so that people can give better targeted advice.

From the generous numbers you're quoting it looks like you have indeed done your research in re: chickens' space needs (and here's an excellent article on why the numbers you find are *guidelines* rather than hard-and-fast rules: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/ ).

But just to be on the same page, and for the benefit of people reading this thread later,

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.

15 hens

• 60 square feet in the coop. 8'x8' is easier to build than 6'x10'
• 15 feet of roost
• 150 square feet in the run. 10'x15', 12'x12' or 8'x20'
• 15 square feet of ventilation.
• 4 nest boxes.

My first thought to ask in re: your proposed run is if the outer wire enclosure is electric. If yes, then your land predator problems, while not *eliminated* are significantly reduced. Especially if you bait the electric wires with bacon to teach the resident predators to avoid it.

Could we see photos of your barn? Interior and exterior? That would help us give you better suggestions for how to modify it.

if anyone has any ideas on how to keep. Birds from pooping in their nesting boxes I'm all ears!!!

The key thing is to have the roosts higher than the nests.

I've got that problem right now because I have to do some more work on the coop before I can add another equal-height perch and my juveniles want to move up from their low juvenile perch.

We also got tired of them pooping on our patio and chairs so we constructed a make shift proof of concept fence out of green snow fence and put it around our patio to see if 42" would be high enough to keep them out. And all summer it kept them out except for twice.

My run is constructed from 100 feet of Premier1 48" poultry netting.

I have very few escapes -- with two exceptions. First, the POL pullets always seem to be inclined to wander. I guess their instincts are telling them that they need to be looking for a good nesting place. I carry utility shears in my tool apron and clip their wings when I catch them.

Second, Chipotle, my California White, flies like a helicopter. She's also the only bird who is smart enough to fly back in when she gets out. All the others pace the fence line crying to get back in without thinking of using the same wings that got them out.

I don't think that poultry net works well in the snow though.

 

[Bobbelcher1316]

Welcome to BYC! Good of you to give us your location. If you add it to your profile it will always be handy to reference so that people can give better targeted advice.

From the generous numbers you're quoting it looks like you have indeed done your research in re: chickens' space needs (and here's an excellent article on why the numbers you find are *guidelines* rather than hard-and-fast rules: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/ ).

But just to be on the same page, and for the benefit of people reading this thread later,

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.

15 hens

• 60 square feet in the coop. 8'x8' is easier to build than 6'x10'
• 15 feet of roost
• 150 square feet in the run. 10'x15', 12'x12' or 8'x20'
• 15 square feet of ventilation.
• 4 nest boxes.

My first thought to ask in re: your proposed run is if the outer wire enclosure is electric. If yes, then your land predator problems, while not *eliminated* are significantly reduced. Especially if you bait the electric wires with bacon to teach the resident predators to avoid it.

Could we see photos of your barn? Interior and exterior? That would help us give you better suggestions for how to modify it.



The key thing is to have the roosts higher than the nests.

I've got that problem right now because I have to do some more work on the coop before I can add another equal-height perch and my juveniles want to move up from their low juvenile perch.



My run is constructed from 100 feet of Premier1 48" poultry netting.

I have very few escapes -- with two exceptions. First, the POL pullets always seem to be inclined to wander. I guess their instincts are telling them that they need to be looking for a good nesting place. I carry utility shears in my tool apron and clip their wings when I catch them.

Second, Chipotle, my California White, flies like a helicopter. She's also the only bird who is smart enough to fly back in when she gets out. All the others pace the fence line crying to get back in without thinking of using the same wings that got them out.

I don't think that poultry net works well in the snow though.

Thank you for all the info. I will try my best to answer and have some questions.

1st question is you say 15 sq feet of ventilation. What do you mean by that?

Also to update I talked to the Mrs and she likes the idea of fencing in the entire acre of pasture and adding a run inside it to give them protection but also be able to roam free over the acre of pasture. This would be a 4 foot tall 2x4 wire mesh fence all the way on the outside.

The run I'm not sure what to do for that now that we want to give them the entire pasture to free range. I'd assume it wouldn't need to be very large. The barn coop will be 12 x 16 so plenty of room for our current hens and room to grow a little and if we needed too, we can expand into the barn if we ever got larger.

I do not plan on having any of the fencing electric.

Not having the roosts higher than the nesting box is my problem then. Because of the low ceiling height of my current coop, the nesting boxes are up higher and there isn't a lot of roost area above it. This will get fixed with the barn coop for sure.

The perimeter fencing in the pasture would be 2x4 welded wire fencing. The run I'm completely lost on what to do now that we are going to give them the pasture to free range.

I told the Mrs that we might have an escapee here or there with only a 4 foot tall fence but we had a 42 inch tall fence and only 2 made it inside. If a random bird makes it outside the perimeter from time to time that won't be the end of the world.

See attached pics of the inside. Sorry for the very crude doodles of my plans for the inside.

 

[3KillerBs]

That's a great building to start with. You'll need to open up plenty of venting though.

1st question is you say 15 sq feet of ventilation. What do you mean by that?

Literally square feet of open space (covered with half-inch hardware cloth against predators).

This is my Little Monitor Coop, which has just shy of 5 square feet of ventilation -- 4 square feet in the monitor and most of another square foot in the lower window:

And this is my brooder/coop, which has 16 square feet of ventilation (8" under the awnings on all 4 sides), and 10 square feet of supplemental ventilation (the top of the door and the pop door end when the tarps are up):

This diagram is from an article on cattle barns, but the airflow principle is the same for chickens:

Heat and ammonia both rise -- the warm air carrying moisture away as well as the odor.

The perimeter fencing in the pasture would be 2x4 welded wire fencing. The run I'm completely lost on what to do now that we are going to give them the pasture to free range.

With the nice, big pasture to range in it would still be nice to have a secure run if you happen to have a predator active in the area. I suggest browsing through the coop pages to see what you like the looks of.

 

[Bobbelcher1316]

That's a great building to start with. You'll need to open up plenty of venting though.



Literally square feet of open space (covered with half-inch hardware cloth against predators).

This is my Little Monitor Coop, which has just shy of 5 square feet of ventilation -- 4 square feet in the monitor and most of another square foot in the lower window:

And this is my brooder/coop, which has 16 square feet of ventilation (8" under the awnings on all 4 sides), and 10 square feet of supplemental ventilation (the top of the door and the pop door end when the tarps are up):

View attachment 2950274

This diagram is from an article on cattle barns, but the airflow principle is the same for chickens:
View attachment 2950276

Heat and ammonia both rise -- the warm air carrying moisture away as well as the odor.



With the nice, big pasture to range in it would still be nice to have a secure run if you happen to have a predator active in the area. I suggest browsing through the coop pages to see what you like the looks of.

Thanks. That definitely helps understand the ventilation. The building was a horse barn and had 2 stalls. Still has the horse barn doors.

My question on the run is this. Is it just open on one end? I'm picturing the door opening and the chickens running out the door into the run. That run could in theory be 40 feet long but at the end of the 40 feet, there just be an opening that leads out into the pasture. I've attached a pic to help explain.

The red is my planned run location. The blue is the pasture perimeter fencing. The green is where I'm envisioning the openings into the run. So nothing really keeps predators like racoons or fox from entering the runs but should keep coyotes and hawks out. But again the idea is the chickens in the coop at night and only be out during the day and an auto door on the barn to close at night.

 

[RojoMarz]

I would make a gate to allow access to the pasture section. I would also make the gate closer to the coop, for more convenient people access and usage.

If there is no gate, to shut off access, what is the point of making the smaller run?

 

[springvalley123]

I told the Mrs that we might have an escapee here or there with only a 4 foot tall fence but we had a 42 inch tall fence and only 2 made it inside. If a random bird makes it outside the perimeter from time to time that won't be the end of the world.

Hi! My two cents:
Having observed my birds in general, hopping a fence to get onto the patio is quite different from either wanting to roost on a wire fence (yes I've had birds do that!) or spooking and incidentally clearing 4 ft in the process. If the RIR are older, maybe they'd be less likely to clear the 4 ft, but any younger birds probably would, even if it's a large area. Even a 5 ft fence would prevent most of the birds I've had from accidentally clearing 4 ft if startled, and this has included leghorns and andalusians as well as various dual purpose and sex links.
As for the partitioning part of the big barn to use for the chickens, was that area to be enclosed in hardware cloth, wire, or walled off? sorry I missed that part. I've brooded small numbers in a shed for very few weeks, and even though I tarped off the area, many belongings were covered in dust.

 

[Bobbelcher1316]

I would make a gate to allow access to the pasture section. I would also make the gate closer to the coop, for more convenient people access and usage.

If there is no gate, to shut off access, what is the point of making the smaller run?

So I'm struggling with this run idea for sure. So forgive me on my ignorance here. But let's say that run is 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide and 40 feet long. You're saying to add a door big enough for me to get inside, closer to the barn. Is this door also how they will get out of the run and into the pasture? Should I add a small door down low for them to get in and out? My thoughts here are I'm not home all day. So the coop had a auto door to open at sunrise and close at sunset. So I'd like them to be able to leave the coop and go to the run. But also be able to leave the run to free range in the pasture. Basically the run would just be an area to protect them from hawks or large predators. But smaller predators could still get into the small doors they access the pasture with. If that makes any sense?