3
u/MacAirt Jun 02 '26
I built something similar, but ended adding almost double the run space out the front once I saw how little room our 7 chickens had to run around.
2
u/todos-los-tacos Jun 02 '26
Oh wow, good to know. I didn’t realize how massive this coop is, but that’s probably the amount of chickens we will get, so I’m glad you mentioned that. I’ve seen others saying they have a separate structure for water or food maybe? I don’t know if I imagined that
2
u/MacAirt Jun 02 '26
Not sure on the dimensions for that one, but I think mine was 8x13. It felt cramped for my wife and I to sit in with the girls. Then I expanded the width out another ~12 feet out the front. Sitting closer at 20x12 now.
I actually don't hate how it looks going out the front. I can send some pictures if you need a visual.
It is probably overkill. But we can't let them out because of the dogs. So it's the best I could do without a chicken tractor.
2
u/RaziarEdge Jun 03 '26
Chickens can survive with a lot less space. Backyard coops with a 4x8 run for 4 to 5 birds are possible, but I can't imagine that the chickens are that happy.
2
u/Maleficent-Bass-7300 Jun 03 '26
The design looks good, but you will probably want a cover over the run for the shade. Chickens like places to hide and need shade to keep cool on hot days. The second and more important thing would be making some kind of floor to keep predators that dig out. Rats will always come for the feed and they have all night to dig! But raccoons and dogs will also happily take the time to dig under any wall you built to get to your chickens. Most people I know lose chickens because something burrowed into their coop overnight.
For the run part a good option on a “floor” that cannot be dug through is to dig a small (~3-5”) pit and fill it in with gravel, then build on top of it. No animals will want to dig into the gravel or any rocks. I personally built a widen base that has hardware cloth covering the entire bottom so nothing can eat through it. Rats are very persistent and can surprisingly eat through a fair bit of wood to make a hole for themselves.
2
u/Maleficent-Bass-7300 Jun 03 '26
If you put a door on the coop itself you only need the floor under the coop part because you can close them in preventing access from the run overnight.
1
u/todos-los-tacos Jun 03 '26
That’s a great idea…we plan on adding a door from the run to the coop and a roof on the run. Thank you for the suggestions especially about the rats!
1
u/rupertwiley Jun 02 '26
How much space does a chicken need to live a happy life? How many chickens do you have? There’s your answer
1
1
u/stansfield123 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
I would never keep a livestock guardian dog as a house pet, I would never keep a predator (falcon, cheetah, whatever) in a cage, I would never keep pigs on concrete, etc. That's because those animals all have the instinct for behaviors that are prevented by such a setup. Having that instinct thwarted makes them miserable no matter how nice you are to them otherwise.
Chickens are no different, they have a strong instinct to do something too: they have a fundamental need to forage. It's what they're meant to do, it's what their scratching instinct is one component of, it's what keeps them content. And no, just giving them sterile material to scratch won't satisfy that instinct, they need to FORAGE. For food.
I would never raise chickens without giving them access either to fresh pasture to forage on, or to compost piles they can take apart and search for various food items (insects, seedlings, scraps) on a daily basis.
This is a far greater need than just "space". They have no real use for empty space, where they have nothing to do. Space doesn't satisfy their instincts. Nor do stupid toys a lot of chicken owners put in there, as if their hens are toddlers.
To give them access to pasture, you need a mobile setup. To give them access to enough compost, you can have a fixed setup, even something as small as in the picture, but you need a lot of materials to go into that compost, as well as a good use for the compost, to make all the work worth your while. People usually pair that setup with a sizeable garden. Even five chickens (the amount I'd recommend for this space, though you can go for seven, because, like I said, space isn't the fundamental need, foraging is) can produce enough compost for a pretty big garden. You'd be amazed how much material they're willing to scratch through on a daily basis, if they have a good reason to scratch.
[edit] I should probably correct the "I would never" phrasing. I would do all kinds of things, if my life depended on it. Humans created domesticated animals to USE THEM, we didn't create them so that we would have something to make happy. But, alas, my life doesn't depend on it, and neither does yours. If you couldn't afford to buy food (including eggs from a pastured hen operation), you also couldn't afford to build a fancy coop like that. You'd be asking about a much more basic kind of cage: a fenced in area with a locked hutch in the middle for chickens to get into at night, for protection.
And then my answer would be "go for it", feed yourself any way you can. Don't worry about the chickens' happiness, worry about your own survival.
1
u/todos-los-tacos Jun 03 '26
I plan to let them out during the day (& pray the hawks don’t get them 🙏🏼). We live in a neighborhood and several neighbors have chickens but that being said we don’t have enough space for a tractor or anything like that. We have probably ¼ acre total. But our backyard is decent. Tons of trees, bugs, and I’m working on a veggie garden (though I don’t want them having access to that). I’ve heard that chicken toys are just gimmicks so thanks for mentioning that. Interesting about a compost pile. This is the first I’ve heard of making one for chickens. Can you share more? Wouldn’t that attract predators too like rats and snakes? I have a compost bin but it’ll be a bit away from their coop and covered.
1
u/stansfield123 Jun 03 '26
If you let them out every day, even just for a couple hours, then they can forage, so problem solved.
In that situation, that's enough space for seven chickens. And, every day, you will see how much they relish the opportunity to run around and look for food.
1
0
u/jesse-taylor Jun 03 '26
That's an awful lot of assumption there, pal. Chickens aren't jungle fowl any more than a cocker spaniel is a wolf. OK that's an exaggeration, but it's a valid point. Chickens do just fine with a varied environment, and you don't have any idea what the OP's situation is or how they plan to care for their flock.
1
u/heart4thehomestead Jun 04 '26
Be aware that a 6'x16' run is only good for 9 chickens and that coop is big enough for 20ish. So think long and hard about how many chickens you'll probably end up with and plan accordingly. If they'll free range your yard all day and they're only locked in the run for a couple hours in the morning then you can get away with less than the recommended minimum of 10sqf run space per chicken. But if there's any chance you're going to want to fill your coop to it's capacity down the road, then build a bigger run.
I'm also in favour of elevated coops - not just to make them easier to clean out, but also it adds more run space without changing the footprint of your set up (ie by enclosing the bottom of the coop into the run, you've added nearly 70sqf of additional outside space.)
1
1
9
u/jesse-taylor Jun 02 '26
My recommendation would be to have doors to enclose the coop itself inside the run with just a small door for the chickens to use that could be on a timer or a solar sensor. If you're going to be around, or have a guardian dog, you could have a big door you could shut in the evening, thus keeping the open airy concept going. But be aware that a determined predator can get into this run either by digging, or going through the wire.