Chicken Runs

A chicken run is the fenced yard attached to your coop, and it has three jobs: give the hens room, keep predators out and stay dry underfoot. Get those three right and the rest is detail.

Room. Penn State Extension sets 8 square feet per laying hen in the run and 10 for large chickens, on top of the coop floor. Cornell Cooperative Extension uses a lower 4 to 5 square feet. I’d plan for the Penn State numbers, because adding on later costs more than building big once. The chicken run build guide turns those numbers into a size table by hen count, a chicken run material list with worked wire math, the build steps in order and chicken run cover options.

Cornell says predation is the most common cause of death in small flocks. Penn State says to bury the wire at least 12 inches deep and toe it outward about 6 inches, and the Small and Backyard Poultry extension site says a covered run is the easiest defense against a persistent hawk or owl. Chicken wire does not hold up to raccoons or weasels, so use welded hardware cloth. The hardware cloth guide covers mesh and gauge, and the predator-proofing guide covers latches, vents and doors.

Penn State says to build on high, well-drained ground and face the run south so the sun dries the soil. Woodchips are a good floor only while they stay dry and mold-free. The Merck Veterinary Manual says bedding that gets wet and then dries creates a major spore risk and that moldy bedding should not be used. The wood chips guide covers which chips to use, depth, drainage and when to replace them, and it has a calculator for how many bags a run needs.

Start with the build guide if you are planning a new run. If you already have one and the ground is a mess, start with the wood chips guide. If you are shopping for a coop and run together, the coops hub covers the options.

Every figure on these pages links back to an extension service or vet source, or is arithmetic from one, so you can check it.