How to Build a Chicken Run for Your Coop

A chicken run for your coop needs 8 to 10 square feet of space per hen, welded wire walls, wire buried 12 inches into the ground and a roof. Penn State Extension sets the space and burial numbers, and the rest comes from extension predator guides. This page gives you the size table, a materials formula with a worked example, the build steps in order, and your roofing options. It sits in Kyle’s chicken run guide.

How big should a chicken run be?

Plan on 8 square feet per laying hen, or 10 for large chickens. Penn State Extension’s space table also sets 1.5 square feet per laying hen inside the coop and 2 for large chickens, so the run is extra room on top of the coop floor. Cornell Cooperative Extension uses lower numbers: 2.5 to 3.5 square feet per bird inside the coop and 4 to 5 more in the fenced outside area.

I’d build to the Penn State number. Cornell’s figure is a floor, and a run costs less to build big the first time than to extend later. Use this table to turn your hen count into a floor area and a footprint:

Each row lists two footprints: the first fits laying hens at 8 square feet each, and the second fits large chickens at 10. Penn State does not define “large chickens,” so if you keep heavier breeds, use the second one. If you may add hens later, size for the bigger flock now.

Materials list and cost

Work out the wire first, then the lumber, because the wire is the part you can miscount. Order wire by square feet, and count three surfaces: the walls, the roof and the buried skirt.

A worked example

Say you keep 6 large hens and want 10 square feet each. That is a 60 square foot run, built 6 feet by 10 feet and 6 feet tall:

• Perimeter: 2 x (6 + 10) = 32 feet.
• Walls: 32 ft x 6 ft = 192 square feet.
• Roof: 6 ft x 10 ft = 60 square feet.
• Skirt: 32 ft x 1.5 ft = 48 square feet.
• Total wire: 192 + 60 + 48 = 300 square feet.

A roll 36 inches wide and 50 feet long covers 150 square feet, so this run needs two rolls with nothing to spare. Buy a little over, since cuts and overlaps eat wire. Roll widths and lengths vary by brand, so divide your total by the roll’s width in feet times its length in feet.

I am leaving dollar figures out of this table. Lumber and wire prices move month to month and vary by store, so price your own list at the store where you will buy. Keepers swap build totals in threads such as Chicken run pricing on r/BackYardChickens.

Step-by-step build

Build in this order: site, frame, skirt, walls, roof, gate, floor. Doing the skirt before the walls saves you from digging next to finished wire.

1. Pick the site. Penn State says to build on high, well-drained ground and face the coop and run south, so the sun warms and dries the soil. Low ground stays damp, and damp ground is a mold problem, as the wood chips guide explains.
2. Mark the footprint. Use the table above to pick a floor area, then stake the corners so the run meets the coop’s pop door with no gap.
3. Set the posts and frame. Make the frame square so your wire fits tight. Slack wire gives predators a gap to work at.
4. Dig the skirt trench. Dig 12 inches deep around the whole perimeter. Penn State says to bury the wire at least 12 inches deep and toe it outward about 6 inches, and the University of Maryland suggests a trench 12 inches to 1.5 feet deep. Cornell sets a floor of at least 6 inches. I’d dig the 12.
5. Wire the walls. Fasten welded hardware cloth to the frame with screws and washers, overlapping seams. Run the wire down into the trench and turn it outward along the bottom.
6. Backfill the trench. Penn State also says burying wire with gravel makes animals less likely to dig at the fence base, so gravel is a smart top layer.
7. Roof the run. See the next section.
8. Hang the gate. Close the gap along the hinge side and fit a latch a raccoon cannot work.
9. Seal the coop joint. Close any gap where the coop meets the run or the ground.
10. Spread the floor. Pick a cover that stays dry. The Small and Backyard Poultry site also says to have the flock roost in a secured location at night and lock every door, so shut the pop door each evening.

A YouTube commenter on a popular predator-proof run build says most predators dig under the soil to reach the coop and asks for wire below the run. The extension numbers above are the same idea, done as a skirt.

The predator-proofing guide covers latches, vents and the night routine that go with this build.

Roofing options

Yes, roof the run. The Small and Backyard Poultry extension site says that if a persistent hawk or owl is around, the easiest protection is a covered run, and that hawks can get through loose or weak spots in the covering. Penn State says to cover outside runs with mesh wire or netting, and describes a woven grid of wire or twine at 3 to 4 foot spacing as strong protection from flying predators.

The comment section on one popular build video asks the obvious question, “Why no roof?” The answer is that a roofless run is open to anything that flies or climbs. A fabric top on the same video drew the complaint that canvas does not stop raccoons or opossums from climbing in. I’d treat a fabric or tarp top as shade and rain cover only, not as a predator barrier.

Penn State also says tall leafy plants and low shrubs can give hens hiding places and shade. If your summers run hot, plan shade into the design from the start, whether that is a solid panel over one end or plantings along the south side.

Buy a chicken run or build one?

Build if you want to control the wire spec, and buy if you want it done this weekend. Whichever way you go, check a chicken run for sale against the same five items before you pay:

• Divide the floor area by your hen count. Anything under 8 square feet per laying hen is under the Penn State number.
• Welded hardware cloth on the walls, not chicken wire. The University of Maryland describes raccoons reaching through mesh, and the Small and Backyard Poultry site says weasels can get through chicken wire.
• Wire or netting overhead, not a bare top.
• Check what the run sits on. If it has no buried skirt, budget to add one, since extension guides treat digging as a real threat.
• Look for a latch a raccoon cannot lift.

In a Facebook poultry group thread on pre-made runs, the answers lean toward building a custom run for better quality and predator protection, with hardware cloth the top mesh choice. If you would rather buy, the best chicken coop kits page covers coop and run combinations, the walk-in coop guide covers coops you can stand up in, and the portable chicken coop guide covers tractors you move around the yard.

Written by Kyle

Kyle has kept backyard chickens on his own small farm for five years. He reads the extension research, the spec sheets and the owner complaints, then tells you what he would buy and what he would skip.

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