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. The space and burial numbers come from Penn State Extension, and the rest 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.

How tall should a chicken run be?

About 6 feet tall if you want to walk in, and roofed whatever the height. Run the fence all the way to the ground and make it at least six feet high, because chickens will try to go under a fence or over it (University of Georgia poultry scientists). Cover the top where you can, to keep out flying and climbing predators.

A roof matters more than the exact height. Cover outside runs with mesh wire or netting to stop hawks and owls; a grid of twine spaced 3 to 4 feet apart over the pen also gives good protection from flying predators (Phillip Clauer, Small Scale Poultry Housing, the source of the University of Maryland’s space table). Oregon State Extension agrees: put netting or wire over the top of the run. Once the run is roofed with wire, wall height is about your comfort, not about keeping hens in.

That leaves two practical choices. A walk-in run with walls around 6 feet tall lets you stand up to clean, collect eggs and fix things, and it matches Georgia’s fence height. The worked example below uses 6-foot walls for that reason. A low run, like a chicken tractor, saves wire and lumber but has to be fully roofed, and you work through a lid or a door from outside. The portable chicken coop guide covers tractors.

If you live where snow piles up, a flat wire roof on a tall run collects it. The roofing options section below covers weather covers and runoff.

Swipe sideways to see the whole figure, or open it full size.

What the extension space tables and two city codes say

Penn State Extension and the University of Maryland Extension publish the same space table, word for word and number for number. Treat it as one source that appears on two sites, not as two extension services agreeing.

Sources: Penn State Extension, Table 1 and University of Maryland Extension. Last checked October 18, 2026.

A city code can set its own space rule, and it can limit how many birds you may keep. These are the two codes read for this page. Other cities are not listed here because their codes were not read.

Sources: the two city pages linked in the table. Last checked October 18, 2026. Seattle’s page gives a $150 penalty for a first violation of the animal-number limit. City codes change and carry exceptions, so check the current text or call the city before you build. This is not legal advice.

Portland’s 10 square feet per fowl matches Penn State’s figure for the outside run of large chickens, and it counts shelter and pen area together. Penn State and Maryland set 1.5 to 2 square feet inside the coop plus 8 to 10 in the run.

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. Build on high, well-drained ground and face the coop and run south, so the sun warms and dries the soil (Penn State). 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. Set the posts in concrete before framing, so the frame stays rigid when the wire is pulled tight, and make the frame square so your wire fits tight. Slack wire gives predators a gap to work at.
4. Dig the skirt trench 12 inches deep around the whole perimeter. Bury the wire at least 12 inches deep and toe it outward about 6 inches (Penn State); the University of Maryland suggests 12 inches to 1.5 feet, and Cornell sets a floor of 6 inches. 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. Pull each run of wire tight before you fasten it, using a long metal pole and a crowbar as levers, and fasten from the bottom of the wall up as you go.
6. Backfill the trench with gravel on top. Buried wire under gravel makes animals less likely to dig at the fence base (Penn State).
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. Have the flock roost in a secured location at night and lock every door (Small and Backyard Poultry), so shut the pop door each evening.

Budget the time as well as the money. A family crew can frame and wire a small run over a weekend, and fastening wire takes a big share of that. A staked-down wire skirt covered with dirt, the apron method in the predator-proofing guide, is faster than a buried trench. A 12 inch trench is more digging, so allow extra time if you go that route.

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

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Roofing options

Yes, roof the run. If a persistent hawk or owl is around, a covered run is the easiest protection, and hawks get through loose or weak spots in the covering (Small and Backyard Poultry). Cover outside runs with mesh wire or netting; a woven grid of wire or twine at 3 to 4 foot spacing gives strong protection from flying predators (Penn State).

A roofless run is open to anything that flies or climbs. Canvas and fabric tops do not stop raccoons or opossums from climbing in. Treat a fabric or tarp top as shade and rain cover only, not as a predator barrier.

Plant tall leafy plants and low shrubs to give hens hiding places and shade (Penn State). 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.

Choose a weather cover and a predator cover

A chicken run cover has separate jobs: closing the enclosure against predators, providing shade and directing rain away from the floor. Decide which part of the roof does each job before buying panels. Netting allows rainfall through. A tarp can shed rain, but it leaves the predator protection to the secured enclosure beneath it.

Read the roof manufacturer’s installation instructions for slope, framing spans and fixings. A wire run frame is not automatically a roof structure. Confirm local snow and wind requirements before attaching a solid cover, especially to a lightweight purchased enclosure.

Send runoff away from the run

Fix the ground before the roof if the site is wet. Dig a shallow trench above the run so runoff coming down the slope turns aside instead of flowing in. Then spread gravel and sand over the bare dirt as a base, which lifts the run floor above the surrounding ground so water drains through instead of pooling, and lay bedding on top. Fasten hardware cloth to the frame under the whole base to stop burrowing predators, so plan that layer first if you are building up the floor.

Keep the low roof edge from emptying onto the doorway or the hens’ main walking route. Plan a gutter and discharge route if rain from the cover would otherwise collect beside the run. Check where the water goes after leaving the roof; moving it from the floor to the gate path only relocates the mud.

This is a placement decision, not a universal roof-pitch specification. Roof pitch, panel overlaps and fastener spacing belong to the chosen roofing system’s instructions. Penn State’s housing guide supports choosing a high, well-drained site. A cover supplements that siting choice.

Keep a shaded retreat and airflow

An opaque cover provides shade beneath it. A clear panel admits light, so check whether its shaded area is adequate before choosing it for the entire run. Watch where direct sun falls as it moves across the yard; morning shade can disappear during the afternoon.

How much of the run you cover changes what goes on the floor. Under a full roof, with plastic on the walls through winter, organic bedding stays dry in any weather except near the vents. A half-covered run lets rain and snow blow in at the edges, so only the middle stays dry, and organic bedding that keeps getting wet turns to mud; sand is the better floor there. A full roof costs more up front, and it is what lets you use softer, warmer bedding.

Keep open airflow through the secured walls. Avoid wrapping a run in solid material simply to stop wind-driven rain without assessing the resulting enclosure. Leave the hens access to their dry coop and inspect the shelter during the weather you are trying to manage. A dry, covered corner is also the right place for a chicken dust bath.

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. Raccoons reach through mesh (University of Maryland), and weasels get through chicken wire (Small and Backyard Poultry).
• 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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