Raising backyard chickens is a rewarding experience that offers fresh eggs and natural pest control. However, it’s crucial to provide a safe and comfortable environment for your flock. A well-designed chicken coop and a spacious run are essential for their well-being, productivity, and overall happiness. A well-constructed coop and run will not only protect your chickens from predators but also provide them with ample space to forage, dust bathe, and socialize.
We spent several evenings reviewing internet sources for coop design and tips such as this, below is a summary of what we learned when researching and making decisions for our estimated 4-6 chicken backyard flock.
The Difference Between a Chicken Coop and a Run
A chicken coop and a run are two essential components of a backyard chicken setup. While they are often used together, they serve distinct purposes:
- Coop: The coop is the primary dwelling for your chickens. It provides shelter, protection from predators, and a place for them to lay eggs and roost. Inside the coop, you’ll find nesting boxes, roosting bars, and bedding.
- Run: The run is an outdoor enclosure that allows your chickens to roam freely and forage. It’s typically fenced in and attached to the coop. The run provides space for chickens to exercise, dust bathe, and socialize.
In essence, the coop is the chicken’s home, while the run is their backyard. Both are crucial for their overall health and well-being.
Coop Size and Layout
When designing your coop, consider the number of chickens you plan to keep. A general rule of thumb is to allocate a minimum of 4 square feet of coop space per chicken, some sources suggest 6. For our flock of 4-6 chickens this ranges from 16-36 square feet recommendation. Since we wanted to start with 4, but could later expand to 6 we chose to go for 24 square feet as it would allow on the upper end of 6 per chicken while we had 4, but would still be sufficient on the lower end at 4 if we chose to go to 6 chickens.
Note: I strongly recommend against any of the ready made or build it your self kits offered at farm stores or box stores. They have several flaws including overstating how many chickens they should hold and flimsy construction. It is best to spend some time, do the research and build one on your own that meets your specific needs and location.
A well-designed coop should include the following:
- Nesting Boxes: Each hen needs a private nesting box to lay eggs. A good rule of thumb is to provide one nesting box for every 3-4 hens. Nesting boxes should be dark, quiet, and draft-free.
- Roosts: Roosting bars should be placed high enough to prevent predators from reaching the chickens. The roosts should be wide enough for the chickens to perch comfortably.
- Bedding: Use soft, absorbent bedding material, such as pine shavings or straw, to keep the coop clean and dry.
- Ventilation: Proper ventilation is crucial to maintain good air quality and prevent moisture buildup. Vents should be placed high on the walls of the coop to allow for air circulation. For cold winter environments it’s important that the moisture can escape, but also that the ventilation doesn’t allow for a draft. Letting the moisture out is important to avoid frost bite.
- Waterer and Feeder: It is strongly advised not to put water or food in the coop. They don’t eat or drink at night, so it is not needed, but also having water in the coop potentially leads to another source of moisture in the winter which needs to be expelled to avoid frostbite.
- Access: When planning the layout of the coop it is important to consider that you will need to clean the coop regularly, so putting the human access in a place that you can get to every day is important.
Coop Location
Since we are building our coop in our backyard within city limits we had to consider several things when determining location such as:
- Proximity to houses: Part of the statute in our city is that chicken coops must be at least 20 feet from a house. To follow this parameter we had to look on the far side of our backyard and this eliminated the option of putting under our deck which we had previously discussed, as well as the option of putting this on our north fence which would be too close to our neighbors house.
- Security: We also toyed with the idea of removing a section of fence and building the coop between the posts. The downside here was that neighborhood dogs and cats as well as edge of town type predators such as raccoons may have too easy of access to our chickens, so we eliminated this option.
- Sunny: Chickens need sunlight to produce eggs, so we wanted to have a location that would get a good amount of sun in the run but also in the coop to heat it up on cold winter days when the chickens may choose to stay in the coop all day. This is also the reason we included a window on the south wall of the coop.
- Well-drained: We have a bit of a dip in our backyard where water runs through during heavy rains. We knew we didn’t want to build a coop or run right on this as it would be a mess and possibly disrupt the drainage of our backyard so that was out as well.
- Accessible: The coop should be easily accessible for cleaning, feeding, and collecting eggs. With this in mind we also adjusted the location of nest boxes in the coop design.
We picked a location in the northeast corner of our backyard against our privacy fence.
Coop Insulation and Heating
In colder climates there is a lot of conflicting information about the need to heat or insulate chicken coops. After much research and consideration we chose not to insulate or heat for the following reasons:
- Body Temperature: Chickens natural body temperature is about 106 degrees Fahrenheit see more here.
- Heating: We don’t currently have power run to the coop, so heating would have to be done with extension cord. We weren’t entirely against this, but there are 2 primary arguments against heating. First things like heat lamps are incredibly unsafe, and become fire hazards. Second, even if using a safe heating method if there is a power outage the chickens are now acclimated to supplemental heat and are less equipped to manage these low temps on their own.
- Insulation: There is a practical hurdle with insulation which is how to do it without having the chickens peck at it and try to eat it. We chose not to insulate for a different reason which I describe as thermal momentum. Insulation simply slows the transfer of heat and that works in both directions, so it can retain the heat of the day longer in to the night, but once that cold sets in overnight it will also hold the cold in longer into the next day.
- Cold Hardy: One of the parameters that we had in mind when selecting chicken breeds for our flock was cold hardiness. Breeds with smaller combs and waddles are more cold hardy and less prone to frostbite so we were sure to chose those.
- Comparisons: After living in South Dakota my entire life (40 years) I’ve noticed that we have a lot of birds that stick around in the winter. An example that is nearly chicken size is the pheasant. For decades though nice winters and terrible winters I’ve seen pheasant running around in the snow. In the coldest days they will hunker down in a cluster of grass or in the shelter of a stack of bales, but ultimately they have neither a heat source or insulation outside of their own physiology.
Based on the above we chose to neither insulate nor heat our coop. We are a little bit nervous because this is our first time, but feel this is the right decision.
Run Design
A secure and spacious run is essential for your chickens’ well-being. The run should be enclosed with fencing to protect your chickens from predators. It is recommended to have a minimum of 10 square feet per chicken in your enclosed run. If you will allow your chickens to free range, this is not a concern, but if you will keep them locked in the run for a substantial amount of time this recommendation should be considered. Here are some of the considerations when building your run:
- Food and water: Since food and water should not be kept inside of the coop, they will have to be in the run. Be sure to keep them in a place where it is easy for you to access to provide fresh clean water every day and easily check on food level regularly and refill as neccessary.
- Supplemental feeder: You will need to provide at least 1 small supplemental feeder for grit and possibly a second for calcium such as ground oyster shells, so be sure to identify a good place for those as well.
- Dust bath: Chickens love to dust bathe to keep their feathers clean and healthy.
- Shade: Chickens can overheat in the summary, providing shade for them to get out of the sun is important.
- Roosting: Even when outside of the coop chickens like to roost on things. Providing some branches or some roost bars inside the run to offer them a chance to get off the ground is also advisable.
When reviewing our backyard and selected coop location we chose to build a run which included space under the coop. This selection offered about 50 square feet of run space. A little over the minimum for our flock of 4, but not quite enough if we do size up to a flock of 6. Fortunately we have a fenced in backyard so we plan to free range them in the backyard all of the time so the only time they will be locked in the run will be during the worst days of winter at which point they will likely be in the coop staying warm.
Here is the concept photo of our coop and run built along the fence in our backyard.
Chicken Health and Care
- Regular cleaning: Clean the coop and run regularly to prevent the spread of disease. We clean the overnight poop out every morning and do complete change out of bedding once per month with some spot cleaning as needed.
- Fresh water: Ensure that your chickens have access to clean, fresh water at all times. We change the water every single morning. In the winter we use a birdbath heater in the water to ensure it doesn’t freeze. In the worst days of winter (-21F air temp) we the heater couldn’t keep up so we had to change the water 3-4 times on those days.
- Balanced diet: Provide a high-quality chicken layer feed that meets their nutritional needs.
- Predator protection: Take steps to protect your chickens from predators, such as hawks, foxes, and raccoons.
- Regular health checks: Monitor your chickens for signs of illness and seek veterinary care if necessary.
Additional Considerations
- Coop Maintenance: Regularly inspect your coop for any damage or wear and tear. Repair any issues promptly to ensure the safety and well-being of your chickens.
- Predator Prevention: In addition to a secure coop and run, consider using predator deterrents like motion-activated sprinklers or predator netting. The most common recommendation is to use something called hardware cloth to enclose the run, not ‘chicken wire’. So called chicken wire is quite flimsy and has larger holes where hardware cloth is thicker and typically has 1/2″ hole size.
- Socialization: Spend time with your chickens to tame them and build a bond. Socializing your chickens can make them more comfortable around humans and reduce stress.
- Winter Preparations: As winter approaches, take additional steps to provide protection to the coop and run. It’s important to prevent moisture from getting in the coop, which could cause frostbite, and it is recommended to keep snow from getting in the run. We plan to use clear plastic material such as 6 mil vapor barrier to enclose the run to prevent snow drifting into the run.
By following these guidelines and providing your chickens with a safe, comfortable, and stimulating environment, you can enjoy the many benefits of raising backyard chickens.
Update: Here is a picture of our coop after completion. I will create another post showing the design and build process later. We used 1/2″ hardware cloth to enclose the run and used 1″ pvc to construct a bit of a frame for this hardware cloth as well as the access doors to the run.
