Requirements will vary on many factors

• Is the coop mobile?
• How much time are you willing to spend cleaning?
• Bantams or Jersey Giants?
• Breeding stock, layers, or meat birds?
• Replacement layers growing out?  Culling the roosters eventually?

of each day. Only during the summer is there not fresh grass, but even then, chickens start the day with fresh ground, free from their own manure and the birds have fresh ground and grass to keep them occupied.  The same size coop that isn’t moved turns into a mud hole quickly as the birds dig dusting areas which retain water and the grass is gone and won’t be returning till the coop is moved.  You are going to be able to keep a lot more birds in the mobile coop than the stationary coop.

Then there is the size of the birds.  A flock of Jersey Giants are going to need more room than a flock of bantams.  And if you are raising meat birds that have a lot of the natural instincts bred out of them there can be more birds per square foot than a heritage breed that is active and seeks distractions.   How old the birds are is a factor too, chicks don’t need a lot of room, pullets more room but they won’t be in the grow out pen for long, but long term layers or brood stock will need the most room because of the infinite time they will be living in the space.  Meat birds will grow quickly and while it is less humane they are only going to be the most crowed for three weeks or so before they are butchered.

Breeding stock requires the most room because you have the most invested in them and healthy breeding stock puts out healthy eggs and chicks.  A meat bird that has its back pecked up is going into the freezer, not so for a prize hen.  A good rule of thumb for breeding stock is to allow 8 to 20 square feet per bird if they are large breeds and if you are moving the coop to fresh ground every few days.

Coop in the garden

• Stationary coops need more room per bird
• Behavioral issues come with crowding
• Plenty of ventilation helps
• Ammonia from the manure will harm chicken’s lungs
• Inclement weather requires more space per bird
• Bantams will take up about 25% less space

So far we have been talking about a combination of  coop and run space on a constantly moved mobile coop.   There is roost space to consider too and for larger birds you are going to need a foot of roost space per bird and enough room between the roost bars that they don’t bump into each other, around 18” center to center will work.

If you over crowd chickens the increased amount of stress and contact with their waste will increase the chance of one bird coming down with a disease that will quickly spread.  They will bully and peck each other more, the coop will require more frequent cleaning, ammonia from their manure builds up and harms their lungs, more stress will be present, fewer eggs and more broken eggs, less exercise as the birds can’t really move around without bumping into other birds, and you might lose more birds to suffocation if they pile up at night instead of roosting.

But if you have a stationary coop you need to allow more square footage per bird.  For larger breeds figure on at least four square feet inside the enclosed coop for those days when it is snowing or raining and the birds stay inside and at least ten square feet per bird out in the run.  For bantam breeds you can cut the footage requirements by about 25% at least.   You are going to need to spend more time and effort cleaning the pen and keeping deep litter to avoid having health problems than you had.  If you are allowing the birds to free range or have a large penned in run figure about 300 square feet per bird.

A small stationary coop

• Access to gardens are a great way to increase bird density
• Plenty of room equals relaxed chickens
• Allow plenty of roost room including flying up and flying down to the coop floor
• Height of the coop  is for the caretaker’s access
• Plan for nest boxes, waterers, and feeders in your footage plan

Chickens that have plenty of room to live will behave very differently, more relaxed.  It is not pampering a bird to allow as much as fifteen square feet per bird inside the coop, that is less than the size of a bathtub to put it in context.  Most backyard chicken flocks aren’t high production, they don’t need to squeeze in the birds due to ROI requirements, the people are after healthy and responsible and sustainable food.

Vertical height is far less important as the birds don’t need more than a foot over their heads for normal activity.  The roosts do need to be above the nest boxes to encourage roosting.   However cleaning and maintaining a two foot tall run isn’t fun unless it is a mobile coop, even then retrieving a dead or sick bird is going to take some effort.   A run high enough for someone to crouch over in is a good investment and a coop high enough to stand and work in is almost a necessity unless you have just a few birds.   If you keep the nest boxes at least 18” off the ground the birds will utilize that space or have the next boxes project out of the coop so there is no lost footage and the eggs can be collected from the outside.

A simple chicken tractor

• Manure trays easy cleaning
• Birds will share waterers easier than feeders
• Plan conservatively, better too much room as too little

Your roost needs to be over an area that has a manure tray as a lot of the manure generated will come from under the roost.  That leaves the coop that much cleaner and more sanitary. Chickens will jockey for position on roosts and they need room to get up and down off the roost, usually by flying, so make sure there is more than enough room for a few birds to fly up to a crowded roost and enough room on the floor to avoid hitting nest boxes, feeders, and waterers. 

Definitely a Coop de Ville

• Heavy is good as long as it isn’t a mobile coop
• Narrow lumber will warp and bend, 1.5″ minimum thickness for strength
• The thicker the plywood the further apart you can put the studs
• Always hardware cloth, never chicken wire
• Screws and bolts will help hold things together if you want to move the coop
• Make sure the wheel size you choose will carry the weight in wet weather
• Wire mesh needs securely stapled, not clamped between wood strips

• Solid wood lap siding is attractive and durable if you want to copy the doll house look of the Chinese prefab coops.
• Plenty of nails and screws and framing brackets/braces. Screws are stronger, especially if you are building a mobile coop.
• Shingles for the roof. Cheap OSB can be used for the roof if you cover it with tar paper and asphalt shingles.  Or you can use 2 x 3 runners and steel sheet panels or fiberglass panels.
• Rolled roofing, similar to shingles but on a 36” wide solid roll, is a cheaper alternative to roofing shingles.
• Wire mesh, hopefully not chicken wire which is little protection against larger predators like raccoons or dogs. One half inch square hardware cloth is best, one quarter inch square is available if you think you are going to try to fence out rats and mice but it is a fool’s errand to attempt that.
• Staples to secure the wire mesh to the framing, U shaped nails hand driven with a hammer.
• Hinges, hasps, and steel angle braces to secure everything
• Windows are a nice touch or at least slide open hatches that are screened with hardware cloth
• Wheels and sturdy handles if you are going to make it mobile

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Very neat and professional coop

• Buy or scrounge, use solid materials and do it once
• Top heavy is bad unless it has a foundation

Finally almost anything can be incorporated into a chicken coop if you aren’t particular on how it looks.  Old windows, old doors, recycled lumber and steel sheeting, some amazing coops have been made out of salvaged materials or even pallets.  A good coat of paint will unify everything and make it presentable.

Your coop can be built much more solid than anything you might buy online or from a local company but consider the weight of the final coop if you are planning on making it mobile.  A good heavy coop is insurance against a storm blowing the coop over so sometimes a fixed location coop is the way to go.

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Two small coops for a couple of hens.

  You want to have the inside to be high enough to easily enter and walk around in so you can clean and care for the birds. Or have very large sections that swing open that will allow you to reach every part of the coop to reach a sick bird or to clean. The floor can be plywood s long as you either cover it with sheet metal or heavy plastic and keep deep litter in place to soak up water spills.  Make your door wide enough to poke the nose of a wheelbarrow through which is also wide enough to pitch a shovel full of manure/bedding through as you are cleaning the coop.

The walls need to be solid and as air tight as possible.  You will add ventilation at the top to cool the coop in warm weather and to remove ammonia and moisture but you want ventilation that you can control, not a drafty coop once the temperature drops below freezing.  Windows are a must, South facing if possible to catch the winter sun.  If the window is to serve for ventilation, put it up as high as possible to remove the  hottest air.  Insulate the walls if possible so the bird’s own body heat will help keep the coop warmer than outside in cold weather.   A low hardware cloth screened vent is nice, put a sliding plywood hatch so it can be closed off if needed.  Don’t forget to leave a 12” x 12” opening for the ramp into the  lower run.

Looks more like a doll house but perfectly functional for a small free range flock

If you are building a stationary pen either cover the floor of the run with hardware cloth or dig a trench around the coop and bury the first section of hardware cloth about a foot deep to prevent predators digging into the coop.  Use hardware cloth everywhere except for any inner partitions that can be chicken wire.

Your roof needs some pitch or slope to allow the water to run off.  Asphalt shingles need at least 4” of drop per foot of run (4/12 pitch) but if you use the roll roofing you can go as low as 2/12 pitch.  Metal roofing can go even lower to 1/12 but the steeper the roof pitch the more water tight it is in extreme weather and it will hold up to snow loads better.   It is good to cover about half of the run with a roof for the rainy days and snow days.  The run will require cleaning too so make the run at least six feet tall in back and eight in the front, or six feet on both sides and an 8’ tall peak in the middle.  Provide a six foot tall door that is at least 36” wide to allow a wheel barrow to be pushed in and out of the coop. 

You will want electricity for additional light in the winter and for freeze proofing the water.  A single 15 to 20 amp service is plenty.   A water source is good too if you can bury it deep enough to prevent freezing.  Get one of those metal freeze proof  faucets but place it outside so it drains well or when you back fill the hole around the faucet use small stones with gravel on top to make a drain for any spilled water.

You will need a ramp to connect the lower run to the coop.  Chickens can handle a steep ramp but make it a bit longer if you have the room.

Inside the coop, cover the back one third with chicken wire, providing a tray under the chicken wire to catch the droppings from the roosts poles that you wlll install overhead.  The tray will provide the predator protection so chicken wire will work fine and allow the droppings to pass through easier than hardware cloth.  Roosts should be 2 x 3 lumber, set with the narrow side up for strength.  Keep the span down to less than six feet length, 18” between roosts, at least 9” from the outside wall, and between three and four feet off the ground.

The walls need to be solid and as air tight as possible.  You will add ventilation at the top to cool the coop in warm weather and to remove ammonia and moisture but you want ventilation that you can control, not a drafty coop once the temperature drops below freezing.  Windows are a must, South facing if possible to catch the winter sun.  If the window is to serve for ventilation, put it up as high as possible to remove the  hottest air.  Insulate the walls if possible so the bird’s own body heat will help keep the coop warmer than outside in cold weather.   A low hardware cloth screened vent is nice, put a sliding plywood hatch so it can be closed off if needed.  Don’t forget to leave a 12” x 12” opening for the ramp into the  lower run.

Cute coop for four to five hens.

Nest boxes need to have an outside access door, be around 12” wide x 16” deep x  14” tall with a pitched roof to prevent roosting.  Set the next boxes at least 24” off the floor and add a 2” front rail to keep the bedding inside.  Put a good latch on the outside access door that a raccoon couldn’t open.  One nest box per five to six hens.

You should provide space for one treadle feeder per 12 to 16 birds, ideally placed against a wall and even better is placed in a corner so that one side is close enough to a wall so the birds won’t try to lean in to eat from the side.  On the other side of the treadle feeder provide a thin, short partition to do the same thing, leaving room for clearance.  Water is best left outside unless you also provide a water tight drain area for the inevitable water spillage.

You will want electricity for additional light in the winter and for freeze proofing the water.  A single 15 to 20 amp service is plenty.   A water source is good too if you can bury it deep enough to prevent freezing.  Get one of those metal freeze proof  faucets but place it outside so it drains well or when you back fill the hole around the faucet use small stones with gravel on top to make a drain for any spilled water..

The run can be covered with a thick layer of straw, dried leaves, rice hulls, or wood shavings.  Anything that is dry and absorbent.   Provide a hook to hang a water dispenser from or set the water dispenser on a cement block fitted with a light bulb for winter use.  Paving the area around the water dispenser with patio blocks is a good idea.

What are your thoughts on chicken coop design?   Please leave a comment or message in the comment section below. 

How Much Space per Chicken is needed?

Chicken Coop Materials

Chinese Prefab coops

• Cute as can be
• Cheap to ship
• Easy to assemble
• Large enough for maybe one or two adult hens
• Poor ventilation
• Super soft balsa wood type materials used
• Difficult or impossible for an adult to enter to tend to the birds
• Not moveable at all, will break apart if moved often
• Cheap to buy, cheaply made

Seems like a good way to house birds for a beginner and it might be if you need a coop quickly and are okay with replacing it quickly.  Despite the claims of holding four to five birds they are usually capable of holding one or two regular sized birds.  The industry seized upon an old 4H handbook requirement of 4 square feet per bird and then counted the run, nest box, and inner coop as square footage.  Four square feet is fine for a hen house where the chickens have an outdoor run or are free ranged, otherwise four square feet is only 24” x 24”, basically like asking a chicken to live on a two foot long section of your kitchen countertop.

Most city ordinances require ten square feet per bird for the coop itself and less than ten square feet of run is going to cause problems from overcrowding.  Before purchasing one of these prefab coops you should see it in person because they are much smaller than how they appear in the pictures.  One would think that a product that held chickens would show chickens in the marketing pictures but to do that would emphasis just how tiny the coops are.   I’ve yet to see a marketing picture with a human being in the picture either; in fact the pictures are usually bare of anything that could be used to scale the photo.

Still…between $150.00 and $300.00, and as cute as can be.  People fall for them and convince themselves that they will get some use out of them.  

Chinese Prefab coops

Generally the coops are like particle board furniture and entertainment centers, you don’t move them once assembled without breaking them into pieces.  The wood is so soft that the screws strip out if you try to move one much less drag it around the yard.  The ventilation will be poor, any pull out poop tray will be shallow enough that you have to clean frequently to get the tray out without it jamming.  If they have roost poles they are too narrow or set too close to the walls, after all 24” wide box minus the floor hatch where the angled ladder comes in doesn’t leave much space for anything else.  The roost poles, if they have them, will be 1” x 1” or 1.5” x 1.5” if you are lucky.

The Chinese would happily make a heavier duty coop but it wouldn’t sell in the U.S. because it would cost twice as much to ship.  Remember that manufacturers these days are forced to sell for one half to one third of the retail price or stores simply won’t buy their products.   Even at that the retailers aren’t willing to subsidize the shipping, they think they need 2/3rds to ½ of the sales price as gross profit to stay in business.   You won’t find any manufacturer, even at Chinese wages, able to make a lightweight, sturdy, inexpensive coop at one third to one half the retail price.  In all a person is better off taking the $200.00 and buying material to build their own.   A sixty to seventy pound prefab coop isn’t going to take a gust of wind without tumbling over or withstand being moved a couple of times a day to fresh ground. 

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Chinese Prefab coops

A few years back one of the importers showed up on backyardchickens.com, saying they were entering the market and wanted ideas to build a better coop.  As the months rolled by you can see consumers giving the guy tips on what needs changed and a very appreciative company acting like they were going to act on the suggestions.  The thread ended with a recent customer writing a post with a liteney of complaints, it was too small and sold to hold four chickens when two would crowd the coop, arrived with parts chipped and cracked, door hinges broken, paint rubbed off.   The parts weren’t fitting well, ¼” gaps, the grooves not lining up with the other parts.  The customer lived in Colorado and once he realized how small the upper part was he realized that putting a light bulb inside for winter heat would probably bake the birds to death.  The only positive things they said were that the instructions were good.

A coop made out of proper lumber like 2 x 4s and ½” plywood is going to weigh six to eight hundred pounds.  Anything short of inflated tires isn’t going to move the coop on grassy ground, in dry weather at that.   Add another $200.00 to the shipping cost and use a trucking company instead of UPS and you might ship it a few states away.  The average licensing requirement is four square feet of coop, ten square feet of run, and one square foot of nest box per bird.  But the prefab coop industry is using the four square foot of space for hens living in egg battery cages, hardly the conditions a backyard chicken flock owner is wanting.

Chinese Prefab coops

So in the end the best practice is to bypass the inexpensive doll house style prefab coops and build your own or get ready to pay over a thousand dollars for a locally built coop.  It isn’t going to be easy to move, it is going to be quite heavy so you aren’t going to be trundling it around the yard.  Purchase a lightweight chicken tractor for that.  The prefabs are going to hold a dozen feathered out chicks up till they are a month old and it will be difficult to take care of and clean.  Save your money and buy a good locally made coop.

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Chinese Prefab Coops