I've been writing a lot of articles lately on how to build your own chicken house but I realized today that I have failed to address the run that goes with your chicken coop.
In this article I will go over some of the things you have to think about when your creating the run for your chicken house.
A run is the part of the chicken coop that is fenced in but otherwise open to the rest of the world.
It allows your chickens to run around in the fresh air and sunlight, foraging for food and getting exercise.
It is not an essential part of your chicken coop but is important if you want your chickens to be safe, happy, and healthy.
There are several ways to design your run and it is important that you decide which way you want to do it before getting started.
There are many people who put roofs over their entire runs so that the ground in the runs do not turn to mud when it rains.
This can be a very nice thing to have but it does require a lot of extra work and materials.
If it does not rain all the time in your location then it is probably easier just to get some sand and throw that into the run.
This will keep it from really muddy when it rains.
When you build your own chicken house you should also think about cleaning.
Cleaning your run can be a really tedious process so a little planning now can save you a lot of extra work later.
Try to place your run on a higher location in your yard.
If you place it on the low points in your yard then it is going to collect water when it rains which will make cleaning very hard.
Also make sure that you make your run large enough for your chickens.
A good rule of thumb for run space is ten square feet a bird.
This will allow for plenty of space for your birds and make cleaning easy because there will not be a huge build up of manure in a small area.
The last thing you want to consider as you build your own chicken house is protection.
There are many things that prey on chickens and it is very important that you protect your flock.
Make sure that you cover your run with wire so that owls and hawks cannot get in and your chickens cannot get out.
Also bury the runs wire about a foot into the ground and six inches out so that burrowing animals cannot get in.
If you don't mind the noise investing in a rooster can help a lot in protecting your flock from harm.
I hope this article helped you understand some of the things to take into consideration when you build your own chicken house.
If you take these three things into consideration when planning your run it will provide an excellent home for your chickens.