Chicken Coop System

A coop-and-run system houses 3–50+ birds: an indoor shelter with roosts and nesting boxes, and a fenced outdoor run. Chickens forage efficiently (insects, weeds, grass cut feed costs), integrate directly with a garden (manure, pest control), and are dual-purpose — eggs daily, meat and rich manure on top.

Setup

• Space: 4 sq ft per bird inside the coop, 10 sq ft per bird in the run — for 6 hens, roughly 24 sq ft coop + 60 sq ft run.
• Roosts: 8–10 inches of roost space per bird, 12–18 inches off the floor.
• Nesting boxes: one box per 3–4 hens, roughly 12x12x12 inches, dark and enclosed — hens prefer privacy to lay.
• Ventilation: about 1 sq ft of ventilation per 10 birds — moisture buildup without it is the leading cause of respiratory disease.
• Location: slightly elevated (drainage), partial sun, close enough to the house to watch for predators, near the garden for manure and forage access.

Predator Protection (Non-Negotiable)

• Bottom: hardware cloth (½" or smaller) buried 6 inches deep and extending 12 inches outward, to stop digging predators.
• Sides: hardware cloth, not chicken wire — predators tear straight through chicken wire.
• Top: fully covered, to keep hawks out.
• Doors: solid with a real locking mechanism — raccoons are intelligent enough to work a simple latch.

Feeding

Layer pellets (16–18% protein) free-choice, about 0.25 lb per bird daily, plus free-choice oyster shell for eggshell calcium. Garden waste and kitchen scraps can make up 20–30% of diet; free-ranging birds can pull 30–50% of their diet from forage alone.

Caveats

• Egg production drops for 2–3 months every fall during the annual molt — this is normal, not a problem to solve.
• A bleeding or injured bird needs separating immediately — other chickens will peck an injured flockmate to death once blood is visible.
• Roosters aren't needed for eggs, are genuinely loud starting around 5–6 AM, and many local ordinances prohibit them — check before assuming one is fine.
• Processing birds for meat requires a real plan for a quick, humane dispatch (neck dislocation, bolt gun) followed by immediate bleeding — this isn't something to improvise the first time you do it.

Skip Entirely

Using chicken wire instead of hardware cloth anywhere on the coop or run — it stops nothing determined enough to try, and a predator finding the one weak point is a matter of when, not if.