Bird's Eye View of Outside Chicken Pen
The “Outside Pen” is an integral part of keeping happy chickens. Our outside pen adjoins seamlessly to the chicken coop, providing our chickens with room to be active. There is an outside door that closes for night time, or if there is stormy weather and you want to keep your chickens in their coop.
The outside pen is fairly basic. It is an outside area which allows hens to be active, enjoy outdoors, and relax in a totally protective area. A rule of thumb for outside pens is 8′-10′ square feet/hen in your design. Hens will gladly use a ramp or ladder to transition from outside pen to chicken coop. Hanging feeders and waters keep feed and water clean.
Our outside pen is made up of 4″ by 4″ boards anchoring the corners and middle of the pen, and 2″ by 4″ boards in between, and on top for strength. Posts were buried and set in cement. A “human-size” door was made at the back side corner of pen. The entire sides, back, and top are covered and secured with durable half-inch wire mesh. All wire meshing should be left smooth, and without any sharp points to keep your hens safe. You want to protect your hens from hawks and owls above, and the possibility of raccoons, coyotes, and other predators at ground level.
Durable wire mesh should also be buried at least 12″ deep, and toed outward 6″ along the perimeter of your entire outside pen. This is done by making a trench first, and then securing wiring. This will help protect your hens and their feed bucket from squirrels, gophers, rats, mice, and snakes, possibly below the ground. For another solution, see my post on “Narcissus Bulbs Naturally Deter Gophers”, under Green Tips.
Our outside pen has a wonderful sandy soil floor. Daily manure droppings generally permeate the sandy soil, and daily cleaning is not necessary. If you have a very large flock of chickens, routine clean-up may be necessary. Once a quarter, I re-level the outside pen floor and replenish with fresh sandy topsoil. Sandy soil is agreeable to hens, easy on their feet and to play in. A simple secured shade cloth covering half of the outside top pen, gives our hens an optional shady area.
Side View of Our Outside Chicken Pen
You will find that your hens spend most of their day in their outside pen. For happy hens, make sure your outside pen is safe for them, and a pleasant environment for them to be in.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
We have just decided to convert a beautiful dog house that I slaved over….that my dogs refuse to use….they prefer the couch inside….:) into a chicken coop….we added an exterior nesting box….that has an exterior lid to make retrieving my eggs easier…I intend to raise the finished product off the ground by at least two feet…but I am uncertain about the running pen…I want it to be no larger than the coop itself and not look like a chicken coop…exactly how large must it be for 3 chickens?
sorry I misspelled my own last name…..lol I am a garden fanatic too…. we are recently constructed me a greenhouse to start my seeds for my spring crops….we just began working on our strawberry beds…i will constantly be coming back to your site for tips….you are a blessing:)
Ashley, please see the post Chickens FAQ, I mention space requirements for the coop and outside pen. For bantams (small size breeds), you need about 4 sq ft/bird for outside pen, and for other chicken breeds, 8-10 sq ft/bird for outside pen. Have fun..VintageGardenGal
Ashley, thanks for your kind words, please tell your friends and pass the word….VintageGardenGal
I have a question about livability… for people in my home and for chickens.
What do you think of a totally concrete run for three chickens about 3′ x 25′ that runs five feet from my home. Four windows will border the run. That includes two bedrooms and one bath. On the other side of the run there is a garage. There is some sun in the late day on the concrete in the summer, but not so much in the winter if at all. The concrete will be hosed down daily. It is not a covered run and it is separated by a wire fence, quite old and decorative in its day, between the run and a row of raspberries.
I am not kidding. This is legal in the city of Seattle. That is my house and raspberries, a fence on the residential property lline, and my neighbors new concrete chicken run beside her garage.
What is wrong with this picture?
Carol, I can’t comment on the livability and legality of this is Seattle. I do know that housing chickens on concrete is not the best, either is hosing it down daily. Thanks for your interesting comment…VintageGardenGal