How to Build a Chicken Run, Step by Step

This guide shows how to build a chicken run the way our plans draw it: a framed run on 4x4 posts, walled in hardware cloth, with an apron against diggers, a walk-in door and a roof. The worked example is the default run in our designer, an 8x8 covered run for six standard hens beside a raised 4x8 coop, and every length, count and price below comes from that design’s cut list and shopping list. Where a measurement comes from an extension service, we name it; where it is our own default, we say so.

The order is the order you build in: lay out and set the posts, frame the rails and the door, hang the mesh, lay the apron, close the gap to the coop, then roof it. Choosing the size and the spot comes first.

Before you dig: size, spot and the rules

A run is easy to make bigger on paper and hard to make bigger once the posts are in concrete. Settle three things before you buy a post.

How big the run should be

Virginia Tech (2023), the national Cooperative Extension site and Colorado State all give 10 sq ft of run per standard hen, and our designer uses that figure. Six hens need 60 sq ft, so the example run is 8 ft wide and 8 ft long: 64 sq ft. NC State adds a second rule, to extend the run at least 6 ft out from the coop, and this one goes 8 ft. The designer stays amber, not red, down to 4 sq ft per hen, which is the bottom of NC State’s range.

The chicken run size calculator does this arithmetic for any flock and any footprint, so size yours there before you mark the ground.

Where the run goes against the coop

Our run sits along the coop wall that carries the pop door, so the hens step down the ramp straight into it. On a gable coop that is the left wall, and the run is never longer than that wall is wide: the 4x8 coop’s 8 ft wall gives an 8 ft wide run. Pick level, well-drained ground for the whole footprint, because every post height below assumes the ground is flat.

Permits and digging

Rules vary by town. The model code to know is the 2021 International Residential Code: its section R105.2 exempts one-story detached accessory structures of up to 200 sq ft from a building permit, and the 8x8 run is 64 sq ft. That exemption is not the rule where you live until your building department says so, and the rules on keeping hens at all are a separate zoning matter. Call 811 before you dig any post hole.

How to build a chicken run: set the posts

Posts decide whether the run stands square or leans, and every rail, band and panel after them takes its line from the posts. This is the stage to go slowly.

Lay out and square the footprint

Mark the four corners with stakes and string, then measure both diagonals: when they match, the footprint is square. Our posts sit inside an 8x8 outline, so the outside faces of the corner posts land on the string. The run stands 7 in off the coop wall, which is the coop’s 6 in eave overhang plus 1 in of clearance, so the roof framing of the run never fights the coop’s eave.

Ten posts, no more than 6 ft apart

Our default is 4x4 pressure-treated posts rated for ground contact, spaced no more than 6 ft apart. On the 8x8 run that comes to ten posts:

• Four corners.
• One in the middle of each side wall, so the side posts stand 42-3/4 in apart in the clear.
• Two door posts in the middle of the far end, 31 in apart, which leaves the 30 in door a 1/2 in gap on each side.
• Two coop-end posts either side of the pass-through, where they also serve as its jambs.

Dig 24 in deep and plumb each post

Each post goes 24 in into the ground, set in tamped gravel or concrete, deeper wherever your frost line asks for it. Brace each post plumb in two directions with scrap 2x4s and leave the braces on until the gravel is packed or the concrete has set. Then cut the tops to height.

Post heights follow the roof

The panel roof falls 1-1/2 in per foot away from the coop, so the posts are not all the same height. Over an 8 ft run that fall is 12 in:

With a hardware cloth roof or an open top there is no fall, and all ten posts stand 72 in above the ground.

Frame the rails and the door

Rails are what the mesh is screwed to. Every edge of every band of hardware cloth has to land on wood, so the rail heights come from the mesh, not the other way round.

Bottom rails in ground-contact lumber

Run a pressure-treated 2x4 rated for ground contact between the posts at ground level on every wall, the coop end included. This bottom rail carries the lower edge of the wall mesh and the top edge of the apron, and it sits on or just above the soil, which is why it is the one rail that has to be treated.

A rail at the mesh joint, and one at the top

The walls are built from a 48 in band of hardware cloth with a 36 in band above it, so a second 2x4 rail goes in at 48 in, set on edge, so the lower band’s top edge and the upper band’s bottom edge both land on it. A third 2x4 runs along the top of each wall. On the side walls, the top rails follow the roof’s slope, which makes them a little longer than the gap between posts.

The 30 in door

The door sits in the middle of the far end, opens out, and is framed from 2x4: two stiles 64-1/2 in long, two rails 27 in long, and one diagonal brace of about 66-11/16 in, cut to fit. Cover the frame with the same hardware cloth as the walls, hang it on two hinges, and fit two two-step latches, one high and one low. Our shopping list names a safety gate hook with a spring-loaded catch, which you press, then lift. With the far end framed 72 in tall, the door opening gives 64-1/2 in of clear height, so most adults duck a little going in.

Hang the hardware cloth outside the posts

The mesh is the wall. NC State is specific about where it goes: “wire secured on the inside of the support posts may be pushed in by a persistent predator”, so it goes on the outside.

Hardware cloth, not chicken wire

Our walls are 1/2 in galvanized hardware cloth, 19 gauge, the full height. Utah State says chicken wire “is not a barrier to predators” and UC Davis wants openings of no more than 1/2 in, while UNH asks for openings under 1 in so raccoons cannot reach through. In the designer, choosing chicken wire turns the run walls red. The full comparison is in our guide to hardware cloth vs chicken wire.

Two bands per wall

Unroll the 48 in band along the bottom of each wall with its lower edge on the bottom rail and its upper edge on the middle of the joint rail at 48 in. The 36 in band goes above it, from 48 in up to 84 in at the coop end, and is trimmed along the slope on the side walls. Each side-wall band is cut about 98-3/4 in long, 8 ft plus a 1 in lap at each end plus the extra length the slope adds. The far end is meshed in two pieces, one either side of the door.

Lap 1 in and screw every 6 in

Lap the hardware cloth 1 in onto the framing on every side and fix it with 1 in washer-head screws every 6 in of edge. The washer head clamps the wires instead of slipping through an opening. For the coop and run together, the example needs three rolls (24 in x 100 ft, 36 in x 50 ft and 48 in x 50 ft) and about 731 screws.

The cheaper wall option

Oregon State builds its runs from 1 x 2 in mesh fencing. The designer offers that as a cheaper wall: 1/2 in hardware cloth up to 36 in, 1 x 2 in welded wire above. It shows amber, because UNH asks for openings smaller than 1 in.

Lay the anti-dig apron

The apron stops anything that digs at the base of the wall. Every extension source in our files asks for one, and they differ only on depth.

What the sources ask for

Penn State and Virginia Tech ask you to bury the wire at least 12 in deep and toe it out about 6 in. Oregon State gives 6 in to 1 ft, UNH at least 1 ft, and Colorado State at least 12 in into the ground. NC State asks for at least 6 in buried, or, as an alternative, wire bent outward at the base and laid at least 12 in across the soil.

Our surface apron: 12 in up, 12 in out

Our default follows NC State’s surface option. A 24 in strip of hardware cloth is screwed to the bottom rail, runs 12 in up the wall and 12 in out across the ground, and is pinned with a 6 in landscape staple every 12 in along its outer edge. Around the 8x8 run that is 36 ft of strip and 40 staples, and no trench at all.

The buried option: 6 in up, 12 in down, 6 in out

Choose buried where a mower or a path would catch a surface apron. The same 24 in strip runs 6 in up the wall, 12 in down a trench and 6 in outward, the 12 in and 6 in from Penn State and Virginia Tech. On this plan it is 34 ft of strip with no staples, and it lets the 24 in mesh come from a 50 ft roll instead of a 100 ft one, which takes the run from $988.18 to $899.75. The cost is a 12 in trench all the way round.

Close the gap to the coop

A run that stands off the coop wall leaves a gap, and a gap is a way in. This stage closes it.

The pass-through and the chute

The run’s coop end is a full mesh wall with a framed opening at the pop door: 14 in wide, from 21 in to 45 in above the ground, with a 2x4 head and sill and the two coop-end posts as its jambs. Four short 2x4 rails, 7 in long, frame a chute across the gap between the coop wall and the run, and hardware cloth closes the chute on all four sides around the ramp.

Walk-in coops: under the eave instead

On a walk-in coop, from the 6x8 up, the walls are tall enough for the run to tuck under the eave. The run then needs no posts on the coop side: a 2x4 ledger on the coop wall carries the roof’s high edge, a pressure-treated 2x4 runs along the ground, and the run cannot rise above the top of the coop wall. The designer flags any run that would.

Roof the run

Every extension source in our files that discusses the run asks for a top. Penn State wants outside runs covered against hawks and owls, NC State wants a wire or solid roof over the entire run, and Colorado State wants a top that keeps wild birds out. The roof is also the choice that moves the price of the run most.

Purlins and panels

Our default is a covered roof. Three 2x6 purlins, 93 in long, sit in joist hangers 24 in apart at 24, 48 and 72 in out from the coop end. Five corrugated polycarbonate panels, 26 in x 10 ft, run down the slope, lapped one corrugation at the sides, fixed with 2 in EPDM-washered screws through pre-drilled holes on every other crown, with foam closure strips at both ends. The 1-1/2 in per foot fall is Palram’s minimum recommended slope for its Suntuf panels, and its load table rates them for 40 psf on supports 24 in apart, above the 30 psf snow load the example is designed for.

Hardware cloth or open

A hardware cloth roof is two 48 in bands across the run with one 2x4 joist under their joint. It stops hawks and owls but carries no snow: the designer shows it amber up to 30 psf and red above. An open top is amber too, because it lets birds of prey in. How to choose, how the purlins grow with snow load and how to frame a wider run are in our guide to the covered chicken run.

What the 8x8 run costs to build

The run is priced as part of the 4x8 plan, because the coop and the run share the mesh rolls and the screw boxes. So the honest figure is what the run adds to the coop: $988.18 in materials, at shelf prices we read on Oct 8, 2026, before tax and delivery. The 4x8 plan comes to $2,754.24 with the run and $1,766.06 without it.

Where the run’s money goes

A few of the lines behind it: the Suntuf 26 in x 10 ft clear panels were $41.54 each at Home Depot’s Hamilton Mill store, so the five come to $207.70; a 4x4 x 10 ft ground-contact post was $16.58 at the same store; the 2 ft x 100 ft roll of 1/2 in hardware cloth was $162.43 at Lowe’s Atlanta-Edgewood store, and a 100-pack of 6 in landscape staples $19.98 there.

Changes that move the total

The panel roof costs more than its panels: it also needs the 2x6 purlins, their hangers and nails, the longer posts at the coop end, the closure strips and a tube of silicone. Every size, with and without its run, is in our guide to what a chicken coop costs.

Build yours from a plan

Everything above is one run of the engine for one flock. Change the flock or the coop and the run changes with it: the length, the number of posts, the mesh cuts and the price.

Draw your run in the designer

Open the example in the coop designer with the buried apron already picked, then change the hens, the run length, the roof or the snow load and watch the checks and the cost update. A run that is too short, an open top or a mesh roof under heavy snow each turn amber or red, with the reason.

Plans with the run drawn

The chicken run plans page shows runs drawn for six coop sizes, each with its free summary and materials list. When your design passes every check, the builder’s plan for it is $29: the post layout with every cut length, the rail heights, a cutting plan for each mesh band, the apron, the door and the roof framing, in the order you build.

A last walk round

Before the hens go in, run a hand along every mesh edge, the door frame and the chute, and look for any gap where mesh meets wood or ground. Latch the door top and bottom, and check that the apron lies flat with no lifted edge.