Every page on this site
All 65 pages, grouped by section. Nothing here is more than two clicks from the homepage.
Tools
- Coop size calculator - floor, run, roost and nest boxes for your flock
- Atom feed - new and updated pages
Coops by Flock Size
- Chicken coops, sized by the tape measure - Start with your bird count. We recompute every maker's claim from its own published dimensions.
- The best chicken coops, ranked by what they actually hold - The flagship roundup. Twelve coops ranked on measured floor area against the maker's own bird-count claim.
- Chicken coops for 4 chickens - Four hens need 16 sq ft. The coops whose published dimensions genuinely reach it, ranked.
- Chicken coops for 6 chickens - Six hens need 24 sq ft. Coops sold for six average 13. The ones that genuinely fit, ranked.
- Chicken coops for 10 chickens - Ten hens need 40 sq ft. Three coops reach it honestly; one is sold for ten and holds three.
- Chicken coops for 12 chickens - Twelve hens need 48 sq ft. Only two coops we measured reach it, and both are walk-ins.
- Chicken coops for 20 chickens - Twenty hens need 80 sq ft. No off-the-shelf coop we measured gets there - here is the honest route.
- The best chicken coops for beginners - First flock, no prior kit. The coops that are easy to clean, secure, and honestly sized.
- Metal against wooden chicken coops - Metal wins for runs, wood for henhouses - and most metal 'coops' are really runs with no house.
- Aivituvin AIR31 against the Formex Snap Lock - Wood against plastic at the small end. One claims nothing, one over-claims - and both hold fewer birds than you think.
Coop Types and Materials
- Coop types, and what each format actually gives you - Walk-in, tractor, metal, wood, with or without a run — the format decides more than the brand does.
- The best chicken coops with attached runs - Coop-and-run kits ranked on measured whole-unit area, with the run counted honestly rather than sold to you as coop floor.
- Walk-in chicken coops that are actually walk-in - Walk-in coops and runs ranked on measured area, with a clear split between enclosures that include a henhouse and those that do not.
- Mobile chicken coops and tractors - Wheeled coops and tractors ranked on measured area, with the honest three-to-four-bird ceiling stated rather than buried.
- Metal chicken coops and runs - Steel runs and enclosures ranked on measured area, with the henhouse gap and the base-security fix stated up front.
- Wooden chicken coops, measured and weathered - Wooden coops ranked on measured floor area, with the maintenance cost of untreated fir priced in rather than left out.
Predator-Proofing
- Predator-proofing, as numbers rather than adjectives - Wire gauge, mesh aperture and latch mechanism. The specifics nobody else prints.
- Hardware cloth against chicken wire - Why hexagonal chicken wire fails, what gauge and aperture to buy instead, and how many feet a typical coop actually needs.
- Latches a raccoon cannot open - Why hook-and-eye and spring catches fail, the two-motion principle that works, and where every coop needs a latch it did not ship with.
- The closest thing to a predator-proof coop - The coops with the best security starting point, each listed with the exact upgrade it still requires before birds go in.
- Raccoon-proofing a chicken coop - What a raccoon can actually do, the three fixes that stop it, and the openings people forget until the morning after.
- Stopping predators that dig under the run - Why the apron beats a buried perimeter, how to lay one properly, and how much hardware cloth a typical run needs.
Climate, Ventilation and Season
- Climate, ventilation and the season problem - Ventilation is not a draft, and insulation is usually the wrong answer. What actually matters by climate.
- Chicken coops for cold climates - Cold-climate coops ranked on the things that matter below freezing - dryness, roof geometry, ventilation and floor area per bird.
- Chicken coops for hot climates - Coops and gear for genuine heat, ranked on airflow and shade rather than on how well they seal.
- Plastic against wood, in the cold - A material comparison judged on condensation, cleaning and mite resistance rather than on an insulation value neither material really has.
Coop Gear
- Coop gear, ranked by the problem it solves - Doors, heaters, fans, nest boxes and bedding — the things you buy after the coop.
- Automatic chicken coop doors - Automatic pop doors compared on trigger, power source, opening size and what happens when it is 10 degrees out.
- Coop heaters, and whether you need one - Flat radiant panels compared, with an honest answer first on whether heat is the right intervention at all.
- Coop fans and ventilation hardware - Vent placement, how much opening a coop needs, and when a powered shutter fan earns its wiring.
- Roosting bars, and how much bar a flock needs - The published per-bird roost length, why flat beats round, and how to add bar without carpentry.
- Nesting boxes, and the six-box three-hen coop - How many boxes a flock needs, why coops oversupply them, and what to do when you genuinely are short.
Guides
- Guides, and the arithmetic behind them - Sizing, ventilation, predator-proofing and the arithmetic behind every recommendation on this site.
- How much space one chicken needs - The per-bird floor figure by breed class and run access, with worked examples and the coops that actually meet it.
- What a coop listing means by holds 6 chickens - How listing bird counts are constructed, the four ways they drift, and a thirty-second check that works on any product page.
- Ventilation, not insulation - Why sealing a coop causes frostbite, where vents belong, and how to tell whether yours has enough.
- Predator-proofing a coop, step by step - The full walkthrough: mesh, latches and apron, with a materials list and the openings that get missed.
- What a coop costs, beyond the listing price - The four costs that follow a coop purchase, and why the cheapest coop is usually the expensive one over a decade.
- Permits, zoning and the questions to ask first - What to ask your city, county and HOA before buying a coop, and why nobody online can tell you the answer for your address.
- How many nesting boxes a flock needs - The per-flock box count, why coops oversupply boxes at the cost of floor area, and how to fix hens that will not use them.
- Roost bar length, height and shape - Per-bird bar length by breed, the flat-versus-round question, mounting height, and how to add bar without carpentry.
- Coop bedding, judged on moisture - Shavings, straw, sand and hemp compared on absorbency and running cost, plus how the deep litter method actually works.
- Where to put the coop - The siting order that matters - drainage, sun, wind, access - and the mistakes that no amount of good husbandry fixes.
- A cleaning routine you will actually keep - Daily, weekly and seasonal jobs sized so they get done, plus the mite inspection nobody schedules until it is too late.
Single-Model Reviews
- Single-model reviews - One coop at a time, measured against its own spec sheet.
- PawHut 147in Extra Large Hen House - 51.6 sq ft measured against a claim of ten - the one coop here that understates itself rather than the reverse.
- Formex Snap Lock Large Chicken Coop - 17.3 sq ft of real henhouse floor in double-walled polyethylene - four hens, not the six on the box.
- AECOJOY 84in Large Chicken Coop - 40.3 sq ft measured against a claim of ten birds - claim and arithmetic in agreement, which is rare here.
- Aivituvin AIR31 Wooden Hen House - 13.5 sq ft whole-unit, no claimed bird count, and a 26in depth that decides everything. A good two-hen coop.
- TRYKERPET Walk-In Coop for 10-12 Chickens - 47.4 sq ft measured against a 10-12 bird claim - a wooden walk-in that includes the henhouse a metal run leaves out.
- HERBAN Large Metal Walk-In Coop - 128.4 sq ft of galvanized steel enclosure with no bird claim made - enormous daytime space, and no henhouse.
- Petsfit Outdoor Coop with Run - 20.7 sq ft measured against a claim of six birds - five is the honest count, and the gap is smaller than most.
- VEVOR Metal Walk-In Run, Spire Roof - 43 sq ft steel enclosure whose peaked roof sheds snow - the detail that matters most in a hard-winter climate.
- HomeSheek Predator-Proof Wooden Hen House - 15.2 sq ft against a claim of up to ten birds - the widest gap we measured, and a useful lesson in reading listings.
- RUN-CHICKEN Door T50 Automatic Opener - An automatic pop door reviewed on what actually matters - trigger, power, opening size and cold-weather behavior.