8×12 Chicken Coop with Run Plans (Up to 8 Chickens)

What the Plan Models

The 3D plan, framing drawings, and BOM include the coop house with a walk-in clean-out door and window, an exterior-access nesting box bank, roost bars, a pop door with ramp, a ridge vent, predator latches, and (on run plans) a hardware-cloth run on 4×4 posts with a ground apron under the extended roof. Feeders, waterers, and automatic door openers are accessories you add after the build.

About This Design

Most people searching for coop plans want the house and the day yard in one build. This plan is an 8×12 walk-in coop with the gable roof carried past the far end wall to cover an 8-foot-wide, 10-foot-10 run: 4×4 posts and rails infilled with hardware cloth, a dirt floor with a predator apron, and a mesh access door. The pop door and its ramp land inside the run, so the flock goes out on its own in the morning.

The run is the honest capacity limit. At the engine's 10 square feet of run per hen the 86-square-foot run supports 8 birds, well under the 24 the 96-square-foot interior would allow. Inside, a four-bay exterior-access nesting box bank, 160 inches of stepped roost, a ridge vent, and a 32-inch clean-out door on the front gable complete the coop.

Key Features

• 96 sq ft walk-in coop plus an 8×10'10" hardware-cloth run under one continuous gable roof
• Run framed on 4×4 posts and rails with a mesh access door and ground apron
• Four-bay exterior-access nesting box bank with lockable lift-up lid
• Stepped roost bars totaling 160 linear inches; 16×22 pop door with ramp into the run
• Capacity capped at 8 hens by run area (10 sq ft per bird), not by the interior

Build Notes

Frame the coop first with the ridge extension framed as drawn, then set the run posts on their footings and hang the rails to the extended eave. Stretch ½-inch hardware cloth over every open side and the run door from the roofline to grade, and fasten the apron flat on the ground 18 to 24 inches out before you backfill or mulch over it.

Cut the nest-bank and pop-door rough openings before siding; the pop door goes in the run-facing gable so the ramp descends into the pen. Roosts are removable 2×4s on cleats. Screen the ridge vent from inside before the cap goes on.

Best For

Choose this when you want one plan set that includes the sleeping house and a covered, hardware-cloth day yard for up to 8 hens, on a suburban lot where free-ranging is not an option. Bigger flock? The 10×16 homestead coop and the 12×20 coop-with-run scale the same layout up.