How tall should a chicken coop be?

So, you may have an idea about how many square feet your chicken coop needs to have, but what about its height? How much vertical space will your chickens need in the coop?

Making sure your chickens have enough vertical space in their chicken coop is something that many first-time chicken owners overlook.

If you don’t make your coop tall enough, your chickens may be exposed to drafts during roosting, causing them to be too cold during the winter, and they may even end up sleeping in nesting boxes for warmth.

So, exactly how tall does a chicken coop need to be? A chicken coop needs to be at least ~3.5 feet tall on the lowest side of the coop. This height allows for 20-inch high roosting bars, 4 inches of bedding, 1.5 feet between the top of the roosting bars and the bottom of the ventilation, and 5 inches of ventilation on the shortest side of the coop.

These are the measurements I use as a bare minimum when building a new coop for a small number of chickens (up to 6 or so). However, there are several circumstances where you’ll need a taller coop.

In this article, you will learn:

Why a chicken coop must have a minimum interior height of ~3.5 feet
5 reasons why you may need a taller coop
Where to find a tall enough coop or how to build one

I don’t cover how high off the ground a chicken coop should be in this article. Please see my article, Does your chicken coop need to be off the ground?, for more information on that.

This post contains affiliate links for my favorite products from Amazon and Rita Marie’s Chicken Coops. As an Amazon and Rita Marie’s Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Why a chicken coop must be at least 3.5 tall

My first chicken coops were all walk-in chicken coops. They were so spacey, I never really thought about how much vertical area chickens needed in a coop.

But later on, I needed a chicken coop to house only 5-6 chickens. I wanted the coop to be as small as possible, while still being large enough that all of my chickens’ physical and psychological needs were met.

You can see the coop my husband and I ended up building in the photo below. And you can see the interior of the coop in the annotated photo up above.

You can see this coop has a sloping roof. The actual coop itself (not including the legs) is about ~3.5 feet tall on its shortest end.

In the sections below, I break down exactly how I’ve determined 3.5 feet as a minimum height.

And please, do keep in mind, this is a minimum height. I cover this more below, but my chickens are free range and they only use the coop for roosting and laying eggs. They don’t need as much space in their coop as chickens who live in an enclosed run.

If your chickens will be spending a lot of time in your coop or if they have a very small run, you’ll want to increase the size of your coop. Your chickens will always appreciate more space. For more information on chicken coop size, check out my article, How big should your chicken coop be?

Roosting bars need to be high enough that chickens can walk underneath them

You want your roosting bars to be high enough that chickens can walk underneath them. In the coop above, the roosting bars are 20 inches high. This is the bare minimum height I would suggest for roosting bars.

If your roosting bars are any shorter than this, your chickens won’t be able to use the floor space, and you will need to build a larger coop.

You will want about 4 square feet of space per chicken, assuming your chickens have a nice-sized run. If your chickens don’t have a nice-sized run, they will need more floor space, at least 5 square feet/chicken, but the more, the better. If your roosting bars are too low, then you’ve lost that floor space.

Roosting bars need to be higher than nesting boxes

If your nesting boxes are higher than your roosting bars, your chickens will sleep on them or even inside of them. They like to roost on the highest spot they can access.

In the coop I’ve shown above, the nesting boxes are at floor level. They are built off the side of the coop – you can see them better in the photo at the bottom of this article.

Ventilation needs to be high enough that chickens on the roosting bars can’t feel drafts

This is crucial, especially if you live in a place that gets cold winters or any inclement weather. You need your coop to be tall enough that chickens are not exposed to drafts when they’re up on their roosting bars at night. In the coop pictured above, the ventilation was installed on the lowest and highest sides of the coop, just under the roof.

On the lowest side of the coop, the ventilation begins at 18” above the roosting bars. Again, this is the bare minimum amount of height you want to consider for your chickens. If your ventilation is any lower, your chickens will likely be exposed to drafts.

If your chickens do get exposed to drafts, they will, at the very best, be living a very miserable, low-quality life. At worst, they may get frostbite and even die. Your smartest chickens will learn to sleep in the nesting boxes, and then you’re going to have a lot of poop in your nesting boxes.

You’ll notice that over the left roosting bar in the photo above, I have hung an overhead heater. This helps warm the chickens during the cold months, and prevents their combs from getting frostbite. This type of overhead heater, made for chicken coops, is a Sweeter Heater—I ordered mine from Amazon and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

These heaters come in many different sizes, so they work in small and large coops. I use them in all of my coops, and I highly recommend them.

Chicken coops need to be tall enough for adequate ventilation

You want to make sure your coop is tall enough that you can add enough ventilation near the ceiling for your chickens. In the coop pictured above, I have 5-inch high ventilation running all the way across the top of the shortest and tallest walls in the coop.

Chicken coop ventilation is a very difficult topic for the first-time chicken owner. I had such a hard time trying to figure out how much ventilation my first coop needed. I really couldn’t find a trustworthy source to give me straight numbers.

There’s a reason for this. The amount of ventilation you need will be specific to your management style, the number of chickens you have, how large your coop is, and the area where you live. There is no easy number.

If you live in a humid place, you may need more ventilation. If you have a lot of chickens in your coop, you’ll need more ventilation. If you have a very spacious coop with very high ceilings, you can get away with less ventilation than if the ceilings were low.

Even the type of bedding you use can make a huge difference in how much ventilation you need. If you use sand bedding, and especially if you scoop the droppings out weekly (or better yet, daily), you can get away with less ventilation.

Because sand is inorganic, a lot less ammonia and other odorous gases are produced in the coop. For more on using sand, see my article, Using sand for chicken coop bedding.

If you’re using organic bedding and you replace it weekly, you can get away with less ventilation than somebody who replaces it monthly. If you’re using the deep litter method, you’re going to need a whole lot of ventilation.

Many websites give the number of at least 1 square foot of ventilation per chicken. In most of my coops, I have less than that. The only time I ever had a problem with not enough ventilation was when I tried the deep bedding method with pine shavings in my large, walk-in coop.

Other sites say you should have at least 1 square foot of ventilation per 10 square feet of floor area. This tends to be considerably less ventilation than the 1 square foot per chicken estimate.

My best suggestion is that if you have a smaller coop, like the one I’ve shown you here, try to have a 4-6 inch strip of ventilation across a couple of the walls, like I’ve done. And remember, if you think you’re going to need more than that, make sure to build a coop with higher walls so that the ventilation doesn’t get too close to your chickens’ heads when they’re roosting.

5 reasons you may need a taller chicken coop

Reason #1: You have a small run

If you don’t have a large run, you’ll definitely want to build a larger coop. I would suggest your coop be larger all around, including the height.

Your chickens will likely be more aggressive with each other if they don’t have a lot of room. You’ll want to give them as much space in the coop as possible. To learn exactly how much space your chickens will need, check out my article, How big should your chicken coop be?

However, if you can only give your chickens a very small run, consider that chickens may not be right for you at this time. These birds need a lot of room to thrive.

Reason #2: You have more than 6 chickens

The coop pictured above is large enough for 5-6 hens (and only 6 if they got along well and have a large run). You will need to build a larger coop if you have any more chickens.

The reason a taller coop may come in handy is because once you increase the floor space of your coop beyond about 4 feet x 4 feet, it becomes more difficult to clean the coop, collect eggs, and catch chickens for health checks. You will need to climb into the coop and crawl around.

This is why I recommend building a walk-in coop if you plan on having more chickens. You will have such an easier time cleaning it. No stooping or crawling around, hurting your back or knees.

Also, if you have a larger coop, you may have room to stack nesting boxes, thereby giving your chickens more floor space. Just make sure your roosting bars are higher than the nesting boxes.

Reason #3: You have large breeds or roosters

My chickens are standard-size chickens and the measurements I gave above work well for them. However, if you have larger (and, therefore, taller) birds, like Brahmas or Orpingtons, you will want to make your coop taller too in order to protect them from drafts. Consider adding at least 6 inches (or even better, 1 foot) to the walls.

Roosters are larger than hens, and some may be tall enough that they’ll feel a draft. I do keep a rooster in the coop pictured above, and he does fine, but he has a Sweeter Heater hanging above him to help keep his comb warm in the winter.

One last thing, DO NOT keep multiple roosters in a small coop. The coop pictured above is way too small for more than one rooster (unless you have no hens and the roosters get along well). If you have hens and you keep more than one rooster in a small coop, you will likely have dead roosters (and injured hens if they get in the crossfire).

The subordinate roosters will not have enough space to keep away from the dominant roosters’ hens, and they will not have enough space to escape attacks from more dominant roosters.

For help on figuring out how much space your coop should have in these circumstances, check out my article, How big should your chicken coop be?

Reason #4: You are using a droppings board or tray beneath your roosting bars

In the coop pictured above, I do not use a droppings tray. This is because only a few chickens live in this coop and I just scoop their droppings out of the sand every day with a kitty litter scooper. I do use trays in my larger coops (and I love them).

If you are using a droppings tray or board to collect the droppings underneath the roosting bars, it will take up space under the bars. This means your chickens will not have enough room to use the floor space under the roosts if the coop is only 3.5 feet tall.

Measure how much room your droppings trays will take up and then add that much height to the roosting bars. Then you’ll need to also increase the height of the walls by the same amount in order to get the ventilation high enough above the chickens’ heads.

Reason #5: You are using thick bedding

In the example I’ve shown here, the coop has about 4 inches of sand bedding.

Some chicken keepers, however, like to use a very thick layer of bedding in their coops. Those who use the deep litter method, may have as much as 12-18 inches of bedding. If this is the case for you, you’ll need higher roosting bars, so that the chickens can use the space underneath. Again, you’ll therefore need higher walls to make sure the ventilation is high enough above the chickens to avoid drafts.

For more on chicken coop bedding, check out these articles:

Where to find a tall enough chicken coop for 5-6 Chickens

If you want a chicken coop similar to the one that I’ve featured in this article, you will probably not be able to find a new one for sale easily. The chicken coops sold on Amazon or at Walmart are too small and poorly made. Most of the coops sold at farm supply stores aren’t great either.

For example, the little wooden chicken coop in the photo below (pictured to the right of the red coop) is one you can buy from Amazon, supposedly large enough for several chickens. The person I bought it from used it for 7 hens—poor ladies!

Think about it for a minute—the red coop above (the same one as in my earlier photos) is only big enough for 5-6 chickens. How many hens could you humanely put in the little cheap coop? Not 7. Not 5. Maybe 1. I’d argue 0.

There is no place to roost in these cheap coops, ventilation is inadequate, and the coops aren’t weather- or predator-proof. For more about these coops, see my article Why you should NEVER buy a chicken coop from Amazon or Walmart.

The one place I’ve found that makes super high-quality chicken coops delivered to your door (and placed in your yard, if you opt for it) is Rita Marie’s Chicken Coops. I purchased my newest coop from this company and I love it—you can see my review here.

Otherwise, you may need to build your own. You could also try to buy a high-quality used coop that somebody else built themselves—check out your local Craigslist. I’ve found coops this way before with mixed results.

How to build a tall enough chicken coop for 5-6 Chickens

If you want to build a chicken coop yourself, but have no idea where to start, you’re in luck! I’ve actually put together detailed plans and a step-by-step video course to show you exactly how to build the red coop that’s featured in this article.

Learn more about the course here!