Chicken coop plans for 25 chickens start with 100 sq ft of coop floor at our 4 sq ft per bird default and 200 to 250 sq ft of run, and exactly one of our plans is rated for that count: the 8x16 walk-in with feed room (79 sq ft of bird floor, 160 sq ft run, rated 19-26). At 25 it runs 3.2 sq ft per hen inside, above Oregon State’s 3 sq ft floor but under our own 4, so the honest version of this page is the 8x16 plus the 10x20 standalone run, and a clear note that past 26 we have nothing.
We’d rather say that than list three coops that don’t fit. Twenty-five is a small-farm flock, and the keeper buying for it usually knows the difference between a coop that’s rated for 25 and one that’s rated for 25 on the box.
The honest numbers at 25
| 8x16 walk-in alone | 8x16 walk-in + 10x20 run | |
|---|---|---|
| Bird floor | 79 sq ft | 79 sq ft |
| Coop per hen | 3.2 sq ft | 3.2 sq ft |
| Run | 160 sq ft | 360 sq ft |
| Run per hen | 6.4 sq ft | 14.4 sq ft |
| Nests | 7 | 7 |
| Roost bars built | 292 in (four 73-in bars) | 292 in |
| Vent | 7.0 sq ft | 7.0 sq ft |
| Materials | $4,950-$6,400 | $6,850-$8,850 |
| Build | 90-110 hrs | 120-150 hrs |
| Ground covered | 8x36 ft (288 sq ft) | 288 + 200 = 488 sq ft |
The coop figure is what it is. Seventy-nine square feet is 3.2 per bird at 25 and 3.0 at the plan’s 26-hen ceiling. Oregon State’s bulletin and the national poultry extension network both put the indoor floor at 3 to 4 sq ft a hen when there’s a run, so the 8x16 at 25 is inside the published range and at the bottom of ours. What makes it work is the run. At 160 sq ft the attached run is 6.4 per hen, a confinement number; the 10x20 run ($1,900-$2,450, 200 sq ft, 30 to 40 hours) brings it to 14.4, and 25 hens with 14 sq ft of run each and a 79 sq ft coop to sleep in is a good setup, not a compromise.
If you’d rather extend the attached run than build a second one, the 8x16 standalone run (128 sq ft, $1,300-$1,700) is the same 8-foot width as the coop’s run and butts onto it.
Roosts, nests and feed at this count
Roost is fine: the plan allows 260 inches (10 per hen at its 26-bird top) and the cut list builds four 73-inch bars, 292 inches, which is 11.7 per hen at 25, above Virginia Tech’s 8 to 10. Nests are the one place the 8x16 is slightly short. Oregon State’s one-per-four gives seven boxes, which is what the plan has; Penn State’s rule (two for the first four hens, one per four after) gives eight. If you’ve got heavy layers, re-divide the plan’s 104-inch bank into eight cells: eight 12-inch boxes plus seven 3/4-inch dividers is 101-1/4 inches, so it fits.
Feed is the bigger daily item. Penn State’s 3 inches of feeder space per bird is 75 inches of trough, and one nipple per 6 to 8 birds is four nipples or three 5-gallon drinkers. The 8x16’s feed room is a 96 by 48 inch room (32 sq ft) with its own 30-inch outside door, deep enough to stand in with the door shut, and it’s the reason the coop is 128 sq ft nominal and 79 usable.
Cleaning 25 hens’ worth of coop
This is the part the sizing math doesn’t show. Most of a night’s droppings land under the roost, which is why the 8x16 puts a removable droppings board directly beneath its four 73-inch bars; scraping it into a bucket each morning is a standing-up job because the walls are 76 inches. Deep litter under the roost area and a quarterly clean-out is the usual routine at this scale; the cleaning guide covers the schedule and the compost side.
The tractor question
People search for a chicken tractor for 25 chickens, mostly for meat birds. We don’t have one. Our tractors top out at 6 hens (the 6x10 A-frame), and a 25-bird tractor is a different structure that we haven’t drawn or tested. If that’s what you need, this page isn’t it.
Permit and footprint
The 8x16 with its 8x20 run covers 288 sq ft; add the 10x20 run and you’re at 488. Both are well past the 200 sq ft that IRC R105.2 exempts, so plan on a building permit, and check your zoning’s flock cap before you order lumber. Twenty-five birds is a farm number; check the flock cap in your zoning before you order lumber, and the permit guide shows where it lives.
If 25 is really 20
Most “25” flocks are 20 with chicken math. At 20 the same 8x16 is 3.95 sq ft a hen with 8 sq ft of run on the attached run alone, no second run needed, and the 10x12 walk-in becomes an option. The plans for 20 chickens page runs that comparison, and the large coop plans guide has every walk-in from 14 hens up. Past 26, we don’t have a plan yet, and this page will say so until we do.
Both plan pages show every spec and the full cut list free. The printable $4.99 books for the 8x16 walk-in and the 10x20 run aren’t on Etsy yet; this page gets a buy button when they are.
