Terminology Question - "Coop" vs "Run" vs "Hen House"

[Ivy_Laura]

Hi everyone! I've heard the terms "coop," "run," and "hen house" used in different contexts across the web, and I would like to get a feel for how most people use them. There seems to be some ambiguity on what people mean when they talk about their "coop." I've heard "coop" used to refer to either the house/indoor area, the outdoor area, or the entire chicken habitat (indoor and outdoor combined.) "Run" I've only heard used to describe a fenced outdoor area, but sometimes it sounds like when people are talking about their "coop", they're talking about the run. "Hen house" is the indoor area, not as commonly used.

I've been using "coop" to refer to my entire chicken enclosure, both the converted shed where they roost and the fenced outdoor area that's connected to it. If I'm talking about the outdoor part of it, I say "run". If I'm talking about the indoor part, I say "hen house" or "house."

What do you mean when you say "coop?"

 

[Debbie292d]

Chicken coop and hen house are synonymous. Coop is short for "chicken coop" where chickens lay eggs and sleep at night.

Run is synonymous with large pen.

Welcome to BYC!

 

[DobieLover]

Chicken coop and hen house are synonymous. Coop is short for "chicken coop" where chickens lay eggs and sleep at night.

Run is synonymous with large pen.

Welcome to BYC!

x2 with the exception that my definition of a run is an enclosed and roofed much larger outdoor area with full air flow.

A coop/run combo is a setup.

My setup is contained within a large pen. An area enclosed by fencing to keep the chickens in and, hopefully, ground predators out.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I consider coop as the entire structure, both henhouse, & run as they're attached.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Traditionally in much of the rural U.S., “coop” usually meant the entire structure and “hen house” meant the roofed roosting/laying structure.

Mass media and the internet has had a way of standardizing what was once very regional terms. Today, “coop” usually means the traditional hen house and the non-house portion of the overall pen where the chickens have space to walk and scratch is the “run.”

 

[BigBlueHen53]

When I came to Missouri from New Mexico I learned that some of these terms can be regional. In NM I had an 8x10' walk-in building, which we called a chicken "coop" where the hens laid their eggs and slept at night, locked up safe from predators. It was surrounded by a large fenced area we called a "run." They stayed in the run most of the day, and later in the afternoon we opened it up and let them free range for a few hours.

Scene 2, Missouri. I use the word "coop" when speaking of, well, the 8x10 coop in the back yard containing my chickens. My elderly MIL immediately corrects me. A coop, she says, pronouncing it so it rhymes with cook, not soup, is a small wire carrier for transporting chickens in the back of your pickup when buying or selling said chickens. My response is . Okay... so what do I call the building my chickens live in? Call it whatever you like, she says. So now it is a "hen house." Definitely not a coop.

The run remains a run, without controversy, though she calls it the chicken yard.

 

[ShotgunDog]

Funny how different regions of the world, or even regions of the same country, can be! I have a 6'x'8 "coop" where my girls roost at night and lay their eggs during the day. The coop is attached to a 12'x16' roofed "run" containing food, water, dirt bath, and other fun objects. The run is secure from predators and biological threats when I am not there. Together, we refer to the two connected structures as the "hen house". When I am at my farm (which unfortunately cannot be every day right now), I will open the door to the 'hen house' so that they can roam inside their 40' x 75' fenced area that I refer to as the "chicken yard." The fence is there to keep the chickens in and the dog out. So the fenced chicken yard holds the hen house; the hen house consists of a run and a coop. If that's wrong...I don't wanna be right (because I'd just be confused if I try to change it!).

 

[SourRoses]

My elderly MIL immediately corrects me. A coop, she says, pronouncing it so it rhymes with cook, not soup, is a small wire carrier for transporting chickens in the back of your pickup when buying or selling said chickens. My response is .

Sorry, but my response would have been to correct her, lol.
Sometimes people just get stuck on the wrong picture to go with a term.
Like my mom (from Aus) calls french fries "chips".
(Bagged chips are "potato chips").
Clearly, she's wrong. Of course, one must choose their battles.


The highly secure, sleeping portion is the Coop. I phrased it that way due to the "Open-Air Coops" we often build here in the hot south.
A completely secure daytime area is the Run.
Personally, I don't even build runs, we just have "Yards". We can give them a much bigger area to hang out in with a similar fencing cost.
We also have an outer yard with grass where we can let them out an hour or two before dark so their destruction potential is curtailed and they can get some greens and run around. I think the doubled fencing design helps against daytime predators too.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

poor OP's head must be spinning by now!

 

[Suzz]

I have a 6 by 8 coop where chickens sleep and
lay (sometimes) a12 by 24 closed in covered run then like a 30 by 50 fenced yard attached to the run those are the names I use for them