Pullets sleeping in nest box, not on roosts.

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Come winter, 'only at night' can be 16 or more hours. And they need room to maneuver inside. Each bird takes up about a sq ft just standing still. Then you need to consider that each bird has an average wingspan of 3 to 4 feet. Your birds have less than 2 sq ft of space in that coop. That's the equivalent of forcing 15 human adults to share a room with less than 6 inches between each person. Would you want to live like that, even if it's just at night while sleeping?
 
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IowaChicks said:
The coop is about 7' x 4' and the plans said it accommodated 12 chickens. We didn't intend on 15 chickens but that was what came in the order originally (figuring attrition), and they are all healthy and doing well so far, so looks like 15 it is. They will be 19 weeks old on Monday. They slept in a pile for the first many weeks and then began roosting. they have all at one time or another been roosting, so not sure why the pile in the nesting box now. Temps are only in the 50's/40's at night right now, so not sure about being too cold. Maybe thinking they're still just "young" and want to huddle together.

Hmmm...will need to think through what an addition or additional coop would look like.
Click to expand...
Natural progression, they are now getting too big to all fit on the roost.
There's a lot to learn about space, and everything else, in the first year.
The marketing of chicken coops and not enough space for the birds advertised is an ongoing thing.
There's a good article linked in my signature about Space....give it a read.
 
aart said:
Natural progression, they are now getting too big to all fit on the roost.
There's a lot to learn about space, and everything else, in the first year.
The marketing of chicken coops and not enough space for the birds advertised is an ongoing thing.
There's a good article linked in my signature about Space....give it a read.
Click to expand...
Will look at these. I appreciate your friendly advice.
 

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