how much space per chicken - Page 6

I have 3 hens who share a 6sq foot house.

As with Barg's birds, they only go in there twice a day, once to lay and once to sleep. They have 10 inches of roosting space each, but all tend to huddle up one end.

As it's getting light so early in the morning and the weather is warm (yes, even in the UK) I leave their pop door open.
During day light hours they have use of a run which gives them around 10sq foot each. I let them have the run of the yard (unfortunately it's concreted) for a couple of hours a day when I get home from work.

Ideally I'd like to give them more space, but they seem to be three happy hens anyway. They lay well and are lively and VERY talkative.

Great thread.    I'm about to get somebody to build me a walk in coop that I can easily keep clean but I'm waffling about how big it should be.  I am thinking of a 4x6 coop for the three hens I have now and I might want a couple more.   But I'm afraid it's not big enough, and I'm not sure.

I have a generous sized pen and I might just free range them, since I have the land.   They seem fine with the tiny coop I have now, since they spend their time outdoors.

But I live in upstate New York and we have this nasty thing called Winter.  When I had a couple of hens in the past I saw that they staid indoors when the ground was covered with snow, but mostly just seemed to just on their perch.  Also, I get really nasty winds here and that will keep them indoors even it's not snowing.  Plus, I  may be out of town for a week or so once in a while, and I will have to keep them safely locked up.

So uhh.. any advice?  I'm not building the coop myself so it's going to cost me, and I'm not going into business here.    It's walk in so I can clean it if they get cooped up.  I just don't want to find them injuring each other during a long cold spell, or if I keep them locked up safely for a week while I'm out of town.

thanks

Personally I'd vote for a larger coop, as large as you can reasonably afford. Since you are thinking in terms of maybe a few more in the future, and *especially* if you have to keep them indoors when you're away (we are in the same situation here).

To some extent you can compensate for limited indoor space, in wintertime, by having a stoutly-roofed wind-protected run. Unfortunately it costs almost as much to properly roof a run as it does to build indoor coop space . Still, it helps a lot. Especially if you are in a somewhat exposed windy location.

FWIW, I find that 15 sq ft per hen indoors (plus roofed run) works pretty well for me, I have not yet had any wintertime 'social difficulties' or cannibalism, even when they are stuck indoors for days or weeks at a time. I would not personally go below 10 sq ft per hen indoors (plus run). You *can*, of course, there just gets to be less and less margin of error for a hen having a grumpy day.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat, not really ready to think about winter again yet

how many grown hens will fit in 6'x4' roosting area - just for sleeping. they will be outside in a HUGE backyard the rest of time?

thank you.

If you live in, like, Hawaii or Miami (with ample shade available), and they will truly want to be outdoors all day every day of the year, all you really need is sufficient roost space. Which for normal sized chickens would be like 8-12" of linear roost space per hen (depending how well they get along with each other on any given day). In that small an area, you would want the roosts quite low, like maybe 12-18" above the floor, and could put in either one 6' roost or two 4' roosts pretty easily. So that would be 6-12 chickens' worth of roosting space, depending on how ya do it and how much you want to make them snuggle up. More is concievable, but would be awfully smashed-together IMO.

Again, only if htey will be outdoors all day every day of the whole year.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

I have a suggestion, we arn't supposed to have chickens either so we keep them in the coop, and let them out in the evening, they don't stray far from the coop  at that time of day.

actually i have to hop in here...  2x2 = 4 square feet...  4x4 = 16 square feet...  what you are talking about is 4 feet SQUARED...

use those tile floors...  each one is 1 sq foot...  so if you want 10 square feet that would be 10 tiles. arranged however you like  if you wanted 10 feet SQUARED, that would be 100 tiles.

Just a reminder to check the DATE on threads, and maybe try not to resurrect very old ones when a new one could be started?

David's math error was 3 1/2 years ago..., and some of the posters on this thread are no longer even active on BYC...


Pat

Four square feet is the rule of thumb.  I saw an earlier post where the guy stated that is equal to four feet x four feet.  He is wrong as that is four feet square or equal to sixteen square feet...  I suppose he flumked basic math at some point.  I have a small portable coop (tracotr) of 32 square feet for my 10 hens and they have a portable run of 50 square feet I move around the yard daily to prevent them killing the grass.  I have found this to be entirely adequate with no health issues,pecking or fighting.  I do not keep roosters though... 

As Pat said, I made an error back then. And no, I didnt flunk math. No one is perfect. A little humility, eh?
Chickens in a mobile tractor scheme are a very different thing than those kept in a permanent coop. You can get away with alot more that way. I've done it for years, myself.

PS good to "see" you, Pat.