Opinion on Cooop Size vs. Amount of Rhode Island Hens - Page 2

I'm a huge proponent of providing as much space as you can. There are so many different variables that determine how much space they really need that I hate to use hard and fast numbers. So much depends on the individual personalities of your specific chickens, your climate, and how you manage them. The 4 square feet in the coop with 10 square feet in the run per chickens is a rule of thumb often used on this forum that will keep most of us out of trouble in most situations. For some of us, it is overkill. For a very few of us, it is not quite enough. But is is a good place to start, especially if you don't have much experience with chickens.

There are techniques where you don't need nearly that much room in a coop, but they need a certain amount of space. Whether you provide that space in the coop, coop and run, coop and free range (this is where you really don't need that much space), or let them free range and sleep in trees (yeah, some people do that and it works for them), they need some space. But if you rely on technique to get by with less coop space, you have less flexibility in how you can manage problems. That flexibility is the big reason I like extra space.

I'm not a huge fan of those coops you can buy online. They are usually overpriced and often not set up very well. I know they are convenient and many people live where the coop needs to be "cute" or at least attractive to fit in the neighborhood standards. The chickens don't care what the coop or run looks like, but it is important to many of us because of the neighborhood we are in.

I assume you have checked and it is legal for you to have chickens.

You might look at Craigslist or something like that or maybe consider getting a shed from Lowe's, Home Depot, or something like that. You can usually get someone to install them if you don't feel like installing it yourself and they are not that hard to set up as a coop. All you need is a roost, which is a pole running across at elevation, a couple of nest boxes, which can be cat litter boxes or even the containers the cat litter comes in. You need ventilation up high under the overhang, which is a bit more difficult but not really hard, and a pop door. You might even be able to contract with the person that installs the shed to do that for you.

You can also build your own or hire someone ot build it. There are plenty of designs in the Coop Design section at the top of this page. I will mention that most building materials come in 4' and 8' dimensions. If you build your own or hire someone to build it, a 4' x 8' coop would work well for 6 hens and is pretty efficient to build.

If you have excess space in the coop, you don't need as much as in the run, but again you can get a run built if you don't feel up to it yourself. Abilities and schedule factor in, but you might be surprised at what some of our inexperienced forum members have been able to do themselves.

Hope this helps a bit and you get to join us in enjoying chickens.

That is a good place to look, the Coop tab at the top of the BYC page. Some of the articles have construction information in them.

I'm a newbie, and many generous chicken keepers may not agree with my numbers. But I've got a coop similar to this, and have 2 barnevelders, 2 RIR, and 1 shaver (a NZ egg layer)...

 

BUT, my birds have an enormous pseudo free-range environment. They're behind a fence with plants to dust under, 2 waterers a chookateria for food, and they're allowed in/out all day everyday. The fence line has a ridge of blocks (coincidence) and the birds were out all day everyday, even when it snowed last year (1ft snow is a rare occurrence here)

 

I've tinkered with the coop inside (new staggered roosts and ramp indoors) to allow the ladies space on each roost and they have 1.5ft of roost each.

 

So if you can only manage a small coop, you need to have ranging birds. All my girls are happy, and get out and about scratching all day.

 

Eventually I will build a bigger coop, and get more birds, but again, they'll be free range.

 

And FYI, I live right in the middle of town, so these are urban birds.

There are many issues I have with these sort of coop. Really, they're more like covered nesting boxes. First of all, they don't have windows. I have an extensive collection of vintage chicken keeping books - many with an urban (what they called the "village hennery") slant. It was well-known that sunlight is essential for the healthy of birds. There will be days of inclement weather when your chickens are stuck inside. They need windows. Also, sunlight is a natural disinfectant. Another issue is ventilation. Little vents at roof line aren't enough to clear the air of ammonia and moisture, nor are they enough to keep the coop cool on hot humid days - especially if you have a broody hen sitting in there. It's great that you're thinking this through and asking questions. You're going to really enjoy your hens!

go check for chicken coop plans on Ebay. There are several people that offer plans. Everything from little 3x4, 4x6 to a larger 6x6. http://www.ebay.com/itm/280694293761?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 or also http://www.ebay.com/sch/poorfish1/m.html?hash=item256c1bfc29&item=160727563305&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&_trksid=p4340.l2562. Both sellers have several coops to choose from. Poorfish1's plans are pretty easy to follow. A smaller coop can be build for as little as 250$ and its easy to add a window for more light. The good thing about his coops are that they are build as panels. You can build the sides in the garage and then carry them to the side where you want the coop. Its a plus when you need to go through a gate to the backyard. He is also more than willing to explain stuff you might not understand when you email him.

I'm not arguing with you at all. It may sound like it, but I'm really not arguing, just trying to explain my thought process. If you can provide lots of space outside on a regular basis and about all you use your coop for is a place to sleep and maybe lay eggs, you need very little coop space. But you have to make a commitment to not leave them locked in the coop much at all during their waking hours. That's assuming you lock them in the coop at night. Some people don't. People get hung up on coop size. What matters is space available, wherever that is and how it is provided.

This does not only mean getting up in the morning to let them out, but allowing them to choose when they go to bed. When I have immature chickens in with the flock, some older ones are sometimes pretty vicious toward them on the roost until it gets dark. So my immature ones don't hop up onto the roost until it is getting pretty dark. My coop is big enough that I can lock them up early and they'll stay on the coop floor as long as they can. In a smaller coop that could be a problem. Mine is big enough and laid out in a way that I have some flexibility in how I manage them. I don't necessarily let them out first thing in the morning either.

It depends on the flock make-up too. I hatch chicks every year in an incubator and when a hen goes broody, she gets to hatch and raise chicks with the flock. If space were tight, I could not do that the way I do it. Have you planned how you will integrate new chickens in a few years? From your post, I assume yoou will build a bigger coop, but that may be something to consider.

I realize in true urban/suburban areas you probably don't have a huge risk from daytime predators, though I'm not that familiar with New Zealand wildlife. If your yard is fenced where dogs can't get in, your biggest risk is probably a hawk or something like that in the daytime and your hawk risk is probably not that great. In urban/suburban areas, dogs can be a huge risk, day or night. But what would you do if your chickens started getting killed off? What if every other day you found one dead and partially eaten during daytime? What options do you have if your set-up requires them to free range? When I lose one to a predator, I can leave them locked up in the coop and run for weeks without a problem.

The first time my chickens see snow, they stay away from it. But if it stays on the ground for a few days, they will go out and forage in it. They get used to it and the cold does not bother them. But I find that mine really hate a cold wind. They'll go out in 0* Fahrenheit weather and forage in the snow, but if a cold wind is hitting them, they find a place the wind is not blowing. With mine, that is either in the coop, in a shed if they can get to it, or a corner created by the gate and the coop. If yours are out, I imagine they have decent wind protection. And yours may be more willing to explore in snow because it is so claustrophobic in the coop. But that is just supposition. I'm not a trained chicken psychologist.

Each if us are different and with our own unique circumstances. There are a tremendous amount of different circumstances and different management techniques to deal with those. I really don't like hard and fast numbers for anything to do with chickens since there are so many different circumstances. And I don't recommend providing as much space as you reasonably can for your chickens because I am worried about their mental well-being. I find it makes it easier on me. I try to plan for the worst days when things go wrong, not the good days when things go right.

I really hope you continue to be successful in what you are doing. I don't have a problem with your numbers for you in your circumstances. There are a lot of people that do it a whole lot like that. But there are a lot of us that can't do that.