8x8 chicken coop

Date sort Score sort
For standard fowl the recommended floor space its actually 4 square feet per bird, and that is if they have 10 sq ft of run. You have 64 feet of coop, enough for 16 birds. Your run is 162 sq ft, also big enough for 16 birds. Less space per bird is OK if they spend a significant amount of time ranging, but keep in mind that in bad weather they will likely all be inside.

I agree with the above poster that recommended against overcrowding. You could put more birds in there and they would survive, but crowding leads to issues with excess moisture, behavior problems such as picking, and increased stress.
 
AVintageLife said:
I have a 8 X 8 coop (converted from a shed) with an 8 X 14 hoop run and I am very happy with it.  I currently have five hens and two roosters.  Keeping the roosters over the winter for warmth and will cull them in the spring and get five started pullets.  Having worked with the coop since last summer, I have decided not to keep more than ten chickens.  Could squeeze in a couple more but any more than that would be tight.  I put a roost and poop board along the left side wall and a portion of the back wall (like an "L") and I have three nest boxes on the balance of the back wall (lower than the roost).  I hang the feeder under the poop board and have a dusting box under the poop board as well.  On the right side wall there is a window, the waterer and pans for grit and oyster shell.  Plenty of floor space; I can walk around the coop to do chores comfortably without getting in the way of the flock.  The only improvement I'm considering in the summer is to make the nest boxes external.  That would give even more floor space.  
Click to expand...
that sounds good i have external nest boxes i plan to add a space under neth that will be glassed in to let it be a dusting area with plenty of light
400
 
I would not put any more that 20 full size chickens in there...now if they are bantam you could have 35-40 in there as long as they have plenty of roosting poles
 
Last edited:
I forgot to mention i also have a 30 by 20 garden for forage that is closed off to them till grass is high to be opened up so all together its 8x8 pen which i will be adding 2x8 of space too and a run 9x18 plus 20x30 still dont have it finished need to put tin have a tarp over it and then i plan on enclosing the run and when done want to build a chick brooder
 
Here is my 8' x 8'. I chose the 8' dimension so I could get lumber for expanding the coop in logical and inexpensive sizes. The big doors on the first photo (left side) are for cleaning out the coop, The roosts in the second shot are Strawberry Guava trunks (They grow as a weed out here) and the interior shot showing the ventilation- It is warm year round here with high humidity. Our year round temps are in the 85 degree range with 80+ % humidity so its more about ventilation out our way. Oh, it rains almost 200 inches a year here which is why we have gutters on the eaves- it fills the water tank for our birds. Feed is supplied by gravity from a metal tank - varmint proof! to PVC piping. Nest boxes are accessible from the outside and has storage- lots of storage. For now. Once we expand the coop, we can reconvert the storage bins back to the originally planned 12 nest boxes. We modified the plans for the number of nest boxes after talking to others on this forum, but wanted to retain the expandability. At one box for 4 hens, 12 boxes would be good for up to 48 chickens. At 4 ft for each bird it would take a space of 192 square feet. I would have to expand twice at 8 feet each. Not unlikely give the phenomenon of chicken math!



 

Similar threads

T
    • Like
Is this overkill??
Replies
5
Views
423
Sally PB
S
C
    • Like
Hey all!
Replies
5
Views
374
3KillerBs
3KillerBs
L
    • Like
Coop size
2 3
Replies
21
Views
2K
21hens-incharge
21hens-incharge
Ragfrey
    • Like
8x8 or 6x6 coop??
Replies
6
Views
1K
Ridgerunner
Ridgerunner
TyRi
    • Like
Coop plans
2
Replies
12
Views
1K
Krugerrand
K

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom