3 month old Buff Orpington, do we have a Roo?

[natr89]

So when should I expect to hear him crowing?

 

[ShrekDawg]

How big is the coop? It looks a little bit small for 8 full grown birds. Might be okay as babies.

 

[NatJ]

Coop is 4x5. 3 nesting boxes, 2 roosting bars. The plans I used said it was rated for 6-8.

The run I did myself and it is 12ft x 7ft.

Where do you live? (US State, or country) The climate can make a big difference in how many chickens comfortably use a coop of that size.

A common recommendation is 4 square feet in the coop for each chicken. That assumes they will be shut in at night until you open the pop door in the morning, and that there will be some days of bad weather when they cannot go out at all. If you follow that guideline, your coop is only large enough for 5 chickens.

If your run is completely predator-proof you can leave the pop door open all the time, which lets the chickens can come out of the coop as soon as they wake up. In that case, they can often be fine with a bit less space in the coop (unless you get severe weather, or a tree falls on the run, or a predator finds a new way into the run, or something like that.)

Another common guideline is 10 square feet per chicken in the run. If you follow that guideline, your run is big enough for 8 chickens.