5x8 coops say 20-25 chic, is this wrong ?

[MamaChic21]

I'm confused. Searching for a new chicken coop or a shed that holds up to 3 ducks, 4 hens, 18 chickens (25 in all) I already have 3x5 2 floor coop which I'll be using that one too. I figured I'll get 5x8 quaker that holds up to 20-25 chickens as they advertised but if I need 4 sq ft per chic then that is 100 sq ft. What is wrong with this math ?

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
alot of places advertise they can fit alot more than whats good for the birds-that company is wrong and it should house 10 birds 5 x 8=40 equaling 10 birds.. now if they are bantams then maybe a few more -

 

[Count Orloff]

Unless you have a huge run for them, 20 to 25 is far too many chickens for that size coop. I haven't seen a picture of your setup, but I imagine that there is not enough space for all of them to roost. It's going to be a battle keeping ammonia levels down with that many chickens in a small coop.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
A 5X8 would only hold about 10 chickens unless they're bantams.

 

[MamaChic21]

I have all types of chickens, I really don't know all their breeds but the one's I know are, 1 americana rooster, 3 americana hens, 3 silkies, 2 orpington roosters, 4 orpington hens and 2 rhode island, and few bantham and the rest I don't know. Their new run will be 50x20 or 60x10 not sure of the exact run size now, but I want it to be BIG.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Nothing is "wrong" with it if you want to keep your chickens in very crowded conditions.

There is no magic number. Everyone has their own different ideas about what kind of conditions are ethical to provide for their chickens and how many management/health problems they want to court.

If you want to put 25 chickens in a 40 sq ft coop, that is a little over 1.5 square feet per chicken (plus whatever run space you provide).

I sure as heck would never consider doing it myself and your chickens would be WAY happier and WAY easier to manage with more space (given that you do not live in a climate that is super chicken-friendly every day of the year).... but it is a personal decision, and if you don't mind crowded chickens and the higher likelihood of the problems that can bring, then it's your choice.

(e.t.a -- the reason coop ads pretty universally quote chicken capacities based on these highly-crowded numbers is very simple: first, they are merely quoting you how many chickens the coop CAN hold e.g. in terms of roosting space not how many it necessarily SHOULD, and secondly because they are, let's face it, trying to sell you their product so of COURSE they are going to exaggerate its merits)


Pat

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Just to give you a comparison, my shed coop is about 6 x 10. I have had a maximum of 20 chickens in there (3 sq. ft. per chicken). That was very uncomfortable. The ammonia levels were a little too high for my comfort. The air was just not very fresh when I opened it in the morning.

When I had 10 large fowl in there, it was just a little too vacant. I wanted about maybe 3-4 more chickens in there to be perfect.

Now I have bantams in there. I house 18 bantams in there with no problems at all! They poo a lot less, etc.

 

[MamaChic21]

I want them to be comfortable and happy. I've worked so hard with the things I have and spared no expence to their needs. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions and not enough experince on my part, their current setting isn't working out. I will bent on backwards just to make them happy and comfortable because I love them so much. I am leaning on making their home permanet instead of portable. I was confused on how much sq footage they needed. I mean you can take a bunch of chickens and stuff them in a small coop, but that won't be right nor would it be humane. I just wanted to know especially for a newbie that they advertise certain amount of chickens for a coop but that's not the real size they should have.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh and I wanted to mention also that it matters if you are going to be closing them up for days if you get blizzards. Here in the Pac NW we don't tend to need to close our chickens up for days.

If I lived in the cold part of the country, I would want more coop space than I have.

 

[patandchickens]

Do you kind of see now why some of us are strongly urging you to build as LARGE a coop as you can possibly afford, rather than going for cute?

Personaly I wouldn't go any smaller than 10x40 for that many birds (which would give you a tad over 10 sq ft per chicken -- and this is still less than mine get and I wouldn't really be *happy* about it). I know everyone has their own ideas of what's "sufficient" and what's "acceptible problems" and not everyone will wish to give them that much space, but, even at just 4 sq ft per chicken you're still talking a 10x10 coop if you're housing 25 birds.

Pat