9 chickens?

[first time farmer]

I have a (l x w x h) 8x4x7 foot coop right now there are 3 standards and bantam. I am going to order eather 3 or 5 standard chicks from mypetchicken.com. 3 more hens should be fine in the coop but will I be able to to have 5 more hens in my coop?

 

[first time farmer]

sorry for posting this 4 times my computer was being computerish if you know what i mean lol.

 

[warmfuzzies]

I would think as long as you have plenty of roost for everyone, they should be fine. You can put the roosts in a stairstep, that way you can fit more in and they can be higher. (You maybe already knew that)

Do you have an outside run? They need more room if not, and they will need less room if you free range them.

 

[Akane]

Is that why the forum just errored and told me there were too many requests to the sql server...

What size run do you have or are they free range? That makes a slight difference on the suggest space. Otherwise the averages I hear are 4sq ft per standard and 2sq ft per bantam.

 

[Marlinchaser]

if you go with the 4 square per bird you can have 8 real birds, the bantam doesnt count.

However that is just a guideline, some say 3 per bird so you could have 10 2/3 so 10 real birds and 2 bantams.

You also should consider how much run space they have, Ideal is 8-10 sqft per bird if you have a lot more run space, or freerange then you can squeeze in a couple extras and not feel bad about crowding.

 

[cmom]

I have 16 standards in a 8Lx8wx7h. They have runs and a nice fenced yard to range in. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[first time farmer]

Yes i plan on free ranging in the summer and they have a small run for the winter. And i am going to rebuild the roost when it gets a little warmer lol
Thanks for the help.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
Your 8' x 4' coop is 32 sf, which is large enough for 8 standard chickens as long as you also have a run for them. For 8 chickens, an 8' x 10' run would be a good size for them.