A coop for one?

[apryl29]

I have a cockerel who, for some reason, my pullets started pecking at. Odin's the dominant cockerel, I have a BBOE bantam who plays second fiddle w/o much complaint (he'll even call the big guy in if he thinks I'm threatening one of the girls). One day when I went to let them out I found Odin's tail bleeding. I separated him and put blu cote on the wounds. His tail has healed, but a couple of the pullets won't stop going after his tail.. it is missing some feathers, but the skin was fully healed and had no scabs or bleeding. I finally let him out to range w/ the ladies on Saturday and then I noticed he was bleeding from a scratch down his waddle, as well as bleeding from his tail again. I cleaned him up and found he had a blood feather that was snapped off about 1/4 inch from the skin. I tried to pull it, but it just kept snapping off more. It finally clotted and he seems to be doing ok, but after weeks of trying to re-integrate him & they still pecking at his tail, I've decided to make him his own home. I've tried to search for coops for a single chicken, but I keep finding ones for 2-4 birds. I have an idea of what I want to build, but I'd like to know that it's not too small for one bird. Right now his temporary space is pretty much just a rubbermaid tote w/ a hole cut in the side b/c it was supposed to be purely temporary. I know the 4 square feet coop, 10' of run thing, but it'd be really helpful if I could find something that was made to house 1 bird. I'm hoping that if I give him time, once his tail feathers grow back they'll stop pecking at his tail, but at this point, with fall coming fast and winter close behind I suspect he won't be ready to join the group until spring & he needs a real home. I'd appreciate any information on housing a single bird. Thanks.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

If you only have one bird....He needs a 2X4 coop?And a 6X5 run?Im not sure.The square root is 4 sq feet in coop and 10 sq ft in run.

 

[TalkALittle]

Commercial coops are notorious for overestimating their capacity. If they say they will accommodate 2-4 birds it is likely that they are, in actuality, better suited for just 2 birds so your single cockerel will be happy in one. If he is a gentleman and not inclined to overmate a lady friend, those store bought coops are perfect size for a pair.

If I were going thru the effort, time and expense of building housing just for him, I'd keep in mind other possible uses for it afterward. I might make it big enough for a broody to raise a clutch in, or to use as a grow out pen for chicks, or to hold a few birds in isolation before introducing them into my flock. It seems silly to me to make anything less than about 4'×4' given the dimensions that lumber comes in. Certainly no smaller than 3'x3'. Otherwise it just doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[apryl29]

Thanks for your input. I was planning on building it off the side of my 'big coop', then cut a hole in the wall and cover it w/ chicken wire so he can benefit from the warmth of the big coop (the side he's on doesn't get direct sunlight until afternoon), plus be able to interact w/ the other chickens. My other options are that my coop actually has 2 sections of run, each with it's own chicken door. I've thought about blocking off a section inside the coop around the door for the smaller run but I thought that might make things worse for him since he'll be trapped in there, plus reduce the space for my other birds. Unfortunately, my coop is 8x8 and the front door is in the middle so his space would likely only be 3x2. I need to measure to know for sure, but pretty much the space from the right of the human door and a section of the right wall before it gets too close to the nesting boxes & roosts. I could put a board above the chicken door to make him an elevated space where he'd be able to roost. Or I could build a small unit on the outside of that door (similar to what I was going to do on the other side), which is probably the easiest solution at this point as the run is plenty large enough, but again.. size is something to consider. Would something that's 4x2 be adequate? I have a couple boards out there that were used as a porch that could be the floor and I could build off of that.
I thought about putting a friend in his current space but since I've seen at least 2 of the ladies pecking at his tail I don't want to assume no one else will do the same, but maybe later on to test the waters it would be a good idea.
Below is a basic idea of how my coop/run currently looks. Right now I'm more worried about giving him enough inside space since they keep saying we're in for a bad winter, plus the whole ventilation thing w/o there being too much wind getting in + snow. Who knew chicken keeping would be so stressful.