Am I doing alright?

[gwtgl]

I live in mid Mi. I'm wondering as a newbie if I'm at least ok. I have recently started my chicken farm with 30 ISA brown hens with a 4Lx8Wx8H coop and roost space with nesting boxes for all. And more than 3000 sq ft to free range. Coop has small opening with 24hr access to outside heat lamp on a timer between cooler hrs. Lets assume the fence is secure and we are predator free. I really just want to know if they will do fine through all seasons just having a place to run in bad weather. Also I will be putting other places inside the fence but outside the coop for nesting and added protection as well. The main reason I ask is I'm already thinking about expanding to another 70 hens and maybe even 1 rooster per 15 hens cause I plan on eating a lot of the eggs with my large family. Please don't pass judgement on me cause I'm only asking for your opinions. Thx in advance!!!

[/IMG]. I'm three weeks and two days into it so far and loooooove it. BTW I also have 2 pigmy goats in their pen. They seem so wonderful together.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

I am no good at math but, the usual advice is 4 square feet per bird in the coop and 10 square feet per bird in the run. Will the 70 new ones share the same coop and run, the coop would need to be much larger.

I think it might be best to have nest boxes inside only - for predator protection, I know everything loves chickens, and a lot of things like to steal the eggs (snakes, raccoons, opposums, blue jays and sometimes humans.

It would also be easier if you have only one location(coop) you need to gather eggs from. I could be way off mark because maybe large numbers of chickens are handled differently. I'm sure someone else will add their 2 cents. Good luck with your enterprise.

 

[gwtgl]

Updated photos

 

[redsoxs]

Greeting from Kansas, gwtgl, and

! Happy you joined us!