Anyone have a coop to SMALL???

[momoftwinsinwi]

Now ya'll have me worried, my coop is only 4x8 and the hatchery told us based on those measurements, we could do 16 hens??? I trusted them....is my coop too small for 16 birds??? I do plan on having a large run/pen but is my house too small???? Hubby will kill me if I tell him that, he's worked so hard on it....although my idea was 8x8, he said 4x8 would be "fine".....

 

[justusnak]

Ohhhhhh, 4x8 is a bit small for 16 birds. More like half that! Better make a trip to the Home Depot...buy what you need for the addition, and say....HAPPY FATHERS DAY honey! I bought you some stuff to "play" with! HAHAHA!!!!

 

[Whirlwind]

I knew when I read the title of this post I was gonna start off my day with a laugh.

Does anyone have a coop to SMALL!!!

The answer is YES!!! Everyone we all want more, more, more.

You guys are so funny with your replies.

Cgrn... what did you decide? It is so hard to resist those fuzz balls. Our stores are out of chicks here. Whew!!! Till next year. lol

 

[peacebird]

my coop is 4x4. I have my roo and two cochins are on the way, plus three more hens in a week or so (a red and a black sex link and one other)

Is my coop to small for the 5 hens and Mario? I had read that hens needed 3 ft, not the 4 mentioned here....

 

[mudhen]

Hey all, if you are here, then yes! We all have a coop that is too small and need to expand for more, more, more!
My (first

) coop is 4x4, and I have one bantam and six standard hens in there!
The second coop is 10x12 and ....so far.... I have 10 hens in there.

A third coop?....maybe...if I also want to be divorced (then who would pay for the chicken feed?)

 

[AtRendeAcres]

OOOH!

my girls and I have also caught the fever!!
I am now worried too!

DH has almost finished dividing his shed up for our chickens!

I found this:
inside outside
Bantams 1sqft 4squft
laying hens 1.5sqft 8sqft
Is this correct?

My coop space is 12ft by 4ft = 48sq

7ft by 4ft is floor space ((feeders on wall))
5ft by 4t is roost area
2-3.9ft by 1ft nesting boxes no dividers
((I read a post were a woman did this and it worked Great, I liked the idea a more room in there)) I estimate 6 boxes all together!

HERE IS MY QUESTION!!!
Does the roost area count as the space needed for each bird?

At the moment we have:
2 silkie bantams (2weeks) will get 1.5-2lb
2 polish bantams (6days) will get 4lb
7 Araucanas (6days) will get4.5-5lb

Coming
10 cochin bantams - will get 2lb

This info is from things we have read! Never done this before!

 

[marie_martin]

Ok, so here is my question. If the coop is 4 feed deep and 3 feet wide that would be 12 sq. feet, BUT what if the thing is tall and you could use some alternating roosts? Could you put more in there due to that factor? I mean if you have a 4 ft. wide roost at 3 different levels??? Sort of staggered? How would that work out. I have silkies. Right now I have six. Not sure of the sex yet but would like a couple more girls. Could this work?

Marie

Forgot to say that they will have access to a run all day. I think it is about 5 feet wide and about 15 feet long. Just guessing. Have not measured. We will eventually increase it and they may possibly get to free range some on the weekends while we are home. I am a bit nervous about it, but would like to try.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Square footage recommended minimums aren't supposed to include the space taken up by nest boxes, feeders or waterers. It's only space that's available to the chickens. They also are recommendations of minimum spacing, not the optimum spacing that the chickens would do best at. That being said, they are only recommendations.

One aspect of spacing is behavioral, in that over-crowding can cause aggressive pecking problems. The breeds you keep and your climate combined with your run size/style, can really vary your outcomes.

The other aspect of spacing is pretty simple. Poop!

The more crowded a coop is, the bigger the poopy mess is and the more time you have to spend cleaning it. How often do you want to clean your coop? Daily, weekly or yearly? I would never want to have to clean my coop every single day of my life, just to have a few more chickens. To someone else, it's totally worth it.

At 5 sq. ft. per chicken, a coop is pretty effortless. Occasionally sprinkle a little fresh litter on top and scoop out the old litter once a year. At 3-4 sq. ft., you're going to have varying degrees of crusty poop on the surface of the litter that you will have to either break up and stir in or remove, every few days. Less space than that and you are getting into the territory of daily scooping, or dropping pits that further reduce available space or dropping boards that you have to regularly scrape stuck on poop off of.

All of these systems work. It just depends on your own likes and dislikes, which way you want to go.

Edited to add that I was talking about full size chickens, not bantams. And I can't believe my spell checker doesn't think poopy is a word. Have they never lived with chickens, a puppy or a baby???

 

[Chickending]

Oh my that means WHEN the coop gets finished I could have up to 54 chickens????

Since I am in a colder climate I can go down to 3 Sq per bird.......hmmmmmmm

If it ever gets finished...which is a challenge in itself...I have a 20 x 9 size coop. We are converting two 10x9 horse stalls in the barn for chickens....I have chicks right now brooding in the basement.......

 

[Half-a-dozen]

O.K. Hi- all

Here is what I have decided- LOL

We live in New Jersey and although we do not have the coldest winters, I think they are pretty frigid at times so warm and cozy for the winter is what it is gonna be- but doing it by way of my girls. I'm gonna get a roo!!! If I don't have one already

That way the girls can have chickies all they want and DH can't yell at me

"well Gee dear, that is surley out of my control"

The kids really love the idea of the roo! everyday they pick up the ones they think are roo's to assure me we have one and can have chicks!!! So cute!

Just in case I'll be sure to make a trip to the feed store in the AM

Thank you everyone for your replies!
I even read a few to the DH so he does not feel left out- Have to say he did love it "ROFL"