Good point Blue. Figure 10 sq foot per adult bird if they're normal sized. Bantams can get by with less. If y're planing to free range you can crowd them in a bit more since really they're only sleeping and nesting in the coop, but if you go by the 10 sq foot rule you should be good.
The first chick's that I got, I was about to get ready to move them out of the house into one of those pre-fab coop's. A big 40 MPH wind blew it to pieces. I was glad that I had not moved the chick's out there yet. Anyway's a new stronger and predator proof coop and run was built. My framing of the attached run was built out of old horse panel's (top and sides) that were already here on the property.
Yeah, I know they aren't the best, which is why we modify. We have some scrap wood/lumbar to bolster it. And at this point I may only have 6 chicks we are keeping. So the prefab for 10 would be fine.
Thanks for the heads up. were the cockerels barred, or has the sexlinking of this hybrid changed?
I have the "extra large walk in poultry pen" that's 13.5 x 10 ft, with 6.5 ft tall at the peak and 4 ft tall on the sides. I ignored the chicken wire and zip ties it came with, so I have about $900 into it counting its price, trampoline stakes, hardware cloth, shade cloth and heavy duty tarp. BTW the tarp is holding well and not holding snow, keeping out the rain, so it was a good investment. And I built a roost inside of it to further keep out any wind and make the birds feel secure. In their minds, hardware cloth isn't secure, they need to feel enclosed as if sleeping in a tree it seems...
I wouldn’t. You may find your chickens will eat them for you.
That's what I was hoping but I believe it's more than they can take care of.
yes, that's it. Oh, the tarp that comes with it, never held a drop of water and didn't last very many breezes.Is it one of these?
Everything I've seen says the males have light colored patches on their heads. I have 4 this way.
