Bantam coop basics needed

LeslieDJoyce

Crowing
7 Years
Jul 30, 2012
3,677
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Sherwood, OR
My Coop
My Coop
We are planning a bantam coop. It will be attached to a run ... Our run can be pretty big ... but might be pretty seasonal.

Right now we are planning to put our m/f Sebright pair in it along with four other bantams: a tiny D'Ucle female about the size of the female Sebright, a larger white Cochin male which is a sturdy square bird but short, and another m/f pair that is probably Brahama and definitely larger than the Sebrghts ... I personally think a 1:1 ratio of males and females is a little risky so I anticipate we may want to get more female bantams ... and these pairs are all in separate cages now so who knows how they'll get along ... The Sebright roo is feisty!

We are curious about measurements for bantams. How high should the coop be off the ground to allow them to be comfortable underneath? How high should the roosts be for bantams? Nesting boxes for bantams. If our run is seasonal and not used much during our long wet fall/winter/spring months, then how much space per bird "inside?"

We have already set one dimension of 3.5' across ... We are thinking maybe 6.5' long ... The enclosed part of the coop up off the ground on a "table," so above an open air area below of the same size that could be closed in during awful weather but would be upen air as much as possible. Perches upstairs, food and water below. Nesting boxes off the side of the upstairs area.

So if we do two "floors" of 3.5' x 6.5' ... Is that enough for 6 bantams? For more when the bantam math strikes?

And, again, how much headroom do bantams need?

I apologize if there is already a great thread or resource here to answer these questions, but I'm confined to iPhone for a bit, and navigating the forum is a PITA on this thing ... I'd happily accept a link as an answer.

Thanks in advance for the help!!!
 
Some of those bantams are substantially larger than the Sebrights. Do you plan on keeping them locked up all winter long? Is that what you mean by 'seasonal'? If so, You're going to want something like 12 sqft per bird of indoor space.

If, on the other hand, they can go outside all year-round, I'd have 4sqft per bird, just to make sure you could accomodate a couple of extras.

Regarding your specific case, I think what you want won't work. Three males to three hens will not only be a constant torture to the hens (feathers and skin dmaage), but your cockerels will be very stressed too. What you can do is have a second smaller pen to house your two spare cockerels (cochin and brahma).
I certainly wouldn't want to put my sebright hen with something as large as a brahma, albeit bantam.
 
Some of those bantams are substantially larger than the Sebrights. Do you plan on keeping them locked up all winter long? Is that what you mean by 'seasonal'? If so, You're going to want something like 12 sqft per bird of indoor space.

If, on the other hand, they can go outside all year-round, I'd have 4sqft per bird, just to make sure you could accomodate a couple of extras.

Regarding your specific case, I think what you want won't work. Three males to three hens will not only be a constant torture to the hens (feathers and skin dmaage), but your cockerels will be very stressed too. What you can do is have a second smaller pen to house your two spare cockerels (cochin and brahma).
I certainly wouldn't want to put my sebright hen with something as large as a brahma, albeit bantam.


That's exactly what I was thinking! Put the females in with the Sebright pair ... the d'Ucle is super tiny and the other isn't much bigger. This will make the Sebright roo happier, I think. And that's something, and the females won't get damaged. Nelson was thinking they might all get along, but I just don't see that happening! For one thing, the Sebright roo picks fights in zero seconds with any other male he gets access too. He is so tough! And the ratio of males to females is all wrong.

Not sure what to do with the male white Cochin bantam or the one mystery male bantam. We split up the bantams originally because as teenagers the one mystery male was picking on the cochin male ... that little square of white fluff is probably my second favorite bird! Not sure they could work it out now that they're young adults .... I'll try giving them a supervised play date.

The run would be available to them every day during the year, I just don't know how much they'll want to go outside when it is cold and wet or maybe even snowing ... sometimes we get several inches of snow that sticks for a week or more. So I'll want to offer them as much space as possible inside.

I'm still curious about headroom. For example, how far off the ground should I build the coup so they can use the space under it? My eventual goal is to move the bantam coup I build to have a little bantam colony tending a vegetable garden ... they can munch kale and aphids but not do as much damage as big birds do, though maybe the ducks would be better gardners than bantams ...

Ugh! I worry a lot about these little guys. They are so cute!

Thanks for the reply, it supports a lot of my concerns.
 
For the head room, a minimum of 2 feet should be fine, albeit a little dark.

I have two bantam coops; one at home and one at my allotment. The one at home gives them 3.5 sqft per bird. When I look inside, I think I wouldn't want to go any smaller than that. I sometimes leave them locked up if I need to disappear all day (they normally free-range).
The other offers 6sqft per bird at the moment, but I may add another couple of hens at a later date. Again, this amount of space means they are not too unhappy about being kept in if I go away for a weekend. There is also enough space to put the two from home in if needed.
I originally wanted the extra space because it rains a lot here and they don't like the rain.

I think you'll find if you separate the two extra males, they should get along ok as there are no girls to argue over.

My sebright roo always seemed so tough too, until a LF barnevelder told him he's the new boss. Now, he's petrified and either stays on a perch and starves himself to death or makes a dash for the door if I open it. That's why we made him his own bantam pen, where he can be king. We got him a few extra girlfriends too :)
 

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