Be honest....

[EggSighted4Life]

but when the wind gets up to 50mph or more and it's snowing sideways they do choose to stay in their coops.

Yes, rain means more bugs are out!

But it's the HEAVY winds that drive my birds inside sometimes.

Also... it's true that sometimes my birds like to just hang out in the coop. On lower perches usually during the day. After we first finished it, we were pleased that they chose to enjoy their new home without being locked in. The chickens don't know, but their appreciation was a great payoff for the time my hubby spent.

 

[PirateGirl]

Yes, rain means more bugs are out!

But it's the HEAVY winds that drive my birds inside sometimes.

Also... it's true that sometimes my birds like to just hang out in the coop. On lower perches usually during the day. After we first finished it, we were pleased that they chose to enjoy their new home without being locked in. The chickens don't know, but their appreciation was a great payoff for the time my hubby spent.

I also felt better the first few times I saw the chickens and ducks choose to hang out in their coops on their own! I knew they were smart enough to escape the elements and I knew they liked/were comfortable in their respective houses. We also felt that our hard work had paid off as we'd built their houses.

 

[Duck Lover88]

I have 4.8 square feet per bird in my coop. They were happiest when they had 9 square feet of space in the coop, not counting run space. Can they survive on less? Yup. Can they be happy? Well...

Whilst I see no reason to confine and coop up birds any more than you possibly have to, even in the name of chicken math, it's your choice. Climate definitely has an impact—I live in a very snowy and cold climate, so, my birds would go nuts and so would my cleaning time if I tried to keep them cooped up with 1sq foot of space each for as long as I have to every year. They free range in summer but there's still half of the year the snow is too deep for them to go out in. I don't know about you guys, but I am not shovelling my yard for them!

Also, I think that having multiple levels is the only way something as low as three or four sq ft CAN work. Birds are birds, not windup pocket pets you can box after you're done playing with them. My coop is 12' x 12' and I have about 30 birds in it. Most of them are LF hens/cocks, but 9 are ducks and 3 are bantam chickens. I do not have bully birds, but they definitely have their squabbles and require space, levels, and judicious removal from flock to remain happy.

I cringe when I see chickens kept in a dinky little prefab size coops, just like I cringe when I see horses kept in a corral permanently or goats stuck in a box stall. And people wonder why their animals have health problems. Just my take on things. Good luck with your birds!

LOVE the last note