Big enough coop? advice please!

[chickerdoodle]

Phaethona,

In your original post you asked for opinions and that is what I gave. There was no intent to be cruel on my part but only helpful. I apologize if you though it was pure negativity, I had hoped to have even softened my reply with a tiny bit of humor with the icons. I also was silly to not welcome you soooo....

In any case, many things in this world at least start off with an equation as there is no other tangible way to start. The equation of 4 sq. feet per standard chicken is generally accepted as a good one for comfy, happy hens so its where I started. Some more commercial recommendations are a mere 2 sq. feet per hen but you stated comfortable so I kept 4 sq. feet in my original calculation. If you used the math, considered a "sleep only" situation (remember I had to use 6x4 hen-house you posted originally) scenario of a 6x8 coupled with your ability to range them all day, and finally deducted the chickens you will most likely not have then you would have 3x9=27 and you now say you have 6x8=48 feet of indoor only space for sleeping. If you end up with 9 chickens then 9x4= 36 sq. feet so you are great there. If you experience ugly weather conditions it is recommended at least a total of 10 sq. feet per hen in an enclosed, dry draft free area and you say it totals 88sq. feet (and maybe only 8 chickens) so thats pretty much on the mark. The ranging all day is fabulous!

When asking for opinions that is what you'll get--right or wrong as we can't change our opinions without further info which you did give in your last post. Sorry for the lack of the welcome--you really are welcomed here!

 

[saddina]

It depends.

Here the birds wait untill the last possiable minute to go in, and come out soon as the sky lightens, since the coop is sleep and nest only, they do fine with 4sqft of floor per hen. Now if you live in a cold snowy area you'll want more indoor space. I try for 12sqft overall (pen & coop) but honestly much is personality.

 

[phaethona]

thanks chickerdoodle,
I dont think anyone was trying to be cruel, I guess I just didn't expect responses to be so unanimous. but then again, I could've done a better job of detailing the measurements

(good thing husband took over the building process).

 

[teach1rusl]

A 6 x 8 coop rather than a 6 x 4 coop does make a big difference on the responses/feedback you'll receive...maybe you should edit that in your original question??? Keep in mind, you will get a WIDE range of opinions on chicken care here on BYC, because folks' views of their chickens is vastly different. Some people raise chickens strictly to eat, some as pampered pets (house chickens), and everywhere in between. So when asking for feedback or advice, you'll not always hear what you want to hear. Be prepared for that. Weigh all the reactions/responses and go from there.

I certainly don't agree with everything I read on BYC, but I've found tons of great, useful information, and have found that the vast majority of folks on this site really try to be helpful.

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
Awww, do be put off, it isn't anyones intention to hurt you. Sometimes its just a bit hard to get the emotions into written word...

Your girls will be fine with their coop.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Awww, do be put off, it isn't anyones intention to hurt you. Sometimes its just a bit hard to get the emotions into written word...

Your girls will be fine with their coop.

I think you meant "don't be put off", Hillsvale.

Yeah, I think that there was some static on the line in the beginning of the thread...I think that's cleared up now. I wouldn't go back and change the first message though because it will "skew" a good many of the first replies and cause further confusion for folks just joining the thread.....I think the thread is working itself out fine.

Remember in the future, though, phaethona, that more room is always better for chickens *and* flock owners. With a higher population density there's not only the danger of pecking, cannibalism, and a general prison riot erupting but there's also more work that the owner has to do keeping a high population density maintained...more poop, more feed, more riot policing duty, more everything in a smaller area.....less populated coops simply seem to self-regulate themselves better that a coop with a more dense population.

I would recommend *not* dropping the coop down to 4". I would leave it at the current height or maybe just drop it down to 2'. If you put the floor so close to the ground you are designing a fantastic place for rats to set up housekeeping and nurseries. If anything I'd raise the roof up a couple of feet if possible. If you lowered it just a foot the two feet left under the coop will give ample height for the chickens to get out of the rain/sun and you could hang a feeder and waterer under there....and it'll be very unattractive to rats.

Just some thoughts,
Best wishes,
Ed

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think the concern was that, per chicken, you thought you only had 2 sq. ft. in the coop, 5 sq. ft. planned in the run and wanted to add more chickens, that would reduce those numbers even further. People just didn't want you to have a miserable time dealing with the problems that kind of crowding can cause.

I think it's great that you asked about this, before you committed to getting more chickens. That was very responsible of you. Nobody thinks you are a bad person or that you don't care. Obviously, you do care very much.

You haven't said where you live or what breed of chickens all of yours are, but that can make a difference when fudging your numbers. Some places have more bad weather. Some chickens are more laid back than others. Sometimes free ranging doesn't work out as well as people think it will and the chickens end up spending more time in the run. You may just have to see how it goes for you and plan on expanding the run if you need to, later.

 

[phaethona]

that's a good point about rats. plus, at the height that it's at now they can go hang out underneath it, a few days ago it was drizzly most of the day and I let them out to go under it(keeping an eye out to make sure it didn't get wet), they like having that refuge.

I talked with my husband about it and we agreed that the plan is to see how it goes over the winter and if we run into space problems, we'll put two more frame post in the ground and put up some more boards to make an additional room. If it turns out that we absolutely have to get rid of some, we have two friends, one with 120 acres and one with 17 and both raise chickens and would be happy to take them. so that's our plan B in case things get out of hand before we have the chance to make an addition. My hope is that with 8, maybe 9 chickens, the coop we have now will suit them fine.

As far as breeds, we have 5 production reds, 1 RIR, 1 welsummer, 1 partridge rock, and the 3 we're most likely getting rid of are 1 white leghorn and 1 black sex link(they're showing signs of being roosters), and 1 more that was sold to us as an americana but looks a lot more like a silver phoenix(since she'd be a poor layer, I dont really want taking up space of the layers, plus she's been aggressive from day 1)
I tried to do some searching on the breeds and their behaviors, but couldn't find a whole lot, so if anyone would like to share their experiences with certain breeds intermingling, I'm all ears!

we've spent a lot of time socializing them, and it seems to be paying off, a couple of the production reds come when they're called and they all love coming up to say hello when we go outside. my 3 year old daughter likes to sit in the yard and dig and two of them cuddle right up to her( i think they're waiting for a treat)

anyway, that's kinda where we stand at the moment, but this being our first year with them, it's all been trial and error, a learning process, a fun one at that!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

It sounds like you're doing really well with them!

Henderson's breed chart is a nice place to find information on different breeds.
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html