Big enough coop? advice please!

[phaethona]

Hi,
This is my first year raising backyard chickens, I live on a one acre lot and just built a very nice coop which is 7 feet tall, 6 feet across, and 4 feet the other direction. this weekend I'm going to build an attached run that will be 4 feet tall and extend out probably 10 feet.

So far I have 5 production reds, and 6 other breeds, RIR, black sex link, welsummer, partridge, phoenix, and leghorn. so a total of 11 if we dont get any more suprise roosters. I'm wondering, that will be enough room, right? would that be enough room for any more? I want to ensure that the ladies have enough room to be comfortable and happy. I want to have as many as can comfortably fit because I plan on selling their eggs to neighbors and friends, but I love my ladies and dont want them to be too cramped. opinions?

thanks!

kelly

 

[DarkWolf]

It's recommended that for full sized breeds, they have at least 4 square foot of space each in the coop. This can fluctuate depending on climate, but really, it should be the minimum space. That means you need 44 square feet of open floor space inside your coop for them to not feel cramped and start pulling each others feathers. And even then, they still will to some extent.

Your current coop is 24 square feet, though it'll most likely be more like 21 after you account for things in the way such as feeders, boxes and whatnot.

In short.. No.. I'd recommend no more birds at all.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Ooops.... it's not enough room for 11 standard sized hens.

It recommended to have 4 sq. feet per standard chicken inside the hen-house and 10 sq. feet per chicken in the run. I think you have too many chickens for that space unless you cover the run completely and protect the sides for any adverse weather so they can use it all the time--and then you'd still need more run space.

The math for correct spacing: 11x4=44 sq. feet in hen-house and 11x10=110 sq. foot of run needed.
If you ONLY had to let them sleep inside the hen-house because you let them range all day you can go 3 sq. feet per hen so 3x11=33 sq.--it is STILL too small

 

[chickenlove13]

Your chickens are going to struggle to be happy and healthy in that small of a space. Is there anyway you could add on more space?

 

[Backyard Hencam]

Crowded chickens are miserable. Remember it's quality not quantity. "Ladies need their space." Good for you for thinking of them!

 

[teach1rusl]

I agree with the other responses. A 6 x 4 coop would be fine for 6 birds, but not almost double that. If you're in a year-round warm weather area that doesn't really get winters, then you could probably get by with 8 birds without pecking issues, since they would never really be in the coop except to lay or sleep. Be sure to elevate your next boxes at least 18 inches off the floor so that you lose no floor space. I'm guessing your birds are still little? I would encourage you to sell or rehome several of your birds as point of lay hens by the time they're @16-18 weeks so that overcrowding doesn't result.
If they will be out of the run ranging for a few hours every day, you could get by with 40 sq. ft. run, but I would go bigger if there's a chance they won't be able to leave the run pretty much every day for a decent amount of time. For 6 birds, they should have @60 sq. feet, and for 8 birds, 80 sq. ft.

 

[phaethona]

one thing I'd like to make clear is that it is not my intent to sacrifice quality for quantity, and I certainly don't want "miserable chickens". these chickens are treated as well as(if not better than) my other family pets.

after reading the responses I decided to go out and measure the coop, rather than reading the plans, and sure enough I'd read them wrong(I'm no carpenter, my husband did all the building). The floor is 6 x 8, that continues for a height of 2 1/2 ft(where there are 6 nesting boxes), and the remaining height of 4 1/2 ft is 6 x 6. there are four levels of roosts. as of right now the floor of the coop stands 36in. off the ground, we're going to drop the floor down so that it's about 4 in. off the ground which will add several more sq. ft.

as for the number of chickens and living space, at the moment I have 11, 6 of them are young and 2 of the young ones are showing signs of being roosters, in which case they will go to a friend's farm. and one was sold to us as an ameracana but is appearing to be a phoenix, and she may go as well. so, more than likely there will be a total of 9, maybe even 8. from sun-up to sun-down they free range on a one acre lot, and will later(when we get it built) have the option to range in a 4x4x10 covered run on bad weather days.

I do admit that this is my first experience with chickens, but the consensus of my research is that 10 sq. ft. per chicken is not neccessary.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I certainly do not think that your 4-ish sq ft per chicken is unreasonable to try.

I would, however, like to point out that "necessary" is a very complicated and far from simple concept, here.

In an always-mild climate, where the chckens have plenty of congenial outdoors and are happy to spend all day every day in it, 4 sq ft of coop per chicken is *plenty*. If for whatever reason the chickens will sometimes prefer to spend days at a time mostly-indoors, it may be enough for survival but definitely does court pecking/cannibalism problems (unpredictable, but also often unfixable except via stewpot).

And I have to say that, having kept chickens at everything from 4 sq ft apiece (indoors, plus run) to 15 sq ft apiece (ditto), they really honestly do BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY when given the larger amount of space. That is important to me -- to have them behaving in a more relaxed happy-seeming way, even in summertime when weather is totally not an issue up here -- so I do not think I will *ever* keep chickens at less than 10ish sq ft apiece and honestly I prefer to give them more than that (plus run).

But everyone's situation is different.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[phaethona]

In terms of coop + run, I'm at 88ft. for what will most likely end up 8 chickens, and that's in the strictest of confinements. otherwise they have over 5,000 sq. ft. each all day everyday.

I agree that everyone's situation is different. and this is a learning process for me for the first year or two. this past weekend I took the liberty of visiting a friend's farm to get a better idea of their full-grown size, and brought my friend back to my house to get her opinion of my coop, she seemed to think it's just fine. I wish I had pictures to post, that would probably help.

I guess I just got a little disheartened thinking I'd given the impression that my chickens' comfort and happiness was not as important as quantity, and that's just not the case. I am striving to be the best chickenmama ever for them.

Maybe I should have just posted an introduction instead, and asked about the coop in a side note. I just finished reading an intro where the person built a 6x8 coop(same dimensions as mine) and they have 14 chickens. several very nice, very welcoming responses and not one mention of miserable chickens. live and learn I guess. either way I'm still happy to have a place to discuss my new found love of chicken raising

 

[Dogfish]

2-4 SF/bird is fine. If you notice issues you can cull or sell birds as needed. I would build your run bigger though. Chickens spend most of their time outside of the coop, and at night when they enter the coop, they pile together for warmth. At least that is what mine do.