Calculate floor size of coop per chicken

[JadedPhoenix]

Dusting off the thread for a similar question. My new run will be 20' x 40' and as of right now I have only 5 hens but by April I will have another 20 plus one rooster. I'm hoping that this will be a large enough area so that they don't demolish the grass so they will still have plenty of it when they want it. Suggestions?

Up until now my hens have been in a run that was made from my son's 15' diameter trampoline and I would throw whole oats to them and what they didn't eat would sprout to help give them some extra greens. I hope to keep adding oats in with the feed to give the grass a reprieve.

 

[seann]

How about height requirement? (indoor)

 

[Wesley1]

I was planning on building a 4x8 with the nesting boxes not included is that enough room for 14 chickens? The nesting boxes will be on the outer sides of that measurement.

 

[rob42]

Hiya:

I just joined. I'm a wanna be. I have parrot-like birds, but have never had chickens. I was going to start a thread, but this one is pretty close.

Anyway, I am hip-deep in coops for sale, coop plans, all of the great BYC photos and stories, etc, at this stage. I'm trying to note all of the great ideas that I see in case I decide to build something from scratch.

In addition to good ideas, I see some design choices that strike me as poor ideas; I react to some features as "too small", "too low", "too high", or "too steep".

If this were human housing, I could go to a building code and find "the answer": a minimum height for ceilings, the correct rise for a stair tread, etc. So, what I'd really like is a building code for chickens!

I know chicken sizes vary pretty significantly, so maybe a "bantam" and a "leghorn" code are both needed.

The sorts of things I would like to know are:

- Minimum height clearance, like for chicken space under a coop.

- Minimum height for a covered run. ( I will have eagles, osprey, and neighbor pets to deal with. )

- Min / Max height for roosting bars, and fore-aft clearance around roosting bars. How high will a chicken scramble up (pun intended) to get on a roost or in a nest box?

- Min / Max dimensions for a nesting box l/w/h. Do they have to have dividers? ( I have seen "communal" ones.) Does it affect productivity?

- Maximum slope for a ramp.

- Minimum size for a chicken door.

I'm sure there are more, but this is a good start. Am I overthinking this? YOU BET I AM!!!

Thanks for any input.

/// Rob

 

[dandylion1]

Okay. I can answer a few of your questions rob42 but not all. For roosting bars the min height should be the height of the chickens so they dont have to duck under it. The max could be maybe six feet. They like to be as high up as they can and can jump six to eight feet but depend on breed/size. (Bantam or standard). If it is that high it should have some other roosts at intervals to get up to it.

Min nesting box size-12 by 12 by 12 inches
max- i dont know but they like smaller darker spaces to lay eggs so not too big.

Chicken door min- one and a quarter foot square. Ish..... they can fit through a one foot square (like nesting box) but will sometimes sit of stand infront of the door so noone else can get out so it would be best to have it wide enough for two chickens or more. And a few inches taller than them. ( sorry I dont know the height of a chicken.) You might have to meaure one
Max- a person door.

Hope this helps!

 

[Carpenter Coop]

Is that coop and run or just coop

My run is 10x20x8.
Sleep area in coop is 4x4x4
Nest boxes 3 on two sides
Bringing total area of sleep ate a 6x6

I have 10 chickens
Is my coop big enough

 

[Carpenter Coop]

 

[Carpenter Coop]