Can a coop be too big???

[Judy]

8x8 = 64 divided by 4 = 16, so it is just right for the number you plan, if you go by the 4 sq ft rule, with room for a garbage can for feed. If you live way north where there is a lot of snow and they stay in week after week, you may wish it were bigger.

 

[patandchickens]

No such thing as too big. Well except maybe according to your zoning bylaws

It's not real wise to depend on crowding 'em in like sardines to "keep them warm" during the winter. They won't generate that much extra warmth and the only way you'll contain it in such a small space is to have radically-insufficient ventilation, which will tend to produce frostbite at not-that-cold temperatures so it kind of defeats your purpose.

Honestly I think a lot of the reason there are so many people who DO use the "cram 'em in densely and then shut the ventilation" approach, up North here, is simply that they DO get enough frostbite that way that they figure "wow, if they're getting frostbit that much with them closed up tight in a small coop for warmth, just IMAGINE how much worse it'd be with a larger coop and more ventilation!" Which i guess may seem reasonable on the face of it, but happens to be just about 180 degrees opposite to the way things really work

Mine often don't want to go out in the winter, despite roofed and windblocked runs (not that our winters are so Arctic or anything, I think I just have weenie chickens

) and I would SERIOUSLY not want them to have less than 10-15 sq ft per chicken (indoors), and the times when I've been able to give them even more space (thru lower chicken population in the pen) they've sure enjoyed it.

JME, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bengalcats1]

I have an 8X8 and it's not as big as you think, I have 15 bantams in it at the moment and I wish it were bigger, there really isn't to much room at all

 

[Bengalcats1]

oops double post

 

[Noymira]

When our coop is finished it will be 10'X10' and we have 14 chickens, I don't think your coop is going to be too big at all!