Can my coop be to large?

[sunflowerenvy]

Quote:
no no heck no the bigger the better you will need a space to storage all your chicken stuff, cages for the sick, food water hen decide sit to on some eggs ,nest boxes. your bedding hay or pine shaving by this time next year i bet u will have more chicken than 10.
when i first got into chicken again i only want 4 now iam up to 19 and still counting 5 more coming that was 10 month ago

 

[wolfandfinch]

Quote:
what kind toys, do chickens use toys?

 

[ARose4Heaven]

No such thing as too big. Ever hear of "chicken math"? You will. Once you have chickens...multiplication starts to happen. Keeping chickens is kinda like eating potato chips... Just one more can't hurt.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

I know all about chicken math. I have a 48 x 36 eight stall barn. It has a 12' isle with 12 x 12 stalls. Half of the barn has been converted to chicken coops. It's still growing. A coop is never to big.

 

[farmer_lew]

In my humble opinion, you can't have too big a coop. When you are designing a coop, build it bigger than you think you'll need. You will be glad you did when you add to your flock (and you will, thanks to the phenomenon known as "Chicken Math").

 

[The Sheriff]

This is a joke, right?

You got me for a minute!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
No no no, there is no such thing as too large a coop even up north. I know there is a large school of thought that says "cram 'em in real tight and they will keep each other warm" but primarily what that does is keep 'em DAMP and many people who do it that way get frostbit chickens ANYhow. (Which unfortunately just feeds this myth, because they think 'see, if they got frostbit keeping each other warm just imagine how much worse if they had more space...'

IMO the smartest thing to do if you believe cold to be a serious threat, especially if you are going to heat anyways, is to knock together a temporarily-partitioned-off area around the roost to put your lamp in. (THis can also let you use a lower-wattage bulb which is safer). I am not talking about an unventilated fully solid structure all the way surrounding them, just enough barriers around and above to hold some of the heat around them on the roost. The rest of the coop can just be whatever temperature it wants to be, and they are likely to use it anyhow

and will do much better with all that space to DO THINGS and be chickens and get away from each other when they need to. (I have noticed that chickens behave really differently with, like, 15 sq ft per hen indoors [plus run] than at just 4 sq ft per hen indoors [plus run]).

As others have noted, it also leaves more options for expanding the flock... but remember then you lose the behavioral benefits of the larger space availability.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bobby Joe]

I just got into chickens about 3 weeks ago i converted a 10x10 shed added a 10x 10 covered run . I thought this would be plenty big enough as I was only gonna have 1 roo and 6 or 7 hens . Well this didnt work out so good because I have since gotten another roo and a total of 11 hens . Yes I am obsessed with chickens already , trust me my DW reminds me daily, OH YEAH did i mention I built a incubator and have 47 eggs in it ............ I am waiting on the snow to melt so I can add to the run and the coop. Trust Me make it all really BIG.

 

[Judy]

I've come to the conclusion, reading here a while now, that the best beginner coop for most people is a walkin 8' X 8' with the roof slanted to one side with an overhang. You make your main vent at the highest part of the coop and it has a built in weather barrier; easy enough to add a shutter if needed. Nests inside to save money and work, and because you need to check on them and find the eggs that missed the nest box anyway. Usually room to store feed and such. Also, room to stay in on bad weather days for a moderate number of birds. Excellent economical use of materials; anything smaller and you won't spend much less anyway. Indoor nests can be cardboard boxes or anything else lying around. Make the pop door downwind so you can give them the choice of going out, which they will in all but heavy storms, esp. if you shovel the snow out of their way. Holds 16 large birds safely, is a wonderful place for them if you have fewer, and can be added onto fairly easily if you want more. Uses standard material sizes well. You can increase floor space easily with a walkin by simply raising the nests high enough that they can walk under them, and there is still room to put the roost higher than the nests. Makes cleaning and working with them a lot easier, esp. if it is windy or raining or whatever. Small short coops are almost impossible to vent well without creating a draft on the birds, and are simply smaller than chickens like; I would not have one except as something like a sick room, broody coop, breeder, etc.

Unlike many on here, I don't keep adding bird after bird without some culling going on at the same time. My coop is about 11x17, big enough in this climate for a lot more than 14 birds (and 7 eggs under a broody.) There are SO many reasons I'm glad it's not smaller.

 

[BayouPoules]

Coop too big??? Yeah right...