Chicken coop how many hens?

[lesley assu]

so I have a question, I'm new to this so bare with me. I have a 4x3x8 coop with 4 nesting boxes , ladder , and roost, with an adjoining 10x20 outdoor space and place for hens to get out of the rain and clean "outside coop" for the hens to play in .
My question is, how many hens could i safely put in this space?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

so I have a question, I'm new to this so bare with me. I have a 4x3x8 coop with 4 nesting boxes , ladder , and roost, with an adjoining 10x20 outdoor space and place for hens to get out of the rain and clean "outside coop" for the hens to play in .
My question is, how many hens could i safely put in this space?

Welcome to BYC!!

For clarity's sake - is your 4x3x8 the LxWxH and is it in feet? For space calculation it is generally done in square feet which would use just the length and width of the coop - so if that is the 4x3 portion of your measurements and it is in feet that would give you a footprint of 12 square feet. Are you planning to have the feed/water inside the coop or out? If inside the coop, you need to remember to deduct the space occupied by those items from the available space you have for birds to occupy.

Will you be keeping bantam birds or large fowl?

What is the climate in which you live?

Generally speaking, for large fowl hens it is advisable to allow a minimum of 4 square feet per bird inside the coop and 10 square feet in the run. This can be tweaked one way or another with various details (such as those in the questions above).

 

[Chicken Girl1]

Hello

and Welcome to BYC!

Be sure to make yourself at home! x2 on the advice given to you.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Welcome!

I'm glad you joined our community.

Ol Grey Mare has given you some good advice.

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm glad you joined our "flock!"

X2 on Ol Grey Mare.

 

[lesley assu]

So the food and water is outside, and those are the measurements LxWxH, so I can walk inside and collect eggs and clean it out etc.
The climate here is quite warm, mild, with rain. The hens do free range in the day, unless I suspect a predator in which case I lock them in the run for a day.i have roosts going around the top and over head but they seem to crowd together while sleeping.
Overall my 3 hens seem very happy but I wanted to add 3 more , without upsizing my coop. If I have to I will .

 

[KernH]

Welcome! Kern

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[lesley assu]

Thank you everyone, on the subject of the coop I went and bought lumber to double its size

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.