Chicken Coop Requirement Clarification

[aart]

Hello Everyone!
I'm new to this forum. I'm in the process of beginning the initial steps to becoming a chicken owner, and that begins with research.

Welcome to BYC!
Kudos for researching.
@Pork Pie provided a great link on Space.
Much may depend on your goals for keeping chickens...
....and.....
Climate is always a factor.
Where in this world are you located?
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[purslanegarden]

Nice use of the pallet wood. I like the board-on-board look of the walls.

I would take the recommendations for space and then go with the biggest, most reasonable size that you can accomodate on your property.

Bigger to start is not bad because chicken people know, they can always end up with more chickens!

 

[GC-Raptor]

You think, even though its only roughly 5ft wide, that the fact it runs 50+ feet along the side of my property isn't big enough to free range? I'm on a 1/3 acre, and that dog run is easily 1/4 of the acreage.

16 chickens in that dog run of 250 square feet. All the grass will be gone in less than a month.
5 chickens turned a 500 square foot grass run into a wasteland in 2 1/2 months here. It was an established lawn for 50 years.

You can see the grass on the other side of the fence. The inside of the pen was just as green. GC

 

[GC-Raptor]

how big should I build the actual coop for 16 birds? Not any part of the run, just the actual coop they'll sleep in at night.

If your run is uncovered and it rains or snows or is cold and windy. The chickens will look for shelter. 4 square feet is minimum under those conditions.
My coops are raised, 18 inches high. I recommend a raised coop. More room to shelter.

If you build a raised coop you may be able to cut back to 3 square feet per chicken inside for roosting at night. 16 feet of roost bar space for 16 chickens. I have 12 feet of roost for 7 hens in my new raised coop, but it's only 22.5 square feet.

Under the new coop.

They can shelter underneath or inside. Having a raised coop doubles the area to get out of rain or sun in hot weather. GC

 

[flyin-lowe]

You think, even though its only roughly 5ft wide, that the fact it runs 50+ feet along the side of my property isn't big enough to free range? I'm on a 1/3 acre, and that dog run is easily 1/4 of the acreage.

I think definition free range chickens are not confined to a run. That is what I was pointing out.

 

[aart]

You think, even though its only roughly 5ft wide, that the fact it runs 50+ feet along the side of my property isn't big enough to free range? I'm on a 1/3 acre, and that dog run is easily 1/4 of the acreage.

I think definition free range chickens are not confined to a run. That is what I was pointing out.

Agrees with @flyin-lowe.
My main run is 8' x 50' with ~18 in winter and 30+ in spring/summer(with an additional 8x12 run) definitely not free range....they are 'confined'.