Chicken Coop & Run, how many chickens?

[littlegardenhomestead]

Hi everyone! I’m looking for a little advice as a beginner.


I recently purchased a 4×6 Dutch-style coop, and my husband will be adding a 6×10 roofed run attached to it so the chickens will have access to the run at all times. We plan to predator-proof everything with ½-inch galvanized hardware cloth buried about 2 feet down plus an apron, since we have a lot of fox in our area.


Our town allows up to 10 hens and 1 rooster, but I’m planning to start with 6–8 chickens. I’m wondering if this setup would comfortably allow us to grow the flock in the future or if that would be overcrowding.


We have about an acre, so there’s plenty of room for them to free range. However, we also have a lot of hawks, so I’m hesitant to let them roam unsupervised. I do have several garden beds that I tend to daily in the spring and summer (we get a lot of snow here in the winter), so my plan was to let them free range when I’m outside working in the garden and can keep an eye on them.


With this setup, would you recommend sticking to 8 hens, 8 hens and 1 rooster, or could it realistically support 10 hens and 1 rooster down the line without overcrowding?


I just want to make sure they have enough space and are happy. Let me know your thoughts!


And yes… I’m already aware of chicken math

 

[NatJ]

I recently purchased a 4×6 Dutch-style coop, and my husband will be adding a 6×10 roofed run attached to it so the chickens will have access to the run at all times.

Our town allows up to 10 hens and 1 rooster, but I’m planning to start with 6–8 chickens. I’m wondering if this setup would comfortably allow us to grow the flock in the future or if that would be overcrowding.

I gather you haven't seen the common recommendations for each chicken to have 4 square feet of space in the coop and 10 square feet of space in the run. If you follow that guideline, your coop at 4x6 feet would only be big enough for 6 chickens, and your run at 6x10 feet would be big enough for those same 6 chickens.

 

[davemonkey]

Ditto the above. Based on "the going recommended rates", you have enough room planned for 6 chickens.
That's going to vary somewhat based on size of the birds, whether and how often they can get out of the run into other free-space, and what your expectations are as far as coop cleaning, run maintenance, etc. But, yeah...6 birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

Where are you located? If you modify your profile you can add that information so it will always be available. Your location can have a big influence in how we answer questions. In this specific question I'm wondering about your winter weather.

I recently purchased a 4×6 Dutch-style coop, and my husband will be adding a 6×10 roofed run

As NatJ said, the general rule of thumb used on here points to 6 chickens maximum. That does not mean that if you add one or two more that it will be an absolute disaster. Nor does it mean that you will not have issues with six. We need a recommendation and the 4 and 10 works for a lot of people.

I’m wondering if this setup would comfortably allow us to grow the flock in the future or if that would be overcrowding.

If you deal with living animals, eventually you will have to deal with dead animals. Even if you don't grow your flock, eventually you may wish to bring the numbers back up. It generally takes more room to integrate new chickens than they need once they are integrated. Once you get to that point let us know and we can help you with details on how to do that, even with limited space.

We have about an acre, so there’s plenty of room for them to free range. However, we also have a lot of hawks, so I’m hesitant to let them roam unsupervised. I do have several garden beds that I tend to daily in the spring and summer so my plan was to let them free range when I’m outside working in the garden and can keep an eye on them.

This is nice but it really does not help with the spacing requirements. They need space when they need space. If the need arises it does not help that you have all that other space available some other time. It is not available when they need it..

(we get a lot of snow here in the winter),

This is one example of why your weather is important. Chickens generally don't go out if they wake up to a white world (it snowed overnight). So although that run is there, if they refuse to use it then all they have available is the coop space. While the four square feet per chicken will probably still be enough things just got a whole lot tighter. It is circumstances like this where some people get in trouble. This is why some people in snow country wrap their runs to keep snow out or go out and shovel snow.

 

[littlegardenhomestead]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

Where are you located? If you modify your profile you can add that information so it will always be available. Your location can have a big influence in how we answer questions. In this specific question I'm wondering about your winter weather.


As NatJ said, the general rule of thumb used on here points to 6 chickens maximum. That does not mean that if you add one or two more that it will be an absolute disaster. Nor does it mean that you will not have issues with six. We need a recommendation and the 4 and 10 works for a lot of people.


If you deal with living animals, eventually you will have to deal with dead animals. Even if you don't grow your flock, eventually you may wish to bring the numbers back up. It generally takes more room to integrate new chickens than they need once they are integrated. Once you get to that point let us know and we can help you with details on how to do that, even with limited space.


This is nice but it really does not help with the spacing requirements. They need space when they need space. If the need arises it does not help that you have all that other space available some other time. It is not available when they need it..


This is one example of why your weather is important. Chickens generally don't go out if they wake up to a white world (it snowed overnight). So although that run is there, if they refuse to use it then all they have available is the coop space. While the four square feet per chicken will probably still be enough things just got a whole lot tighter. It is circumstances like this where some people get in trouble. This is why some people in snow country wrap their runs to keep snow out or go out and shovel snow.

Sussex County, New Jersey

 

[Ridgerunner]

Summers not bad but snow in winter. Also you can get some strong cold winds that will keep them in the coop section. I think you just went through a Nor'easter that would have kept them in the coop only for a while.

 

[littlegardenhomestead]

Summers not bad but snow in winter. Also you can get some strong cold winds that will keep them in the coop section. I think you just went through a Nor'easter that would have kept them in the coop only for a while.

This past winter was awful. We got over 18 inches of snow. I did see a lot of people winter wrapping their coops and runs with plastic or tarps, which we plan to do as well. My hope is that it will encourage them to still go out into the run during the winter so they have more space, but like you said, I know I can’t really control whether they’ll want to leave the coop if it’s too cold.

We currently have 2 Orpington chicks, 2 Easter Eggers, 1 Barred Rock, and 1 Black Australorp. Our main goal was simply to have enough eggs for our family of four, since we’re trying to move more toward sustainability and producing more of our own food.

 

[littlegardenhomestead]

As NatJ said, the general rule of thumb used on here points to 6 chickens maximum. That does not mean that if you add one or two more that it will be an absolute disaster. Nor does it mean that you will not have issues with six. We need a recommendation and the 4 and 10 works for a lot of people.

Also, the coop we purchased did say it could hold 10–12 chickens. I’ll attach photos. When we bought it, the store told us it would safely hold that many birds. Since our town only allows 10 hens and 1 rooster, I originally thought it would be plenty of space.

It’s a little frustrating because I can’t return it, and I was hoping to eventually have around 10 chickens. So it’s possible my husband may end up expanding the coop later on if we decide to add more to the flock in the future.

 

[NatJ]

Also, the coop we purchased did say it could hold 10–12 chickens. I’ll attach photos. When we bought it, the store told us it would safely hold that many birds. Since our town only allows 10 hens and 1 rooster, I originally thought it would be plenty of space.

It’s a little frustrating because I can’t return it, and I was hoping to eventually have around 10 chickens. So it’s possible my husband may end up expanding the coop later on if we decide to add more to the flock in the future.

It is very frustrating when coops have a misleading label like that! It could work for that many chickens in some specific situations, but not in all situations.

It probably does work for 10-12 bantams (extra-small chickens).

In some climates, when the chickens can go outside all day long on every day of the year, it might work well enough for 10-12 standard sized chickens to sleep and lay eggs (although some of them would have to sleep on the lower roost bar and get pooped on by the ones above.)

There are probably some specific groups of 10-12 standard chickens that can live in that coop and do okay, but there are many groups of 10-12 standard chickens that can NOT live happily in that space. Part of it comes down to the individual personalities of the chickens, which you don't know until after you buy the coop and raise the chickens.

I'd prefer to see the label say "about 6 chickens"

 

[littlegardenhomestead]

It is very frustrating when coops have a misleading label like that! It could work for that many chickens in some specific situations, but not in all situations.

It probably does work for 10-12 bantams (extra-small chickens).

In some climates, when the chickens can go outside all day long on every day of the year, it might work well enough for 10-12 standard sized chickens to sleep and lay eggs (although some of them would have to sleep on the lower roost bar and get pooped on by the ones above.)

There are probably some specific groups of 10-12 standard chickens that can live in that coop and do okay, but there are many groups of 10-12 standard chickens that can NOT live happily in that space. Part of it comes down to the individual personalities of the chickens, which you don't know until after you buy the coop and raise the chickens.

I'd prefer to see the label say "about 6 chickens"

Thank you for all your guidance!