Chicken Expansion

[PRUrbanFarmer]

Alright, so I'm already thinking about spring 2016 and doing an expansion of our chicken fleet. We current have 6 beautiful Sussex hens, and I'd love to get another 12 hens.

My current coop is about 6ft wide x 5ft long and tall enough I can stand in there. Now I need an idea how many chickens I can fit in there. And whether I should just build an addition to the current coop or build a new bigger one.

For the most part the coop is only used inn e evenings for sleep as the door closes fully. And I like having the chickens roam free range on our one acre property.

 

[PRUrbanFarmer]

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

6 x 5 = 30 sq. ft. floor space, Recommended norm per chicken in coop is 4 sq. ft. if free ranged, you can actually get away with 2-3 sq. ft. per hen in the house. If all they do is sleep and lay eggs in the house then the roost space will be most important.

I find it easier to just do an addition rather than build a whole new building, it will depend on your situation. If you have space for an addition, that would be the easy way out, and you know you still have something for the hens while the project is ongoing.

Of course you also have the option of just putting in a second house for the new birds and leaving the current flock where they are, but that means care of two coops instead of only one.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I'd either build another bigger coop, or find a way to dramatically enlarge this one. Your current building is great for the birds you already have, and twelve more is another fifty to sixty additional sq. ft. of coop space. More room is always better! Mary

 

[Emma Miriam]

Hi! As Bryant Redhawk said, 2-3 square feet for free range birds is the absolute minimum in the coop. So for 18 birds, I wouldn't have less than 50 square feet in the coop, and many here on BYC would recommend as much as 70 square feet. Your coop is really nice looking, so it would be sad to scrap it! But if you're doing an addition, I would at least double the size of the coop. Perhaps 6x10 or 5x12. And Mary is right that bigger is always better...especially if you ever see yourself brooding more chicks in the future!

Your current 6x5 coop could, I would say, comfortably accomodate up to 10 birds, as long as you have 1 square foot of roost space per chicken and one nesting box for every 3-4 hens. You might be able to squeeze 12 birds in there, but I would never put more than that.

Hope that helps!

 

[aart]

Alright, so I'm already thinking about spring 2016 and doing an expansion of our chicken fleet. We current have 6 beautiful Sussex hens, and I'd love to get another 12 hens.

My current coop is about 6ft wide x 5ft long and tall enough I can stand in there. Now I need an idea how many chickens I can fit in there. And whether I should just build an addition to the current coop or build a new bigger one.

For the most part the coop is only used inn e evenings for sleep as the door closes fully. And I like having the chickens roam free range on our one acre property.

What is your climate?

 

[PRUrbanFarmer]

Moderate climate. West coast of bc, winters rarely go below freezing. Summers can be warm and a little long.