Chicken Math Help Needed!

[youngwagon]

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone can help me with my chicken math. I have just completed my coop, it measures 16 foot wide - 6 foot high - and 8 foot deep. How many chickens can I house in it comfortably? Currently I have 5 white rocks but my wife is wanting more. Any suggestions?

 

[SilkieChickenLover336]

wel if u use chicken math u can have as many as you want buttt i would say would say about 12

 

[NanaLantana]

It depends on the main usage for the coop - my coop is mainly the lockup for safety at night, and for nesting. The chickens can go in and out of it all day if they want, but they also have a large fenced run. My current coop is only 5ftX6ftx7ft tall. (that's because I used a truck topper for the roof!) So, if you're going to keep chickens in that area and not let them out into a run, you can't keep too many. In my little coop, I have 7 chickens, and 3 or 4 more would fit on the roost.

I'm up early, with the chickens, and open the pop door at dawn. I would not want them to be squished together in a small space for long!

 

[Farmer Mitch]

I'm a total newb at this, however, some coop designs are very small and the hens do just fine.

A frame 4&1/2 feet tall, 6 feet long and about 5 foot wide at the bottom and the guy that designed that one has 6 hens in it with two nesting boxes.

I have 4 hens and I made mine bigger by at least 30%, some of ya'll make mansions for these girls. WOW!

 

[jenesis536]

16 x 8 = 128 / 4 per chicken = 32.... but are you using it for coop alone or coop and run? I think you have plenty for the number he mentioned and they would be happy... I personally would never stick 32 in there because than you would need at least a 320 sf run. 4 sq ft per chicken in the coop and 10 sf per chicken in the run is the "guideline". Some people stuff more in there and some people don't. It's better to allow more room because there are fewer issues with crowding and hen pecking, etc.

Chicken math really means that even though you have 5 chickens you figure at some point one will chip a nail so you have to make her feel better by adding 17 more, but 3 of those might be roos, so you have to rehome them... but that means you need 8 more just in case another one is a roo... but then there are those cute silkies so you should really get 10 of those because they are small, so then it becomes coop math... you may only have 5 chickens but you really need a MUCH LARGER COOP and run to accommodate all of the chickens you wil start collecting in the near future.

Glad we could help.

 

[youngwagon]

Thank you everyone for the advice! My girls are loving thier new home, although it is only for night protection. During the days they are running in thier maze of runs.....going on about 300 feet now. Thanks again all

 

[FarmerMack]

Quote:
A Maze of runs I'd love to see photos of that LOL do they get corn at the end of the maze?

 

[youngwagon]

I will get some pics on here before to long, my wife is still laying them out. They run between the currants, blueberries, and grapes. One center run then branchs off throughout the berries. I bet she ends up asking me to keep putting them up over the entire 6 acres

 

[FarmerMack]

Quote:
Chicken maze racing may becoming to a coop near you

 

[FarmerMack]

Quote:
I had 11 hens in a 6x8x 6ft high coop 12 was a stretch , depends on bird size in the end they'll start pecking at each other more often when roost space becomes a premium. I'm currently building an 8x8x 6 coop and i figure it will max out at a dozen hens or so, i currently have 7 chicks and 2 adult hens that will be looking for that top roost... best since they all get the same 2/4 to roost on LOL .