Chicken Math is real. 0 to 10 in 72 hrs.

[ChickaChicka1]

Welcome!! I love your story! Welcome to chicken math...

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

If you already have the smaller coop, don't despair. They are useful as brooders, hospitals, and just as extra shelter in the run.

The coop is being delivered to TSC for pickup in a few days, but I wanted to build one myself anyway, so they'll probably have a second coop by summer.

By my calculations, even with the single coop I'll have 9' of roosting bars and ~13-14 sq ft of interior space in the coop counting the nest boxes. So everyone would have a minimum of 9" of roost space (since you can't split a chicken across 3 roost bars) and about a square foot of coop space for now.
I do plan on giving them some "free range" time by giving them a daytime run or tractor that's larger than the more secure night time "run" that I purchased.

I had used

from Carolina Coops to sanity check my calcs and what they said about needing less coop space if you free range or have a larger run makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

A suggestion for the near future: either set up the coop and move the chicks and heat lamp out to the coop. Or get a great big cardboard box (like 4 feet square) and move both sets of chicks into it.

Thanks for the advice. Their current bins are both about 18"x27". The two oldest ones seemed a touch aggressive on day one after just adding the two barred rocks, so we thought it might be better to keep all the littles away from them at first. Perhaps that idea was misguided. Might look into alternate housing, but hoping to have the outdoor coop setup within 2 weeks.

Umm, have you yet read how inaccurate those estimates are? Given the listed dimensions of that coop, I would not try to keep more than 4 or 5 chickens in it.

They can get by with about half as much space per chicken between about 4 weeks and 8 weeks, and a bit less when they are younger yet.

For sure. I assumed the high estimate was best case scenario, housing bantams, etc, etc.

in general, the more space you give them, the more peaceful your flock will be.

For sure, the plan for this is to be more of a suburban spa than a maximum security prison.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks for the advice. Their current bins are both about 18"x27". The two oldest ones seemed a touch aggressive on day one after just adding the two barred rocks, so we thought it might be better to keep all the littles away from them at first. Perhaps that idea was misguided. Might look into alternate housing, but hoping to have the outdoor coop setup within 2 weeks.

Having a bigger space makes an enormous difference in how they get along.

Yes, chicks are individuals, and your chicks may not behave the same as "most" chicks. But in general, adding more new ones at the same time will spread out any aggression, so each new chick gets picked on less.

For newly-hatched chicks that do not walk well yet, older chicks can definitely be dangerous. So it is best to wait a few days, so they can walk and run well, before trying to combine them with older chicks. But once they reach that point, sooner is usually better than waiting longer.

For sure. I assumed the high estimate was best case scenario, housing bantams, etc, etc.

That's good. Plenty of new chicken-keeps get fooled by the estimates on pre-fab coops. (That is understandable, given that we are used to accurate labels on so many other products: a 50 pound bag of feed really does weigh 50 pounds, a dozen eggs or doughnuts really does mean 12 of them, and so forth. But unfortunately estimates for how many chickens cannot be trusted that way.)

 

[DobieLover]

about a square foot of coop space for now.

This is factory conditions and extremely overcrowded. This is the reason factory birds are debeaked in these conditions. They will literally peck each other to death because they are so overcrowded.

13-14 sq ft of interior space in the coop counting the nest boxes

The nest boxes are not to be included in the floor space per bird planning.

 

[Marie2020]

Hello

 

[NatJ]

This is factory conditions and extremely overcrowded. This is the reason factory birds are debeaked in these conditions. They will literally peck each other to death because they are so overcrowded.

For chicks up to about 3 or 4 weeks old, 1 square foot each should be fine. But past that point, I agree: it is not enough.

If the chicks are currently less than a week old, that would mean they've got another 2 or 3 weeks in which that coop should be large enough.

The nest boxes are not to be included in the floor space per bird planning.

I agree. The nests are for laying eggs, not for hanging out and spending time otherwise. The 4 square feet per chicken guideline is for actual floor space, not space filled up with feeder, waterer, nests, or anything else.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

I usually put my feeders and waterers up on a few bricks. That generally keeps most of the bedding out of them.

Yes I too elevate the feed and water with bricks, make sure they all know where the food and water first and can access it easily before elevating.

BTW, the bricks and pavers I had laying around have worked wonderfully. Thanks!

 

[janiedoe]

BTW, the bricks and pavers I had laying around have worked wonderfully. Thanks!

I'm glad it worked out. Have you dropped in on the Texas thread yet?