Coop addition questions...

[MontanaDolphin]

Quick background: In January 2013 hubby and I purchased our first home on 8 1/2 mostly wooded acres. The property came with a coop attached to a shed that was obviously used as a slaughter house by the previous owners. Here is a pic of it before I fixed up the coop:



This past spring I had considered converting the shed into another part of the coop. I only ended up with 9 chickens, though (1 BR cockerel, 2 BR pullets, and 6 Commercial Black (BR hatchery cross) pullets) so I just kept them in the coop. The coop measures 8 ft long by 4 ft wide and has 9 nesting boxes. I built a covered run to protect the chickens, and the arrangement has worked out well.

Over the summer I acquired two new additions to my small farm...5 week-old Boer cross doeling goats. I ended up converting the shed that's attached to the coop into the goats' shelter.


Chicken math is going to come into play the beginning of 2014. I plan on getting more chickens. I know the 8x4 coop just won't cut it. So, the plan is to do what I was originally going to do...to convert the now "goat shed" into a coop addition. I have another shelter already built for the goats inside one of there browsing enclosures. I was just going to use that smaller shed as a shelter for the goats if the weather is bad. Now I plan on making it their permanent home. I just have to finish sealing the roof and putting a latching door on it (to keep them predator safe).

The current goat shed...soon to be coop addition...measures 12 ft long by 8 ft wide. Along with the current coop (again, measuring 8 ft x 4 ft), how many chickens can I have TOTAL without having to worry about overcrowding issues? I wanna know how many chicks I can get come spring
Thanks!

 

[BorneHomestead]

Its not the coop so much that you need to worry about, its the run size if you do not plan on free ranging them. They need more room in the run than they do the coop. Its 8 sq ft per chicken for the run and 4 sq ft per chicken for the coop.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

They free-range.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I know that someone at some point came up with a square foot dimension that you need per bird both for inside the coop and for the run I don't really go by that number myself. I base decision of how many I can fit in my coop by watching the birds themselves. If i went by 4sq feet per bird I would be well over the limit. However there is enough roosting space for all of them and they are only locked in the coop at night during the day they are able to utilize both the coop and run. I feel as long as you keep the coop clean and the birds are happy healthy and not pecking at each other over space then you're fine regardless of if you have the "required" space per bird. But that is just my opinion.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Very Welcome

 

[4 the Birds]

Quick background: In January 2013 hubby and I purchased our first home on 8 1/2 mostly wooded acres. The property came with a coop attached to a shed that was obviously used as a slaughter house by the previous owners. Here is a pic of it before I fixed up the coop:



This past spring I had considered converting the shed into another part of the coop. I only ended up with 9 chickens, though (1 BR cockerel, 2 BR pullets, and 6 Commercial Black (BR hatchery cross) pullets) so I just kept them in the coop. The coop measures 8 ft long by 4 ft wide and has 9 nesting boxes. I built a covered run to protect the chickens, and the arrangement has worked out well.

Over the summer I acquired two new additions to my small farm...5 week-old Boer cross doeling goats. I ended up converting the shed that's attached to the coop into the goats' shelter.


Chicken math is going to come into play the beginning of 2014. I plan on getting more chickens. I know the 8x4 coop just won't cut it. So, the plan is to do what I was originally going to do...to convert the now "goat shed" into a coop addition. I have another shelter already built for the goats inside one of there browsing enclosures. I was just going to use that smaller shed as a shelter for the goats if the weather is bad. Now I plan on making it their permanent home. I just have to finish sealing the roof and putting a latching door on it (to keep them predator safe).

The current goat shed...soon to be coop addition...measures 12 ft long by 8 ft wide. Along with the current coop (again, measuring 8 ft x 4 ft), how many chickens can I have TOTAL without having to worry about overcrowding issues? I wanna know how many chicks I can get come spring
Thanks!

Cute Goats! Our chickens love to hang out in the goat house often. The minimum order through a hatchery is usually 15 so that may be a good number to add in the Spring. One or two of the chicks often turn out to be a rooster. :-( I have roughly the same space and 30 chickens. The key is to have a lot of roost bars and a good coop design. I very much like using a poop table below my roost bars for handy cleanup and this also gives space below the tables to hang feeders or waterers. The goats will need a shed regardless of the weather so that they have shade and shelter from the weather. I have a heated horse bucket in our goat shed and a roof over the hay feeder. The goat house has a loafing bench similar to yours that one of the goats likes to rest on at night.