Coop advice/ chicken math

[Mootay]

I have 6 hens in a coop that can room up to 8. I have 4 chicks in the brooder. Assuming I get lucky and all 4 are pullets, I'm 2 chickens over my coop space limits.... Am I better to build an extension on their run, and house all 10 chickens, or get a second coop? We let them free range during the day in our backyard, but in the rainy PNW winter, they tend to stay in the coop/ run on heavy rain days. Looking for advice on what's best to do (coop run extension or new coop!) Thanks!

Here's my current coop & dimensions:
Run part: 9.16 ft Length x 7 ft wide (6.26 ft height)
Overall run SQ ft: 64.9 ft
Closed in area: 2.8 ft wide x 7 ft wide (3.5 ft height, at roof peak)
Closed in SQ ft: 18.6 ft
Egg boxes: currently 3, can be set up to 6

Thanks all!

 

[MountainWoman73]

That looks super small, even for 8. Rule of thumb is 3-4 square feet inside, per bird. 10 sqft outside. So by that math your coop is big enough for 4-5 hens and the run big enough for 6ish. They only need one nest box for every 4 hens, so 3 should be enough.

I'd get started on a new coop! Looks like a cute design. If you like it, maybe you could copy it and just double the size?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not a believer in coop space limits, whether that is square feet per chicken in the coop, in the run, per inches of roost length, anything else. Some people do quite well when below those magic numbers, some have problems even when they have more space than that magic limit. These things tend to work until they don't That might be decades, that might be sometime this afternoon, maybe the next time there is a change like when it snows or when you add more chickens.

If yours truly free range every day in your backyard all that space is added to your coop and run space. The magic numbers don't consider that. Even if your chickens tend to stay in the coop or coop/run when it rains in winter, if that door is open they can still get out if they need to. In a strong cold wind or with snow on the ground they may be stuck inside, that might be a time if change.

As long as they can free range I can see that working well for 6 hens. Three nests are plenty for ten hens. My questions are how much roost space will you have at night and what happens on really bad winter days? Do you lock them in there at night? All that other space isn't available if they are locked in the coop at night.

You plan to integrate soon. That's where I think you might have huge problems. How do you plan to integrate, what methods? First you have the introduction phase. Packed tightly that can be really dangerous, I'm thinking more in the coop than when they are all free to roam outside. Like when they are going to bed or waking up. Then after initial introductions are taken care of you still have day to day life. Until my pullets mature enough to start laying eggs they tend to form a separate sub-flock, existing in the vicinity of the adults but keeping a distance. If they invade the personal space of an older hen they tend to get pecked. Immature chickens are below mature chickens in the pecking order. They call it the pecking order for a reason.

As a minimum I'd build a separate shelter for those chicks, including a small run area just for them. Give them a separate place to sleep at night and a place to get out of the weather if they so desire. That should make the initial introduction phase and the day to day go pretty well, at least until you try to get them all in that small coop. You might be able to do that once they are all pretty mature but you might not.

If you plan to get more chickens in the future I'd build a bigger coop, probably a walk-in, big enough to house them all. Save what you have now to use to house the chicks as you integrate them. It might come in handy to house an injured chickens or something like that.

 

[Mootay]

Thank you so much for everyone's feedback! I realized my original math for the interior space doesn't include the two nest boxes, of which, one is set up for laying in, and the other, my weirdo's like to sleep in, all together, because the interior roost bars aren't that great - I need to reinforce them, they ahem, roll or move when a bird jumps on them, which, for some reason, chickens don't seem to enjoy log rolling.

Aaaanyways, bearing that in mind, if you add in my nest box space, the total closed in SQ footage is now 25.3 ft, still probably not much for more than 8 birds.

Closed in area: 2.8 ft wide x 7 ft wide (3.5 ft height, at roof peak)
Nest box area: 6.78 ft (33.7 in x 14.5 inches = 3.39 sq ft x 2 boxes= 6.78)
Total Closed in SQ ft (including Nest boxes): Now 25.3 ft, Was 18.6 ft
Egg boxes: 3

I've been doing some measuring, and I think with design #2, I can build out from what I have now, pretty easily, and then I've increased not only my closed in space, but also my run, which will be great for our rainy PNW winters. I like Design 2 best, but y'all let me know what you think.

Design 1 would require taking off one side of my coop, and building out a side box, (and I could add a wee bit of run space underneath too.)

Design 2 would be to build an extra 2 ft of length onto my coop now, so I'd end up with an inside space of 5 x 7 ft, which would be approx 35 sq ft, plus the 6.78 ft of nest boxes, for an overall 41.78 sq ft, or, 3.48 ft per chicken, at 10 birds total.

In regards to integration, I have a rather large dog crate (likely an XL), that is all wire, that I was going to put outside for 2 weeks during the day for the 6 wk old pullets to meet and greet the current flock. (They would sleep inside in an XL dog crate that they currently live in.) Once the 2 wk/curiosity seems to be over, I was going to start letting the young pullets free range in the yard with the hens, and eventually let them join in at night.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Nest boxes do not count as interior space, FYI. Chickens shouldn't be sleeping in the nest boxes.

Design 2 is a far better layout. Problem with Design 1 is it becomes this narrow-ish shape, difficult to lay out stuff in.

 

[Mootay]

Thanks so much! I'll add some additional length on the build out then, to make sure I hit at least 40 ft (not including the nest boxes!)

I did get the girl's roosting poles fixed last night, and convinced a few of them to roost last night!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I did get the girl's roosting poles fixed last night, and convinced a few of them to roost last night!

That's great! I was going to suggest securing those first but didn't want to tell you to fix them if you were going to be renovating anyhow.

 

[Mootay]

Ha! It needed to happen! It'll take me at least a couple days to design the build out, create a cut list, and purchase materials to get started anyways...might as well start training them how to use the roosts now!