coop and run advice

[darlingja]

If you want to keep up consistent egg production, plan on adding chicks every 2 years or so. By year 3 you may start seeing some decline in production. One of my hens completely quit at 3 1/2 yrs, my other older hens (now 4 yrs old) are producing about 3 eggs a week each, compared to my 2 yr olds that are still producing 5-6 a week.

Thank you so much ^_^ I really appreciate your input.
Very excited to start this journey

 

[aart]

Not really.

Can you elaborate please?

I was replying to this:

If you free range them, you can fit twice the chickens in there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As they age, egg production declines. Each hen is different, some may totally stop and other individuals may continue to lay pretty well, but if you have enough for averages to mean anything production will noticeably decline. That's why commercial operations replace their laying flocks every two laying cycles, production drops so much on average that it is no longer profitable to feed them.

Laying is cyclic. They will lay during their laying period but then they will molt and stop laying all together until they get over the molt and start laying again. In our flocks, the molt is typically caused by the days getting shorter so in late fall-early winter you can go through a spell where you get no eggs. In extreme weather, heat in your case but extreme cold for others, production can also decline. Instead of five a week they may lay only three for example. They don't quit but can slow down. Some (not all) pullets that start laying in the fall will continue to lay through their first winter and skip the molt entirely until the next fall. You will have to learn what your cycle is with your flock and your location. We can give you a general cycle but each of us is unique and can have little quirks.

You may want to follow the link in my signature below to get my feelings on space. There are way too many variables for us to all have the same space requirements. We each have our own goals, management techniques, flock make-up, weather, and so many other things that one square feet number does not fit us all. For most of us on here I'd say you are already over the limit, but your weather and plan to allow them access to that run all the time should work out OK.

But you do not have room to add any more. You are at the limit anyway without going through integration. The process of integrating new birds takes more room than if they are already integrated. Even if you lost half your flock integrating any new birds in there would be challenging. If the new birds are immature it gets even harder. If you keep those chickens as pets and let them die of old age you will either have to give up on getting many eggs in the future or build new additional facilities.

 

[Gallinarium]

Not really.

Maybe I should clarify. If your birds stay outside all day, you have a covered area outside where you can put the food and water where they can go when it's raining, you have mild winters, they only ever come in to roost, and you never lock them in it during the day, run or no run, in my experience you can fit twice the chickens in there. And that is the mother of run-on sentences. My grammar teacher would cry.

 

[darlingja]

Maybe I should clarify. If your birds stay outside all day, you have a covered area outside where you can put the food and water where they can go when it's raining, you have mild winters, they only ever come in to roost, and you never lock them in it during the day, run or no run, in my experience you can fit twice the chickens in there. And that is the mother of run-on sentences. My grammar teacher would cry.

Lol..for the run-on part. Thank you for the clarification. As per previous person on here reccomend. I will leave the coop door open to the run. I will predator proof the run. I will let out my chickens to roam the whole backyard during the day and put them in the run at night. I will have feeder and waterer inside the coop, inside the run and 1 waterer out in the yard. My back yard is about 3,000 sq ft give or take. The chickens will be in the run when I have to run errands or pickup/dropoff my kids to school. The run is about 90 sq. ft.

 

[David61]

No more than 10 birds if you want a happy flock. Any more than that and the picking order will isolate some to a corner or back up on the roost. Toys and breaking line of sight helps but rain days closed in run can be hard on the bottom picking order. My little buff O gets run one end to the to the by the two clicks in my flock. Not bad if they get to free range once day but all day in 90sq. My ten girls get cranky and pushy. Even with the door open to the outside 30x10 run they can get fussy without an hour of free ranging the yard. I get bigger and more eggs (9 a day) when free ranged regularly. No free range with limited run time and I was down to six eggs a day two broody hens. I got a new puppy and it cut their free ranging out for a few weeks.
4x6 roost box, 14x6 covered armored run, 10x30 open
netted run. I could put more birds in but they will not be happy about it.