Coop and Run Help and Number of Chickens I'm Able to Keep

[r-l-newell]

I am in the process of building a Chicken Coop and a Run. I am thinking about building the Coop 8 foot wide and about 4 foot tall and either 4 foot or 6 foot deep and a 16 foot Run for them. I am thinking of getting one Rooster and the rest Laying Hens. How many chickens can I have in this size of coop and run? Should I make the Coop 4 foot or 6 foot deep?

 

[r-l-newell]

Please. I need some assistance and haven't got a single response.

 

[verlaj]

I'm no expert, but what I have read is a minimum of 4 sq ft floor space in the coop per standard size bird.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
Conventional wisdom is bigger is better, and you need a minimum of 4 sf per bird. So 8X6 would give you 48 sf. that would be about 1 roo and 11 hens max. For the run space I think it's 10 sf per bird. So you would need 16X8 for 128 sf. Remember that is a minimum.

Hope this helps

Imp- If you can free range then you can get by with less. Good luck.

Also Welcome to BYC

 

[Bailey1234]

Because you are talking about a coop that is 4' tall you have to concider what will happen when you try to clean it out. Six feet will be too deep to reach in with a rake.
Beyond that bit of wisdom, it would be hard for anyone to say what you should build based on the limited amount of information you have given. Things you need to answer are:
Breed of chicken.
Quantity.
Climate.
Cleaning regiment you are willing to keep up with.
Preditor risk.
City codes.
Neighbors.

 

[annek]

For standard chickens I have seen the recommendation of 4' per chicken inside and 10' per chicken run. That would give you 24' for the 4' and 48' for the 6'. So the chicken inside would be 8-12 if my math is correct. Outside your run is I assume 16x8=128' so it would be 12-13 chickens max. More space is always better.

I would build bigger myself. Also, on the 4' height. I don't know if you are in a warm climate. If so, cut the number of chickens or increase the hieght for ventilation.

Geeze you guys are much faster typists than I am! Two answers while I am typing mine!

 

[r-l-newell]

Quote:
I live in Central Texas on 5 1/2 acres of land and have no Codes to worry about. As I said I am new so I have no idea what breed of chicken to get. I was planning on having the run to be eight feet tall. Predator wise we have Racoons and Oppossums and hawks and etc. I have a six and a half year old son that will be helping me clean it up.

 

[patandchickens]

If the run will be 8x16 (if I am understanding you right), I would for sure not put any more than 16 chickens in there, and even that would be pushing it (it's only 8 sq ft of run per chicken and 2 sq ft per chicken indoors... you'd want peaceful chickens, a really pleasant cool interesting run, and *good luck*)

Personally I would not put more than half a dozen, max, in that size area.

Or, of course, you could do anything in between

Actually you *could* make the coop 6 ft deep if you had access doors on *both* sides for cleaning -- but realize that when you ahve to catch hens for various reasons, and I promise you that sometimes you WILL, it will be an exceedingly unpleasant process for all concerned, as you lock yourself in there and crawl around in the poo trying to corner them. For a 4' high reach-in type coop, 4' wide is a LOT more functional width.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bailey1234]

If you want to keep the building expense down with your coop then go with 7'6"x3'. That way, One 4x8 sheet can make up the roof. In your climate that will house 6 birds comfortably, assuming that they will have access to an outside run daily. It also makes for an easy reach in to clean if the longest part of your coop will be a series of doors.
Were I starting over, just wanting a few eggs for the family, I'd select 3 "workhorse" layers along with one unique bird for each member of the family. Let the man of the house select the roo, kids get a hen each and so on. As long as they all start out as chicks together they will get along fine.
I'd make the pen as big and secure as you can reasonably afford to make it. It would include a few outside perches and plenty of shade. Then I'd set up a table and chairs for everyone to sit around and watch the birds. Your son is the perfect age to get started in learning the pride in taking good care of animals so make it really easy to clean in order for him to accomplish his task well.

 

[kidd42]

We have 9 hens. Our coop is the playhouse coop that is pictured in the small coop section. The footprint is 8'x8'. The hen house area is 8' x 3' and 4' high from floor of hen house to top of hen house. There is storage above the hen house up to the peak of the covered run roof. I added a temporary outdoor run which is 8' wide x 12' long x 4' tall. This fall when I have more time I am going to build a permanent run that will be 8' x 16' x 5' tall. You can check out our coop on our page. The outside run is not in the photo. Hope this helps.