coop and run size question

[dakotaschickens]

In your opinion would a 5' x 5' coop plus a 13'x 5' run be big enough for 16 chicken? , I have 10 hens so and one rooster and would like to get more. Also they do get to free range bout 3 times a week

 

[ChickenMammX4]

I like to give my chickens a lot of room so
In my opinion, no. I have 6 hens, the coop is 8' x 9' the run is 8' x 16'. My hens are a good size and would only consider adding 2 or 3 more.

 

[The Chicken Fan]

We started out with a 4' x 4' coop and a 4' x 8' run. We let them free range couple times each day but eventually got tired of having to watch where ya walk. So we added this fence to there run. Now there yard is huge! Don't know the exact dimensions but plenty of room for 10 girls. When we leave we shut them into the main run which is protected and would be very difficult for an animal to get in.

 

[dakotaschickens]

Yeah maybe I will just try the fence idea. I would let them free range all day , but they are pretty good at tearing up my garden

 

[The Chicken Fan]

Yeah maybe I will just try the fence idea. I would let them free range all day , but they are pretty good at tearing up my garden

It works. I just check on them every hour or so. They flew up on my porch and liked my flowers.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

we fenced the garden so the free ranging chooks can't get into it. That figured out to be the cheapest method for us. Plus, the dogs are in that fenced in garden area so... chooks don't particularly want to go in there now. They do like to visit the hogs in their paddocks though.

 

[barneveldrerman]

In your opinion would a 5' x 5' coop plus a 13'x 5' run be big enough for 16 chicken? , I have 10 hens so and one rooster and would like to get more. Also they do get to free range bout 3 times a week

No it is not big enough. The coop is only big enough for 6 hens. Your run is also isn't big enough. The MINIMUM is 4sq. Feet per hen for the coop. For the run in general about 10sq.feet per hen.

Hope this helped!

 

[Emma Miriam]

Agreed...the minimum space is 3-4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 8-10 square feet in the run. Those smaller numbers are for bantams, the larger for large fowl. So you could only keep 6 large fowl chickens or 7-8 bantams with the accomodations you have.

You have 11 right now, so I would HIGHLY recommend adding onto your coop and run...and I certainly wouldn't get any more chooks until you do so. 16 chickens would require 64 square feet in the coop and 160 square feet in the run, which would mean more than doubling your existing setup. As it is, you should really double your space just for the chickens you have. I know how hard Chicken Math can be, but with too little space, you can run into all sorts of behavioral problems (such as pecking, which can lead to injuries or even cannibalism), and you won't have happy chickens.

Here's a post that might be helpful if you can't do a big coop addition right away:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/03/maximizing-space-available-when-adding.html

Hope that helps!

 

[aart]

In your opinion would a 5' x 5' coop plus a 13'x 5' run be big enough for 16 chicken? , I have 10 hens so and one rooster and would like to get more. Also they do get to free range bout 3 times a week

It's not even near big enough for the 11 you have, poor birds...I would not keep more than 4 in a setup that size.

 

[dakotaschickens]

Alrighty sounds like I have some construction to do