Coop Size and Free Ranging

[Escobear]

So I'm new to this chicken keeping hobby and have a few questions. My wife, who I finally convinced to let me keep chickens, went out and bought me this coop http://buffalo.craigslist.org/grq/3680563960.html. I know one of the first things that people will say is "build your own" and "prefabricated are rubbish." While this may be true, being that my wife was wary about it in the first place, I'm gonna go along with this coop at least for a year.

My first question is, how many hens will this hold? I'm planning on full sized birds, and we will have the coop in our garden with a rough size of 40 feet x 35 feet. I was thinking three or four, but I figured I would ask.

Also, can you free range in the winter? I live in Western New York, where the temperature will get down to the teens in winter (and even single digits on cold days) and it's not unusual to have at least a foot of snow on the ground. We could obviously shovel an area if needed, and we are looking for cold hardy breeds, I just wanted to know if people do it.

 

[Avianman]

When you start asking "how many", you will get all kinds of answers. Some people are downright militant about it! It ranges from 2 to 5 sq ft per bird.

but I am responding more for the second question - Yes and no. I allow my birds out in the winter, and I am up near Cleveland, OH, so a similar weather pattern. My birds are small, and not supposed to be cold hardy, but they all did just fine and this wasnt exactly a "mild" winter. I would keep an area of about 10x10 shoveled for them to come out and look around. Unfortunately, there wasnt much for them to do except stretch their legs. No bugs or worms to find, and nothing but freezing ground below their naked feet! so, they would walk around a bit and then just stand there giving me the "Just kill me now..." look until I told them to go back inside.

Sometimes I would toss down some scratch to give them something to do.

When it snows for the first time they are always intrigued, chasing around the flakes and trying to eat them.

I will say that with my small breeds I had a couple of them jumping in and out of a deep snow drift for fun, until one got stuck and I had to pull her out and take her in to warm her up! The snow can be dangerous if it gets too deep, I suppose!

 

[BlueMouse]

as far as coop space I think it somewhat depends on how much time they spend in the coop, but 4 sq. feet per hen is a good basic number for hens who have available free range/a large run.

as per the winter question, I live in upstate NY. Our winters are harsh. I have buff orpingtons, and they will eventually come out and walk around in the snow. I leave the door open, and they go in and out. On a sunny day they'll sunbathe. I shovel an area for them, and put out kitchen scraps and fodder for them to scratch and eat If you do get breeds with larger combs, be sure that they have plenty of ventilation to help prevent frostbite. there's some good articles on here to help you decide how much ventilation you need. Chickens need a surprising amount of ventilation even in the coldest weather.

Enjoy your chickens!!! They're a lot of fun! and

 

[Escobear]

Thanks for the advice. I still have some time before I need to get ready for winter, but it's good to know what to expect.

It looks like if I had 4 in this coop, that they would have about 3 square feet each.

Thanks again.