So ... to keep it short and simple. I find myself in need of building a coop+run to accomodate roughly 40-50 chickens. ~10-15 egg layers and ~25-30 meat chickens that come in late spring and 'go away' in late summer/early autumn.
We bought 20 egg laying chicks and 30 meat chicks. Unfortunately one of the egg layers died 3 nights ago. I'm not sure why, kept a close eye on the others and I'm hoping it was an isolated incident and we're not dealing with some sort of spreading disease.
I know the ideal space requirements ... but as you know, it gets quite large for this number of chickens ( yes, i know, way too many, wasn't my idea, it is what it is, now i have to deal with it ).
So, in trying to save a bit of space ... was thinking of building an 80-100sqf coop which would be split up somehow inside to separate them during the period where the meat chicks are there ( egg layers from meat chicks ) and the rest of the time open it up to allow for the full space for the egg layers.
I will also have a run, of course. So I'm thinking ... 80-100sqf coop + ~200sqf run.
Especially in the past few years, we have had extremely mild winters and very hot summers. So during the time when they are together and the coop is crowded, ventilation won't be a problem, as we can leave windows open and so on non stop, since we almost never get storms, and we never get cold nights in spring/summer. And we also have no predators whatsoever, aside from the odd neighbor/stray cat which I've never heard any of my neigbors complain about. They will jump on a baby chick, but not a full grown chicken.
So ... do you think something like this could work ? Can they handle that small coop space during those few months when it's crowded ?
I will make sure to have roosts for all of them ( I'll have to build some kind of layered system for that in order to accomodate them all vertically as well as horizontally ) and during the non-sleep periods I imagine they will mostly be outside.
And during the autumn/winter when they will spend more time in the coop, they won't be crowded as we'll have no meat chicks. So they'll have 80-100sqf for the ~15 egg layers.
So ... what does everyone think ?
EDIT: Ok, so after reading a bit more and reading up on some more advice, it would appear I was missing some crucial information.
Just clicked with me that I don't need a full service coop for the meaters. Not sure how I missed that since I knew about the weight issues ( so they don't roost, or climb up things ), and the fact that they won't be needing cold protection.
So, with that in mind, I'll just build a nice coop for the eggers, and attach a sort of fixed chicken tractor beside it for the meaters, and simply have a gate of sorts to separate the run for them while the meaters are there, and then open up the entire run for the eggers during autumn/winter.
This way I'm thinking of a 50-60sqf coop for the ~15 or so eggers + their own run ~100sqf run which I think will be enough ... and about ~150 sqf, give or take, perhaps larger even, of run+cover for the ~25-30 meaties.
And in the autumn/winter, the eggers will have the entire ~250sqf of run for themselves.
I've looked at my space and I think the entire thing will cover about 320sqf.
And I think that solves my issues of stricking a balance between their comfort and space taken.
---
As a side note and in the interest of not starting umph different threads - this is the current setup. The lights are 150w so not that strong, right now I'd say they are actually maybe too close, but sometimes towards morning it gets a bit chilly so considering they have plenty of space to move away from the lights, I figured it's better to have more heat than less.
If the lamps are too low, they can just move further away, they have room, which they do as you can see them sleeping away and around the lights.
Considering I've had one death in 9 days, I think the setup is good. I've kept an eye on them all since that one little guy died 3 nights ago, but I've not seen signs of illness. Also, the little guy, after he died, I checked him all around, he didn't have any obvious signs of disease. Granted, I'm no expert so I could be wrong. But fingers crossed.
We bought 20 egg laying chicks and 30 meat chicks. Unfortunately one of the egg layers died 3 nights ago. I'm not sure why, kept a close eye on the others and I'm hoping it was an isolated incident and we're not dealing with some sort of spreading disease.
I know the ideal space requirements ... but as you know, it gets quite large for this number of chickens ( yes, i know, way too many, wasn't my idea, it is what it is, now i have to deal with it ).
So, in trying to save a bit of space ... was thinking of building an 80-100sqf coop which would be split up somehow inside to separate them during the period where the meat chicks are there ( egg layers from meat chicks ) and the rest of the time open it up to allow for the full space for the egg layers.
I will also have a run, of course. So I'm thinking ... 80-100sqf coop + ~200sqf run.
Especially in the past few years, we have had extremely mild winters and very hot summers. So during the time when they are together and the coop is crowded, ventilation won't be a problem, as we can leave windows open and so on non stop, since we almost never get storms, and we never get cold nights in spring/summer. And we also have no predators whatsoever, aside from the odd neighbor/stray cat which I've never heard any of my neigbors complain about. They will jump on a baby chick, but not a full grown chicken.
So ... do you think something like this could work ? Can they handle that small coop space during those few months when it's crowded ?
I will make sure to have roosts for all of them ( I'll have to build some kind of layered system for that in order to accomodate them all vertically as well as horizontally ) and during the non-sleep periods I imagine they will mostly be outside.
And during the autumn/winter when they will spend more time in the coop, they won't be crowded as we'll have no meat chicks. So they'll have 80-100sqf for the ~15 egg layers.
So ... what does everyone think ?
EDIT: Ok, so after reading a bit more and reading up on some more advice, it would appear I was missing some crucial information.
Just clicked with me that I don't need a full service coop for the meaters. Not sure how I missed that since I knew about the weight issues ( so they don't roost, or climb up things ), and the fact that they won't be needing cold protection.
So, with that in mind, I'll just build a nice coop for the eggers, and attach a sort of fixed chicken tractor beside it for the meaters, and simply have a gate of sorts to separate the run for them while the meaters are there, and then open up the entire run for the eggers during autumn/winter.
This way I'm thinking of a 50-60sqf coop for the ~15 or so eggers + their own run ~100sqf run which I think will be enough ... and about ~150 sqf, give or take, perhaps larger even, of run+cover for the ~25-30 meaties.
And in the autumn/winter, the eggers will have the entire ~250sqf of run for themselves.
I've looked at my space and I think the entire thing will cover about 320sqf.
And I think that solves my issues of stricking a balance between their comfort and space taken.
---
As a side note and in the interest of not starting umph different threads - this is the current setup. The lights are 150w so not that strong, right now I'd say they are actually maybe too close, but sometimes towards morning it gets a bit chilly so considering they have plenty of space to move away from the lights, I figured it's better to have more heat than less.
If the lamps are too low, they can just move further away, they have room, which they do as you can see them sleeping away and around the lights.
Considering I've had one death in 9 days, I think the setup is good. I've kept an eye on them all since that one little guy died 3 nights ago, but I've not seen signs of illness. Also, the little guy, after he died, I checked him all around, he didn't have any obvious signs of disease. Granted, I'm no expert so I could be wrong. But fingers crossed.
Last edited:
