Coop size question

[Chick888]

Hi everyone,

We have 12 chickens, 7 weeks old. We planned to have a permanent coop by now, but we had some unexpected circumstances and haven't been able to do it yet. We are planning to set up something temporary this weekend to use for a month or so.

My question is, what should the minimum size be? I would think a bit less then the standard minimum since they're not full grown? We want something small so we can do it quickly and not use a ton of material since it's just temporary, but we also want to make sure they'll have enough room still. We also want it on the smaller side so it's relatively moveable and portable so we can keep it for introducing new chicks in the future, a quarantine area, etc.

Their food and water can be in the run, and they won't need nesting boxes yet, so whatever size we make the coop will be usable space. They will be able to free range in our yard as well.

Also how many feet of roosting space should we have in the coop?

Thanks!

 

[aart]

Quickest might be to go buy one of those prefab coops.

 

[Alaskan]

A hoop coop would be fast to build, as well as light. (Look in the coop pages for ideas)

You might be wanting a chicken tractor. And yes, the square feet per chicken can be way smaller.... as long as you move it often, the new grass and bugs keep the birds happy even when squashed a bit size wise.

Most cute wood tractors are WAY heavier than you want them to be,which is another reason why a hoop coop is so nice.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Quickest might be to go buy one of those prefab coops.

x2. Normally wouldn't recommend it but they'll certainly do fine for a month or two, especially while the chicks are younger. You can reuse it later as an isolation cage or brooder.

 

[drinkoj]

New to the chicken world but I have 7 chicks, 7-8 weeks old, and they take about 1.5 foot of roosting space on the bar. So that works out to about 2.5 to 3 inches per bird on the roost bar.