Coop size

[Folly's place]

Still the same number, crowding is never good. Start where you are number wise, and see how things develop.
Our coop/ roofed run combination has 10 sq.ft. per bird, which includes some bantams, as a winter number, because the flock stays in fairly often, because of snow cover, or predator issues. They free range when possible, but we plan for time inside.
They were in for five months during the early bird flu epidemic, and might be again, depending how it develops.
Mary

 

[Squawkers]

I plan on putting a 9x26 run to the back of it. What would be the appropriate number of chickens for the coop with a run?

That run size sounds good.

 

[McChooky]

I plan on putting a ventilation fan in it if that helps any. Also I live in South Carolina.

In a power outage your fan won't help

 

[tlcmurphy]

I plan on putting a 9x26 run to the back of it. What would be the appropriate number of chickens for the coop with a run?

That’s plenty big enough for a run. The usual recommendation is at least 10 sq ft per bird

 

[McChooky]

So I could fit 13?

They'd be more comfortable if you added ventilation on the front (open coop style)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hello, the inside measurements is 8x8, will it fit 13? 9 leggers and 4 Easter eggers. I know it’s kinda pushy

I plan on putting a 9x26 run to the back of it. What would be the appropriate number of chickens for the coop with a run?

You are in South Carolina (thanks for that information, it is important). That means your chickens should have access to the run every day of the year, they should not be stuck in the coop only for any appreciable length of time due to snow, freezing winds, or other bad weather like people a lot further north.

A general rule-of-thumb given on this forum is 4 square feet per bird in the coop with 10 square feet per bird in the run. A lot of people tend to ignore the run requirement, but to me what I'm looking at is how much room is available in the entire system. If the run is not available for several days or even weeks it is not available when considering how much room you need so you need a larger coop. How you manage them is important. If your run is always available you can generally manage very well with a slightly smaller coop than the 4 square feet gives you.

In South Carolina, if you manage them so that run is available most of the time when they are awake, you should easily be able to fit 13 chickens in there. This assumes you have no more than one rooster. I'd be careful trying to integrate chickens in it, you generally need more room to integrate chickens than of they are already integrated.

Could you possibly add a few more? Yes, you could probably make it work. You initially came up with 13, probably for a reason. I find the tighter I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have, the harder I have to work (think poop management), and the less flexibility I have to deal with issues that come up. I prefer to think of is as deciding how many chickens I want and give them plenty of room as opposed to crowding as many chickens I can into a space before they start killing each other due to overcrowding.

Good luck!

 

[thistlewick]

I see 3 windows at the very least, those are the actual definition of ventilation.

will it work like someone else's ventilation? No. But will it vent? sure, you open them, they vent air. It's a window, it's what it does. Check this prevailing winds website and make sure to protect it from winter storm wind. (Also, make sure you staple hardware cloth over the windows to protect them from a raccoon breaking the screen to get in)

You aren't keeping your chickens cooped up, locked inside this shed for 24/7 -- so the windows don't really matter too much in South Carolina where the winters are mild as heck.

The summers though - I am in the same boat, being in North Carolina Piedmont (also, I lived in SC for many years before moving here)

The heat during the day in the summer will be wicked hot in that thing, honestly, it will be deadly, but -- will they be locked up in it during the day? Probably not.

So yes, get a solar barn fan - amazon sells them - can deal with the dust and works when the sun hits the solar pad. I have one and it works like a charm. We are going to see how our shed does next summer (we only just converted it in September) and will add more fans or venting or whatever we need then. For right now my thermometer/hygrometer says that... everything in there is perfectly fine and hunky dory and the chickens are... thriving. And I have less windows than you - I leave the door open all day though. And the window open all night.

Ridgerrunner ^^ already said everything else that needs to be said really.

The more you pack chickens in to tight quarters, the more problems that could potentially happen.

 

[BLACKWATER7x62]

No no

I see 3 windows at the very least, those are the actual definition of ventilation.

will it work like someone else's ventilation? No. But will it vent? sure, you open them, they vent air. It's a window, it's what it does. Check this prevailing winds website and make sure to protect it from winter storm wind. (Also, make sure you staple hardware cloth over the windows to protect them from a raccoon breaking the screen to get in)

You aren't keeping your chickens cooped up, locked inside this shed for 24/7 -- so the windows don't really matter too much in South Carolina where the winters are mild as heck.

The summers though - I am in the same boat, being in North Carolina Piedmont (also, I lived in SC for many years before moving here)

The heat during the day in the summer will be wicked hot in that thing, honestly, it will be deadly, but -- will they be locked up in it during the day? Probably not.

So yes, get a solar barn fan - amazon sells them - can deal with the dust and works when the sun hits the solar pad. I have one and it works like a charm. We are going to see how our shed does next summer (we only just converted it in September) and will add more fans or venting or whatever we need then. For right now my thermometer/hygrometer says that... everything in there is perfectly fine and hunky dory and the chickens are... thriving. And I have less windows than you - I leave the door open all day though. And the window open all night.

Ridgerrunner ^^ already said everything else that needs to be said really.

The more you pack chickens in to tight quarters, the more problems that could potentially happen.

i see, thank you. I definitely plan on making more vents. And packing chickens with the last thing I want to do. I can give a few to my mother but I don’t know how many I should keep without packing them. They won’t be in the coop all day just night. What number is considered “packed”

 

[K0k0shka]

It looks very cute, but I agree with others that it lacks ventilation. The minimum year-round ventilation usually recommended is 1 square foot of vent area per bird. In my experience, that's the absolute bare minimum in cold weather. In the heat of summer, you need several times that, and I don't see anything like that here, even with the windows open. Your coop looks to be in full sun, with no shade from trees, which will make things even worse in the summer. Coops can really heat up in the summer, and worse - they hold on to that heat well into the night, even after the outdoor temperature has dropped. I found that the hard way, when my chickens were panting and flapping their wings. I put a thermometer in there and it read 110 degrees after midnight, in MA! You are in a much warmer climate than me, so you need to take heat seriously. My coop is 5x7 and had 7 chickens at the time, and 16 square feet of combined ventilation (two open windows and generous wraparound vents under the eaves, basically the tops of the walls are open under the roof). So, 16 square feet of open ventilation and 7 chickens, and my coop is in full shade all day under a massive tree, and it was 110 degrees in there at night, when the ambient temperature outside had dropped to low 80s! I got creative and opened up a lot more ventilation by replacing the entire human access door (a real door from a house, so it's big) with a screen door I made out of a wooden frame and hardware cloth. And I added two fans - one at the top, at vent level, drawing in cool air from outside and blowing it out the opposite vent - and one in one of the windows, blowing at the roost. This helped massively. Now every summer I replace the solid door with the screen door for the warmer months, and put the fans up. Your door is very well protected from rain with that big overhang above it, so you don't need it to be a solid door. And you don't have nasty cold winters to worry about either. Replacing that door with a permanent HC screen door will go a long way to help cool the coop. I would also cut some new windows into that big solid wall. That will help both with ventilation/cooling, and with light. Not sure if there are any other windows on that coop other than the two little windows by the door (and the one higher up) but those won't be enough to get enough light in there. If the coop is dark inside, noticeably darker than outside at dusk, the chickens may not want to go in for bed. This is a very common problem with poorly windowed coops, and people wonder why their chickens want to sleep outside.

 

[Folly's place]

'Packed' can be any number when birds aren't getting along, often solved by removing an obnoxious jerk, if you can identify a bird like that. Or, so many that there's just too much drama.
If your run is safe, the coop door can be open most of the time. If not, there will be more confinement necessary, and you will see how it goes.
And I totally agree that heat and ventilation are big issues for your coop! Shade in summer is important, and if you can keep it rodent proof, ceiling insulation is a big help in summer too.
Mary