I see that 4 sf per bird is rule of thumb for coop space. Does "cubic sf" come into play at all? Mine has 12 sf open floor space and 8 sf nest box space, but also, there are 3 staggered perches within the head room above, nearly 4 x 4 x 3. Does this space matter when calc'ing # of birds in the coop? New to chicks, thanks for the help!
The extra space is nice to have but not usually counted in the "minimum suggested." Keep in mind that the 4 square feet per bird is INSIDE the coop and there is another 10 square feet per bird suggested OUTSIDE in the run. I will accept this as a minimum, but imagine three hens sharing a pen that is 3x4 inside and 4x5 outside and spending their entire lives in there. It really doesn't seem big enough to me. With coop building, bigger really is better! Even if you plan to free range most of the time, you need enough room to keep them penned up in case you are away or there is a predator in the area.
All these rules of thumb are pure crap. Personally, I would never restrict a bird to 10 square feet in a run. That is just a little more than 3' x 3'. And then they wonder why there is no grass growing in the run.
Bigger the better in my opinion. I wish mine was bigger now that I have had chickens for a while. I built mine to the so called specs and now added another 25x15 foot run area for them. I wish I had at least an 8x8 coop for my 6 hens. I free range also but just would like them to have as much room as possible.
I think 4 hens will be max in your set-up. You may wanna consider making your coop and run portable and move it around once a week. Your birds will be much happier and healthier.
