Do I have enough room?

[Jdhite]

I know that's a loaded question, and everyone has individual answers, which is exactly what I'm looking for! Before we had more birds in the spring, I want to see your thoughts on our current setup, and if we have the room to add, or if we need to build some more space!

-Coop: 8x6, 4ft tall, raised off of ground 18". 28 feet of roosting space.
-Fenced in/covered chicken pen: 15ftx30ft grass area, fenced, covered with hawk netting
-current flock of 8 hens, no bantams.

We're looking at adding 10-11 more hens, and one rooster, bringing our total to 20 or so birds. Anyone have a similar number in a similar space? Thanks for the advice!

 

[DobieLover]

I think that is really pushing it.
I personally would not put more than 4 more birds in that size coop without a fully predator proof run with a solid roof. If you did have a predator proof run with a solid roof, I'd limit the flock size to 14.
How do you have 28' of roost space in a coop that size where the roosts are a minimum of 12" apart horizontally and positioned to allow easy access on an off of them?

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My big coop is 8x4 and each side houses 5 birds which i think is to many i couldnt imagine trying to add more

 

[aart]

or if we need to build some more space!

Yes, yes you do.....
...and build a brooder area into the new/larger coop for easier integration of new birds:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[Jdhite]

I think that is really pushing it.
I personally would not put more than 4 more birds in that size coop without a fully predator proof run with a solid roof. If you did have a predator proof run with a solid roof, I'd limit the flock size to 14.
How do you have 28' of roost space in a coop that size where the roosts are a minimum of 12" apart horizontally and positioned to allow easy access on an off of them?

Hey dobie! Thanks for the reply! I have two roosts running the width of the coop (each six foot) and then 14 inches above those, have two roosts running the length of the coop (16ft total). Their enclosure is fully predator proof (red brand no climb fence, 4ft high hardware cloth around entire perimeter on outside of fence, and 2 foot hardware cloth buried 18inches around entire perimeter) entire area is covered with hawk netting. I so appreciate your insight. We may just look at adding a rooster for the 8 hens and see how that goes!

 

[Jdhite]

Yes, yes you do.....
...and build a brooder area into the new/larger coop for easier integration of new birds:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 3310794

Thank you! I'm in the piedmont of NC, and will add that to my profile now! Along with my location, I should note my coop is ventilated well. Two solar fans on either end, with additional vents cut into the siding as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was just going to ask about location. Where you are your chickens can maybe have access to the area outside of the coop pretty close to 24/7/365. The problems are snow and cold winds. You'll have some problems with storms but maybe not too bad. The more snow you get the worse your chances. So you get a maybe on this.

That is not enough space in that coop if you leave the chickens locked in there when they are awake for any great length of time. I'm trying to imagine an elevated 4 ft high 6' x 8' coop with roosts running like that. It sounds like a nightmare to work inside of but that is your problem. Good luck with that. If you basically use that coop as a place for them to sleep out of the weather and can leave the pop door open so they can get out as soon as it is daylight it could work. That many chickens pooping in there means you will be doing some cleaning. So a conditional maybe.

By the way, I'd have all the roosts at the same elevation to stop some from pooping on the others and kind of clean up the vertical clutter making it harder to work in there. That should work fine with 20 chickens.

-Fenced in/covered chicken pen: 15ftx30ft grass area, fenced, covered with hawk netting
-current flock of 8 hens, no bantams.

My main run is somewhat equivalent, 12' x 32'. Your 15 x 30 should be enough for 20 chickens. With 20 chickens pooping in there you may be doing a lot of poop management, but maybe not. That depends on several factors.

Their enclosure is fully predator proof (red brand no climb fence, 4ft high hardware cloth around entire perimeter on outside of fence, and 2 foot hardware cloth buried 18inches around entire perimeter) entire area is covered with hawk netting.

What no climb fence? Raccoons, bobcats, and foxes would have no problem climbing "No Climb Horse" fencing. And they could tear that hawk netting to get access. Do you have a link to the type of fencing you have or some label so we can find what you have? Out of curiosity, how tall is it? Many people could go years without any kind of predator problem with what you have but it may not be as predator proof as you think. I'd be nervous leaving the pop door to the coop open all the time which might be required to sleep that many chickens in that coop.

With your run still having grass I suspect you have not had the current 8 for that long, probably not over a winter. With your chicken density and the right weather grass can last a while, maybe months, but I'd expect it to eventually turn into a barren wasteland. While you might possibly get 20 chickens to work in that area and coop, I think sticking with your 8 and adding a rooster is a great idea. That should work well. Get the experience before you commit to expanding.

I think you are either right on the line and probably over it in different ways. Personally I would not add that many chickens. As Dobie said you could probably add 4 to 6 and that might be tight. We'd need to discuss integration methods for that.

You might follow the link in my signature below to get some of my thoughts on room. In general, I find the tighter I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to solve problems. I think keeping chickens should be fun or at least not looked at as an added burden due to work and worry.

 

[Jdhite]

I was just going to ask about location. Where you are your chickens can maybe have access to the area outside of the coop pretty close to 24/7/365. The problems are snow and cold winds. You'll have some problems with storms but maybe not too bad. The more snow you get the worse your chances. So you get a maybe on this.

That is not enough space in that coop if you leave the chickens locked in there when they are awake for any great length of time. I'm trying to imagine an elevated 4 ft high 6' x 8' coop with roosts running like that. It sounds like a nightmare to work inside of but that is your problem. Good luck with that. If you basically use that coop as a place for them to sleep out of the weather and can leave the pop door open so they can get out as soon as it is daylight it could work. That many chickens pooping in there means you will be doing some cleaning. So a conditional maybe.

By the way, I'd have all the roosts at the same elevation to stop some from pooping on the others and kind of clean up the vertical clutter making it harder to work in there. That should work fine with 20 chickens.


My main run is somewhat equivalent, 12' x 32'. Your 15 x 30 should be enough for 20 chickens. With 20 chickens pooping in there you may be doing a lot of poop management, but maybe not. That depends on several factors.


What no climb fence? Raccoons, bobcats, and foxes would have no problem climbing "No Climb Horse" fencing. And they could tear that hawk netting to get access. Do you have a link to the type of fencing you have or some label so we can find what you have? Out of curiosity, how tall is it? Many people could go years without any kind of predator problem with what you have but it may not be as predator proof as you think. I'd be nervous leaving the pop door to the coop open all the time which might be required to sleep that many chickens in that coop.

With your run still having grass I suspect you have not had the current 8 for that long, probably not over a winter. With your chicken density and the right weather grass can last a while, maybe months, but I'd expect it to eventually turn into a barren wasteland. While you might possibly get 20 chickens to work in that area and coop, I think sticking with your 8 and adding a rooster is a great idea. That should work well. Get the experience before you commit to expanding.

I think you are either right on the line and probably over it in different ways. Personally I would not add that many chickens. As Dobie said you could probably add 4 to 6 and that might be tight. We'd need to discuss integration methods for that.

You might follow the link in my signature below to get some of my thoughts on room. In general, I find the tighter I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to solve problems. I think keeping chickens should be fun or at least not looked at as an added burden due to work and worry.

Thank you so much for the information! I should also mention that we have two livestock guardian dogs who are on our property; we also raise alpacas. While the dogs don't have access to the chicken area, they do have access to all sides of their coop/run. I'm fairly certain we're in a good place to leave the door to the coop open 24/7. With that said, after reading all of your info, I think our plan is going to be to get a rooster and integrate him to the ladies, and keep them going for a while. If we decide to add more birds, we will expand our setup.

 

[raingarden]

There is never enough room to accommodate chicken math.

 

[Jdhite]

@raingarden yup, you win the reply section. The problem is I've fallen in love with our girls (me, a 34 y/o firefighter, very "alpha male", type, if you will) and want more. My wife is indifferent, me? They're my friends and therapist.