Does anyone have coops with no run and very little free ranging (?'s)

Anne and I have been working all summer remodeling our barn because I want to breed my own line of bbs Orpingtons that will be an especially dark blue by crossing some other selected lines with mine (see my BYC page).

What we have in the barn are:

Four 4- X 10- foot coops (40 sqare feet)

Two 4- X 4-foot coops each with an additional area of 2-foot X 8-foot area (32 square feet) or these two can be combined into one coop with 64 square feet.

Two 2- X 16-foot shelf coops (each 32 sqare feet) These can be two brooders or four 2- X 8-foot brooders.

I will only be able to let each coop free range once a week, and there is no run, i.e., they will be in their coop 24/6.

Question: I have seven various roosters from which I will choose four for breeding. Considering that there is no outside run for any of these indoor coops, what's the maximum number of hens you would suggest per rooster for the least stress of the hens and the rooster in these confined coops that they will leave one or two days per week in turn to free range?

BTW, you've probably surmised that I feel guilty confining chickens like I'm doing now and will do more later. Also, this breeding program will take more than a year for me to get a rooster and six or eight hens the color that I want.

 

Quote:Thanks, Pat, I appreciate and share your concern. I wish I could make them a run, but it'd be very difficult and would destroy all the precautions I took for their safety inside the barn. You're right, it is a problem getting them back in, but hopefully that'll get better.

 

Quote:Thanks, scooter147, they have all that and more. The dirt floor was rototilled, leveled, covered with DE, then covered with 2"x4" wire, then covered with a wooden floor. There's no place for a predator to get in. They have a 2'x24' ventilation strip at the top of the wall that we put in, plus a ridge vent, plus two ceiling fans. Each coop has it's own on/off switch with plugs for heated waterers and heat lamps during freezing weather. Anne and I could not/did not do the electrical work. I had to hire an electrician.
It seems like three hens and a rooster would be okay with 40 square feet; that's 10 square feet each. I sure hope so, but I could put in fewer hens. (?) I will say though, that I almost have to force them to go outside to free range; they seem to like their coops.

 

Quote:Thanks, Kelly, they will have a mimimum of ten square feet. I hadn't considered that about the aggressiveness of any particular rooster; guess I'd better watch them to see how that goes. I will say though, I will never have another over-aggressive rooster. I have one that's in solitary confinement in the barn now for life; he's NEVER coming out; had to do that or kill him. He's meaner'n a snake, but we love him.