- May 31, 2011
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Okay, I know the whole adage of 4 foot per chicken in the coop, 10 foot if there is no run. However, I have neither, technically speaking. I have an open enclosure. It's 8x8, with a U-shaped PVC feeder along one wall (so it doesn't take up much space), a 15-gallon waterer in the corner (about maybe 2.25 square feet taken up). The nesting boxes are up on the wall with no footprint on the ground. I have two roosts, each about 5 feet long. Basically, very little takes up floor space.
Right now I have 9 chickens in there (a SLW, a GLW, a RLBW, 2 Polish, a Faverolle, 2 EE's, one Favaucana). I am seriously looking at a Silkie roo... but I worry a bit now that one more might be too much. I rarely let them out - I haven't chicken-proofed my garden yet, and we DO have hawks that have already taken out several of the neighbor's chickens - so most of the time they would be in the enclosure. I keep a number of toys in there too for them to peck at. The floor is concrete and the whole thing is under roof, so it stays nicely dry.
Think he'd be the straw that broke the chicken's back?
Right now I have 9 chickens in there (a SLW, a GLW, a RLBW, 2 Polish, a Faverolle, 2 EE's, one Favaucana). I am seriously looking at a Silkie roo... but I worry a bit now that one more might be too much. I rarely let them out - I haven't chicken-proofed my garden yet, and we DO have hawks that have already taken out several of the neighbor's chickens - so most of the time they would be in the enclosure. I keep a number of toys in there too for them to peck at. The floor is concrete and the whole thing is under roof, so it stays nicely dry.
Think he'd be the straw that broke the chicken's back?