Finagling Coop Square Footage

[crawfordmama]

I understand that in the coop I should alot 4 square feet per chicken, and 10 square feet in the run. Currently I have an 8 x 8' coop, and 8 x 10' run. Technically, the coop could house 16 chickens, and the run could house 8. If I kept the pop door open to the run during the day, can I consider their living space to be 144 square feet? Would I be able to comfortably house 14 chickens with this amount of space (this wouldn't exceed the max of 16 chickens allowed by the coop)?. I have been struck by chicken math! Currently my flock free-ranges, but I'm concerned about winter and poor weather. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

 

[lauriej57]

Quote:
You should be able to house 14 chicks in the coop with no problems. The recommended in 4 sq ft per bird in the coop. 2 winters ago, I had 3 sq ft per bird in my coop, but forgot to think about winter, so in my mind I was thinking with the run that they would be fine. But when it gets really cold and blizzardy, and you end up cooping them up for a week or two, because none of them will go outside, it caused a lot of pecking problems.

You should be fine with what you have, and most of the time, they will use the run also.

 

[Judy]

Patandchickens has about 10 sq ft per chicken in the coop alone, and says she would not have less, because they do tend to stay inside in the snow and cold. In this climate with them free ranging 24/7, I have about 7 sq ft per chicken in the coop, because they tend to stay in there if it is pouring rain or very sunny and hot in the summer. It's not too much space.

If I had your setup I would not add to the number of chickens. Or, if I couldn't stand not to, I would not add more than two, because of the small run.

There is no black and white answer. You won't know you have too many til they start pecking each other badly, or worse.