For Grandpa

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You're good to go with 10 sq. feet per bird (4 birds) in your run. However the coop is too small for 4. Chickens need 4-5 sq.feet per bird in the coop, more if they will be kept inside for lengthy periods due to inclement weather.

Chickens hate being overcrowded (especially if confined for long periods) and can act out by fighting, feather plucking and at extremes cannibalism. In other words they do not play nicely under those circumstances.

As far as heat, most chickens can handle cold much better than heat. If they depend on a heated coop and power goes out - it will be of major concern. Otherwise a well built draft free coop, with sufficient ventilation will serve them well.
 
PetrasRetired said:
I don't own a single chicken. . . . yet. I've spent the winter building my first coop, a 4' x 10' dragable skid with insulated house and run under one roof. Right now I'm working on getting the heating system worked out so that hopefully temperatures at floor level will keep water from freezing without cooking the birds on the roost 3 1/2' overhead. I'm undecided as to whether to start with a small clutch of meat birds and then raise my dual purpose hens after harvesting the meat birds or to just raise a few more dual purpose hens than I plan to keep through next winter. My coop is smaller than I wish it were already. By all I've read, my 10 sq ft floor space and 40 sq ft run should house about 4 hens through the winter where they may be confined for a couple of weeks at a time in the worst weather of an Iowa winter. I'm not new to chickens; just new to owning them and being solely responsible for their care. My grandfather cared for our hen flock of 50 birds all the time I was growing up. Since he loved chickens so much, I'm getting into backyard chickens with the honor and hope I'll enjoy them as much as he did. Greetings to all you chicken owners. I look forward to engaging with you.
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Happy to keep the thoughts of your Grand Father alive in your life Welcome to Backyard Chickens Petra's
 
G’Day from down under PetrasRetired :frow Welcome!

Thank you for a great introduction :clap I found the reason you are venturing in to chickens of your own very touching.

I do hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out ;)
 

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