Has anyone here ever had more chickens than coop?

[TJ]

Hello, our chicken house is 8' deep x 10' long and the covered run attached to the chicken house is 8' deep x 12' long. I have 29 chickens that are approx. 5 weeks old. I know that I now have 9 more chickens that what I am supposed to have. My chickens are a mix of heavy breeds, Polish, etc... I know there is a rule stating to allow 4 ft. per bird, has anyone here ever kept more chickens than their coop size allows, and if so, what happened?

Thanks for responding!

TJ

 

[tiffanyh]

When my girls seemed to get crowded or trapped in for to many days --feathers go missing! Im not sure if they pick at each other, themsleves or both, but feathers start missing! I know birds will do that also.....but this is just my observings. See what everyone else says.

 

[M&J IL]

We have 27 Hens in a 8' x 8' coop with a 8' x 12' run. They free range anytime someone is home and when they are enclosed the run is open to them all the time as it is secure from animals. They all sleep inside at night, I have provided enough roosts for them and we have no problems at all. I would guess all the roost space above the floor expands the effective space within the coop.

 

[livestock101]

I've got more right now than I want. My coop is 12'x24' and I have 82 in there. If you multiply 12 by 24 you get 288. Dividing that by 4 sq feet per bird, you get 72. So I basically have 10 too many you could say, if you go by 4 sq feet per bird. But, during the spring and summer I normally have higher numbers due to the fact that I usually hatch chickens or order from a hatchery. They spend most of their days outside this time of year so the higher numbers are usually not a problem. By fall, my numbers will go down a bit by getting rid of some roosters and getting rid of some of the non layers.

I typically like to keep around 70 in there and havent experienced any problems keeping that many.

 

[Critter Crazy]

I have a 10x12 coop, should only have a total of 30 birds, but currently have 37 birds, and have never had a problem. They free range all day long, even in winter, so the only time they are ever in all together is at night, and they have plenty of roosts. they get along fine, and I have never had a problem. Should a problem occur tho, I do have a 40x60 empty barn I could easily turn into more coop space.

 

[4H kids and mom]

I also have a 10' x 12' coop with a 10' x 10' run attached right now. We have an addition to add to the run when they are bigger if we need it. We only have the 12 in there now and they are quite happy. However, when all is said and done with the baby chicks, we'll have a flock of 30 using that space. We plan to put the addition on the run, making it 20' x 10' and if we notice any issues (feather picking, etc) we can expand our coops width without TOO much effort. That would eat into our storage space in our cluttered garage/barn but if we have to we will....lol

Just be sure you have plenty of roost space and nest boxes for everyone.