he did it again

[beach livin']

dh offered to take 2 more hens. that will give us a total of 6. the 2 he offered to take are allready laying, and the 4 we have allready are not. this is what we have for space, so please let me know if it will be big enough, or should i tell dh to not worry with the other 2 girls. the man really wants to get rid of them, and he is the same fellow we got our girls from. they will be free because he is a good friend of my dh... but anyway, the run is 8x12 with a height of 6' sloping to 4'. the coop is roughly 4' square with a rough height of 4' give or take a few. here are some pics to give you a better idea of what we have to work with. pics are not that great, so im sorry. its the only camera i have since my good one took a crap on me.

coop

coop again

run space

 

[the-bird-man]

if i were you i would not add anymore but i am not a expert. are they all large fowl? and how much roost space do you have? are your nest boxes inside the coop?

 

[beach livin']

they are all orphingtons(mom was a bo and dad was a rir). The perch is 4' long and the nesting boxes are in the coop as well. you can kinda see them in the first pic; the roost is to the right and the boxes are on the floor to the left(they are just milk crates)

 

[Fred's Hens]

If Manteo is Manteo North Carolina, your weather permits you a bit of flexibility. Your weather isn't harsh enough to force them indoors for weeks on end. Still, 6 could be fine in 16 sq ft. Again, in your climate. Crowded, yes, but if the coop is primarily for roosting, it could be make to work.

 

[the-bird-man]

okay yeah i would pass on them if i were you.

edit: listen to fred because he knows a lot more about chickens than me.

 

[beach livin']

so the main issue is the roosting space then. so what if i were to add another 4' roosting pole on the back wall? that would give 8' of space for the 6 birds. i would make dh make new nesting boxes with lids so no poop got in them. how does that sound? yes, its manteo, nc

weather is tolerable almost year round, except for when the hurricanes whip us up like scrambled eggs

 

[JodyJo]

If you could expand your run, add the roosting pole, I think it would work...no way to find out till you try....a larger run is a must if they don't free range. Since your weather is such that they don't need to sleep inside...add a roost, dead branch etc...in your run, give them someplace outside to sleep....mine love sleeping outside in the summer.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yes, if you made laying boxes that hung on the outside, as you see many have here, instead of robbing space inside the coop, you'd be OK. I'd guess that in coastal NC, you could count the number of days on one or two hands they wouldn't be out in the run. You could also rig up temporary wind blocks on the run for inclement weather days.

 

[gritsar]

You live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, I refuse to feel sorry for ya.

 

[daver]

I had ten in a 4x6 coop but have 200 sq feet of run space. They only go in to lay and roost. I have since culled some roos but plan to go eight and some of mine are LF Brahmas. That;s two more than what's recommended.

Dave