heavy chickens vs. regular chickens

[chickenswag]

I'm planning on getting the assorted heavy chicks from mcmurray, but i was wondering how to build a coop for heavy chickens. This is my first time owning chickens and I have no idea how much space I would need for the heavies compared to the regular ones. I've got family that knows all about chickens, but we've got coop plans for regular chickens. Is there really a difference? These are the chicks I'm getting -> http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/brown_egg_layers.html . Thanks!

 

[redsoxs]

The recommended size coop for "standard" sized chickens is 4 sq. ft. per bird. I suppose with the heavy assortment you could go with 4 safely or up it to 5 sq. ft. per bird. A good rule to go by, however, is make your coop larger than you think you'll need. Lots of folks have regretted making their coop too small...few have regretted making it too large. Biggest reason...you might want to add birds someday.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Those are pretty much regular sized chicken breeds. The only exceptions are the Jersey Giants and maybe Brahmas but there is no assurance you’ll get any of those. Thanks for providing that link. It helped. But just consider those regular sized hens.

I very much agree with Redsoxs, build it bigger than you think you need. To me the advantages of building it bigger than the absolute bare minimum is that you are less likely to see behavioral problems you need to deal with, you have more flexibility in managing them, and it just takes less work from you to manage them. You can get by packing them in a bit but it just makes it easier on you to give them some extra space.