Help, do i have enough room for all of my chickens?

[ging3rhoffman]

I now have 20 chickens. They vary in age from 12 weeks, 10 weeks, 8 weeks, 1 week and 3 days old. They will all end up together. My coop is an 8 x 10 and they have access to the run 23/7 and it is a 8 x 22. Do I have enough room for them to live happily? There are only 4 nest boxes, do we need more?

We were only going to have 6 to 8 chickens and i kept wanting more colorful chickens and just fell in love with them.

Have i gone to far??

 

[mom'sfolly]

General rule of thumb is 4-10 square feet per bird, but it depends on conditions. With 20 birds you need 80-200 square feet, and you have about 250 square feet. The rule of thumb on nest boxes is one per 4 birds, so you are a little shy, but it is probably fine.

All that being said, I have 14 birds (4 are young, and 5 are silkies) and two 4 X 4 hen houses. My birds free range all day and only use the houses at night and for laying eggs. I have about about 16-20 linear feet of roost space, but they all squeeze together anyway. If the birds have plenty of outdoor space, and roosting space you may have enough room. My climate is mild enough that my birds are never confined except at night. If you live someplace where the birds will be indoors in the winter, you will need more space.

Buy yourself 5 more birds, and one or two more nest boxes....or wait till next year, get the breeds you like and enlarge your coop.

 

[patandchickens]

That's about the same room most BYCers use, so, sure, it has a good chance of working out

I'd suggest thinking hard about the decision to leave the popdoor open to the run at night, though. It is easy to *think* your run is secure; it is next to impossible to make it *actually* secure. Go browse some threads in the "Predators and Pests" section of BYC, the ones with titles like 'all my chcikens got eaten last night', and you will see how commonly this happens.

They aren't going to USE the run at night anyhow, so the only possible benefit is letting them use it before you woulda let them out in the morning. That's a big risk to run for not much benefit, IMO.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[ging3rhoffman]

Thank you both so much, i feel better now. I cant buy one more chick. I dont want to over crowd. I think closing the pop door at night is a good idea. I have been leaving it open for them so they can come out at 5am instead of waiting for me to get out there until 7:30am. I need to rethink that. I will post a picture of our coop and run, my husband used the heavy galvinzed wire for the run and we also poured concrete around the coop and run. I so hope they will stay safe during the day hours when they are in their run. They do get to free range but only when i am out there with them. I keep a 22 with me just in case.

The door on the right stays open, my husband installed permanent heavy 1/2 x 1" wire so they get plenty of fresh air. He installed a window in the back also.

If you look behind my SLW you can see the size of their run wire.

Back view of their cozy and hopefully safe home.

 

[Larry Waughon]

Your coop looks great! Your chickens are going to be very happy there.

 

[mamaKate]

What a beautiful bird! Excellent coop/run, too.

 

[Judy]

Mine want out at dawn, too, and I feel a bit sorry for them because I make them wait til 7:30 or 8. But I do it not because I want to sleep later, but because some predators like to hunt at dawn and dusk, in the half light, so I am hoping they are a bit safer.

 

[ging3rhoffman]

Thanks....We worked hard on that coop and run, but am so glad we did. Our neighbor called and left us a message last week saying he see a coyote headed towards our yard. I was suprised because i didnt think we were that far out in the country. So predators are always a worry. As far as the Silver Laced wyandotte she came from Meyers Hatchery. We just love myers, they ship out on monday and you get your babies on tuesday. All safe and sound. Also, out of 15 chicks only 1 was a roo, so the person that they have sexing the chicks are really good at it.

 

[ducks4you]

LOVELY COOP!

**punning**

You'll just HAVE to build more coops and join the spring/summer building frenzy.....like the REST of us.

 

[ging3rhoffman]

Quote:

...just dont know if mu husband will go for that. lol