Help with run size asap!

[jps37033]

I had 32 hens that free ranged. They were all killed off slow by what I thought was a fox. Turned out to be my dog. Wife wouldn't let me range the dog with my shotgun. So, I want more chicks. I expanded my original coop and run How many chicks and roos will I be ok with based on my size?

Its 8x12 coop covered and enclosed, and a large portion just wire run. If I keep them up all the time whats recommended for capacity? And Im not trying to mass produce, I want comfort for them. Thanks

 

[Judy]

I'm sorry. In my experience, it was a combination of stray dogs, fox, reccoon, and probably a few other critters.

If you want a formula, the one often given here is 4 sq ft per chicken in the coop and 10 in the run, of actual walking space. So 96 sq ft = 24 chickens, and 336 = 33 chickens -- so your max would be 24. This is supposed to be the minimum required to prevent pecking injuries, feather picking and cannibalism. But these are just numbers. Mine are in a much larger coop and fenced yard, and use all the space. They also spend part of most days in the coop --- to rest, get out of the rain, because it's cooler in there in the heat of a hot summer day, etc. They also keep every blade of grass cut off at the soil.

One of our members wrote up an excellent article on space:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I really like a large run for birds especially when they can't get out on the grass much. The 10 sqft per bird used a lot here is a good number. The 4 sqft per bird for coop I think is overkill unless you lock birds up in coop for days or all winter and heat it. If your management style is to let the birds out of the coop every day then 2.5 sqft per bird in coop is plenty.

Alrighty, lets look at your numbers: 8X12 coop, 96sqft/2.5= 38 birds.
Your run and coop combined is 18X22, 396sqft/10 = 39 birds
84ft of roosting pole...don't know, a 100 birds maybe at 10 inches per bird of roost?

I'd say you can have up to 38 birds comfortably. Some will say to subtract the area of nesting boxes in coop. If you don't have rain and sun cover area in the run or a wind break then they will want to huddle in the coop on miserable days.

 

[Ridgerunner]

On the rooster question, why do you want roosters? That can go a long way toward determining how many you need. I always recommend you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you will always have problems with more roosters, just that you might. The more room you can give the flock, the less likely you are to have problems with multiple roosters.

You will often see a ratio of 10 hens for every rooster. That ratio is what the commercial chicken operations use to get the best fertility in a pen breeding situation. That’s where you might have 20 roosters in a large pen with 200 hens. They’ve found that in that particular management style that is the ratio they need to assure all eggs are fertile. It makes a nice flock but in a more free ranging situation one normally healthy reasonably young rooster can keep a lot more eggs fertile than just 10 hens. The flock dynamics are just different in pen breeding versus free ranging.

Your situation will be a bit of a mix of pen breeding and free ranging. If fertile eggs is one of your goals, I would not go below 1 rooster for 15 hens ratio with your set-up. If fertility is not your goal, throw all ratios out the window and get what you want, but remember to keep that number of roosters as low as you can and meet your goals.