how big is enough?

[chartssss34]

Hi all new to the forum
I have had chickens for 25 years now mainly for eggs and no special breed..
as of this year I have introduced Light Sussex breed for egg and meat for hobby purposes..
I am going to introduce Brahma,Cochin and Polish into my flock...

All breeds will be seperate...

First for the light sussex..I have closed house which is 19feet x 10 feet and 6 feet height. in front of them they have a garden that is fenced about the 20 feet x 12 feet...the flooring of the covered area is concrete and i used wood shavings (for free thanks to a carpenter right across my farm)... the flooring of the garden is sand...how many i can fit in this lay out you think

second for the polish... closed space of 6 feet x 12 feet and 6 feet height... outside area same as the light sussex i am planing to have 8 polish in that space

third is the cochin area which is smiliar to the polish but larger on the outside... thinking 8 cochins in there...

fourth and last is the brahmas...

their closed space is 14.8 x 7 feet and 10 feet ceilings their fenced outside area is 17x 13... thinking 8 there as well..

do you think i am over ambitious in terms of the number of chickens for that spaces i given?

thanks for all the help

 

[Judy]

I did a little arithmetic and came up with a maximum of 19 for the first space and 22 for the cochins. BUT --

That is the minimum and IMO is not enough.

The formula usually given on here is 4 sq ft indoors plus 10 sq ft for the outside. If you are in a really cold climate it is often recommended that you increase this to 10 per bird INside as they stay in so much when there is lots of snow, a winter storm, etc.

I have 19 larger chickens (RIR, EE, etc.) in about a 10X18 coop with about a 50X70 yard, so by that formula I could have 35. They have still eaten the yard bare of any plants they like. I stilll let them out to free range sometimes. I have 3 hens who have some feather loss where others have pulled them out, plus 3 younger chickens who are full size but have not been accepted so they roost elsewhere and keep to themselves. 50 could fit on their roost, easily.

I did have about 50 at one time, while they were small. The others have been given away or we ate them. They never acted overcrowded.

I've never had smaller birds like Polish and don't know the recommended numbers, but of course they can do well in a slightly smaller space.

Sounds like you have a good setup for what you want. They should be happy chickens. There is no such thing as too much space, IMO!

Good luck.

 

[mgw]

sounds like you have plenty of room for what you are doing. Good luck that is quite a project you are starting, wish we had as much space as you. umbsu
oh yeah

 

[teach1rusl]

Since you have more housing space than run space proportionally, I'll go with run space. I'm coming up with a maximum of 24 birds...240 ft. of run space...less birds would be better of course.
For 8 polish, your space is ample, indoor and out...same with 8 cochins.
Your brahmas also have ample space for eight large fluffy chickens.