Chicken math is a real issue for a lot of people. It is really easy for the numbers to grow tremendously. A lot of that depends on your circumstances, personality, and goals. Why are you keeping chickens to start with? Buying chickens or hatching can be addicting. The desire for different breeds can hit pretty hard.
I keep my basic laying breeding flock at 7 or 8 hens and one rooster. For me it’s not real hard. But my goal is more for meat than eggs or pets. I do play with genetics some. It’s not unusual for me to have over 40 chickens at one time in season, most small and growing into butcher size. Right now I have 27 and will be giving a broody hen a dozen eggs in a couple of days.
My basic coop is 8’ x 12’ but I have a 3’ x 6’ brooder built into that. When chicks are not in it that brooder makes a great place to isolate a chicken if I need to. It’s come on handy many times for isolating an injured chicken, as a broody buster, or isolating a rooster for breeding purposes. Having some place ready to go can come in really handy.
I have a 4’x8’ grow out coop for chicks that I incubated and brooded myself. I’ve kept as many as 21 in that, but the numbers start dropping at about 12 weeks as I integrate pullets to the main flock and a little later start processing cockerels. I also have another 4’ x 8’ coop section that is just sitting out on my run that I occasionally use. I have a lot of built-in flexibility that really helps.
All these coops have interconnected “runs” associated with them. Portions can be isolated or they can all be open so it is one big run.
Space is not just about coops and coop size. Space is about coops, runs, and everything available to them when it is needed. You might follow the link in my signature to get my thoughts on space. I don’t give you any magic numbers like 4 square feet per chicken. I try to give you things to think about. The 4 in the coop and 10 in the run is just a general guideline to get you started. Some people get by with less quite well, some need a lot more. There are just too many variables in climate, goals, management techniques, flock make-up, and many other things for any one magic number to work for every chicken on the planet. Don’t get hung up on numbers.
I advocate providing more space rather than less because I find I have fewer behavioral problems, I have more flexibility in dealing with problems when they arrive, and I have to work less hard if I provide extra space. There are still times I have less than 4 square feet per chicken in the coop but most of those are younger chickens that don’t take up as much space. I also advocate building in some flexibility by having a broody buster/isolation cage ready to go. Runs are a big part of my space too.
Welcome to the adventure, it’s a fun ride.
