How big of a coop do I need for 12 chickens?

[TLHloveschicks]

How big of a coop do I need for 12 chickens?

Hi Zadoxie Chickens I have 12 hens and just added a rooster. My coop is 10 X 10 with an attached run which is 20 X 10. I love it. Plenty of room and no one is crowded. I live in central Florida so we have lots of ventilation in the coop and run is all hardware cloth. The hens have room to get away from the rooster....lol..

 

[Ghosty]

Dogs will eat anything! I actually wash any dirty eggs in a little warm water with a few drops of dawn in it. Is that a bad thing?

I use just warm water and scrub them lightly with my hands under the faucet. The shells are porous and I want to keep as much bloom as possible, so I only wash the truly dirty eggs. Washed eggs should go in the fridge. It is kind of like washing vegetables, and how they spoil quicker and need to be refrigerated. I wouldn't use soap because I don't want soap to get into the eggs through the pores. Bloom is your friend and naturally keeps bacteria and foreign matter out of the egg. You want to keep that if at all possible. Warm water causes expansion of the egg, so may make it harder to force bacteria through the pores while washing. While cold water causes contraction, leaving empty space for bacteria to enter. My chickens have the regular broken egg because it seems one is laying weak shells. I have to change my nest box grass and have taken to using feed bags as a bottom liner, so I don't have to scrub the nest boxes all the time.

 

[ValerieJ]

I use just warm water and scrub them lightly with my hands under the faucet. The shells are porous and I want to keep as much bloom as possible, so I only wash the truly dirty eggs. Washed eggs should go in the fridge. It is kind of like washing vegetables, and how they spoil quicker and need to be refrigerated. I wouldn't use soap because I don't want soap to get into the eggs through the pores. Bloom is your friend and naturally keeps bacteria and foreign matter out of the egg. You want to keep that if at all possible. Warm water causes expansion of the egg, so may make it harder to force bacteria through the pores while washing. While cold water causes contraction, leaving empty space for bacteria to enter. My chickens have the regular broken egg because it seems one is laying weak shells. I have to change my nest box grass and have taken to using feed bags as a bottom liner, so I don't have to scrub the nest boxes all the time.

Yes, I know all that, and I used to leave the bloom on. But, I'm a germaphobe, so I couldn't deal with it. Messy eggs get washed in warm soapy water, literally a couple drops of soap. I used to buy the egg wash soap, then got to thinking they use Dawn on birds caught in oil slicks. It works better and is safe. My eggs never last more than 4 weeks and they are always refrigerated. I supply a couple neighbors and myself with only 9 chickens. They don't taste like soap and I have yet to have a bad egg in 4 years.

 

[Parront]

Yes, I know all that, and I used to leave the bloom on. But, I'm a germaphobe, so I couldn't deal with it. Messy eggs get washed in warm soapy water, literally a couple drops of soap. I used to buy the egg wash soap, then got to thinking they use Dawn on birds caught in oil slicks. It works better and is safe. My eggs never last more than 4 weeks and they are always refrigerated. I supply a couple neighbors and myself with only 9 chickens. They don't taste like soap and I have yet to have a bad egg in 4 years.

A couple of drops of detergent in warm water, all you need. If you were going to hatch them, that might not be ok with some here, BUT, I had an Orpington hatch out the exact same type of washed eggs, my detergent of choice was Palmlolive.(The green kind, not sure of the spelling!)

 

[Eggscaping]

Hi Zadoxie Chickens I have 12 hens and just added a rooster. My coop is 10 X 10 with an attached run which is 20 X 10. I love it. Plenty of room and no one is crowded. I live in central Florida so we have lots of ventilation in the coop and run is all hardware cloth. The hens have room to get away from the rooster....lol..View attachment 1836963

Beautiful set-up!!

 

[Ghosty]

Yes, I know all that, and I used to leave the bloom on. But, I'm a germaphobe, so I couldn't deal with it. Messy eggs get washed in warm soapy water, literally a couple drops of soap. I used to buy the egg wash soap, then got to thinking they use Dawn on birds caught in oil slicks. It works better and is safe. My eggs never last more than 4 weeks and they are always refrigerated. I supply a couple neighbors and myself with only 9 chickens. They don't taste like soap and I have yet to have a bad egg in 4 years.

I started out using Dawn. I bet commercial operations wash every egg and use some kind of anti bacterial. I think it comes down to a personal decision. I was kind of giving grounds as to why I quit using soap based on the porous, bloom thing. Both ways are probably fine, I would think.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I actually use my homeade reusable cleaning wipes. I use them like Lysol wipes except without all the chemicals and I can reuse them and it’s food safe. I just use 10 parts distilled water one part castile soap 20 drops of lemon EO, 10-15 drops tea tree oil and 8 drops sweet orange oil I put cleaning rags in a jar pour the solution on and let it sit. And then pull one out as needed. The lemon oil is a great cleaning agent and an antibacterial the tea tree oil Is antibacterial and antifungal and the sweet orange oil it’s a great degreaser which helps clean the eggs nicely

 

[Ridgerunner]

As long as you don't remove bloom, the eggs are fairly clean, and, if they are fertile, you store them below development temperature you can store them for a long time at room temperature. After all, a hen can lay eggs for two weeks to make a brood, then incubate them for three weeks without the eggs going bad. Turkeys and ducks go longer.

Dirty eggs can allow bacteria inside, bypassing the bloom. If you remove the boom by sand papering them or washing them, the eggs need to be refrigerated. Refrigerator temperatures are low enough that bacteria can't grow even if they get inside the porous shell.

I'm not a commercial operation. They have certain techniques, often required by regulations, to clean them. They also candle them in case something is inside like a blood spot. I don't have their equipment or materials, I don't have their entire procedure. Just using part of their procedure can be risky. They do refrigerate them early and keep them refrigerated. Refrigeration is a huge part of their safety procedure. Most of the other stuff is to give their customers clean eggs with no surprises.

Use whatever you wish to clean them, I really don't care, that is your business. If you clean them, refrigerate them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you were going to hatch them, that might not be ok with some here, BUT, I had an Orpington hatch out the exact same type of washed eggs

You can do whatever you want with your hatching eggs. They are yours and that's none of my business. Washing the bloom off makes it easier for bacteria to get inside. That does not mean that bacteria are guaranteed to get inside, just that it is easier. If bacteria gets inside the egg material is a great food for bacteria, scientists often use egg as bacteria food in the lab to culture bacteria. Incubating temperature is the perfect temperature for bacteria to grow. If bacteria does manage to get inside it usually doesn't take long for the egg to become a stinking oozing mess, some even explode.

I'm not that surprised that you were successful with that hatch. If you can keep your incubator really clean you can have success in them too with washed eggs. If you had some really dirty eggs that were pretty important to you then you might be better off washing them before incubating. When I set eggs to hatch I try to do things that improve my odds of success, not do things that decrease my odds. I consider that good practice. To me life is not about absolutes, I just try to do the best I can. Sometimes it woks, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[Parront]

You can do whatever you want with your hatching eggs. They are yours and that's none of my business. Washing the bloom off makes it easier for bacteria to get inside. That does not mean that bacteria are guaranteed to get inside, just that it is easier. If bacteria gets inside the egg material is a great food for bacteria, scientists often use egg as bacteria food in the lab to culture bacteria. Incubating temperature is the perfect temperature for bacteria to grow. If bacteria does manage to get inside it usually doesn't take long for the egg to become a stinking oozing mess, some even explode.

I'm not that surprised that you were successful with that hatch. If you can keep your incubator really clean you can have success in them too with washed eggs. If you had some really dirty eggs that were pretty important to you then you might be better off washing them before incubating. When I set eggs to hatch I try to do things that improve my odds of success, not do things that decrease my odds. I consider that good practice. To me life is not about absolutes, I just try to do the best I can. Sometimes it woks, sometimes it doesn't.

I’m far from a professional Hatcher I just hatched under a big fat Orpington a couple times for fun I just always wash my eggs so when I wanted to hatch them they were washed.