How big of a run for 6 hens?

[erin09]

We have recently moved from town to 11 acres in the mountains! My chickens have free ranged in my yard in town up until this point.

Free ranging is not an option here. I need a solid coop and run. I'm worried they will be unhappy being cooped up(pun intended!) after FRing their whole lives.

Finances are also a bit tight(closing costs!). The ladies are still living in our yard in town(it's my MILs house so not a problem, I am there several times a day). I need to get them here asap though.

What size coop and run should I be aiming for? Also, any suggestions to get DH to actually build the thing would be great!

Thanks in advance!

 

[patandchickens]

I know this is not as helpful as you might like

but "as big as you possibly can". I would not go smaller than 4 sq ft per chicken indoors (maybe 2 if you live in a paradise-like climate) and 10 sq ft per chicken indoors -- but those are BARE MINIMUMS and allowing more room will really work better.

Actually the above is not true - I would not *suggest* anyone go below those numbers, but personally I would not go that low even. Having tried various stocking densities, I do not see me ever allowing less than 10-15 sq ft per chicken indoors plus run space.

You might consider ways of building things now that would be easy (or anyhow feasible) to add onto as funds/materials become available in future.

For instance if you could build a 6x10' roofed structure right now, you could leave one or more walls off (mesh only) and make a 4x6 raised coop indoors... this would be a perfectly adequate basic structure for 6 hens now, but at some later date it would offer the opportunity of constructing a big outdoors run, dismantling the raised 'house' part, and walling the whole thing in as a larger coop for, potentially, more chickens (or just more room for the ones you have).

Or if that is not in the budget, see what you can scrounge to knock together something serviceable that could be dismantled and reused, or added onto, or repurposed, in the future. Flexibility is easier when you've tried to build it in from the start

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bring]

at least 60sq feet for the run and at least 24sq feet for the coop. 3 nesting boxes.