How flexible is the coop sq. footage per bird?

[gale65]

I'm1chickencuddler :

I never considered I would need a minimum coop space or square footage per bird. I just figured they were sleeping and laying in the coop and the rest of the time they are out and about. I have 18 hens. My coop has 2 levels of nest box space that measure 5'x2' and the rest of the floor is 5'x4'. They only use the nest boxes on the bottom to lay in. Whenever I have put the boxes on top, they do what they can to knock, drag, or otherwise remove them from the coop. I thought this was strange. I had no idea why so I would keep putting them back in. They would get them back out. I finally realized(apparently I am a slow learner) they wanted to sleep up on the top shelf. Okay. I scrape out the poo every couple days. Half the flock sleeps on the shelf and the other half sleep on the roosting pole. There is plenty of roosting pole space for everybody but they have their preferences.

So you have just barely over 1 sq foot per chicken. That's really not enough, even if they only sleep and lay in there. I don't know where you live, but here, when it's raining, they will stay in the coop all day. I'm guessing when it snows they'll also want to stay in. Even on days when it's nice out I'll find them all lying around in the coop rather than being outside. Our old coop was only 2 sq feet per chicken and I could really tell when they were all in there lounging that it was not big enough.​

 

[chickendales]

I'm1chickencuddler :

I never considered I would need a minimum coop space or square footage per bird. I just figured they were sleeping and laying in the coop and the rest of the time they are out and about. I have 18 hens. My coop has 2 levels of nest box space that measure 5'x2' and the rest of the floor is 5'x4'. They only use the nest boxes on the bottom to lay in. Whenever I have put the boxes on top, they do what they can to knock, drag, or otherwise remove them from the coop. I thought this was strange. I had no idea why so I would keep putting them back in. They would get them back out. I finally realized(apparently I am a slow learner) they wanted to sleep up on the top shelf. Okay. I scrape out the poo every couple days. Half the flock sleeps on the shelf and the other half sleep on the roosting pole. There is plenty of roosting pole space for everybody but they have their preferences.

if your bird free range during the day that plenty of room​

 

[gale65]

Quote:
if your bird free range during the day that plenty of room

But only if they free range every waking hour of every day of the year. If the poster has bad weather that chickens wouldn't want to be in, then they would stay indoors and that is not enough room for them to hang out in. JMO. And even then it still seems small just for sleeping in. ONE square foot per bird? Really, you think that's enough?

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
if your bird free range during the day that plenty of room

But only if they free range every waking hour of every day of the year. If the poster has bad weather that chickens wouldn't want to be in, then they would stay indoors and that is not enough room for them to hang out in. JMO. And even then it still seems small just for sleeping in. ONE square foot per bird? Really, you think that's enough?

soory that isnt enuf space if there ever locked in

 

[Time-Out]

I built a 4sq foot box coop as a temporary thing to get the chicks out the house while I'm building their real coop. I also have a cardboard coop I threw together when three marans arrived unexpectedly. Well, after having seen the size of a marans and the size of 4 square feet.... I'm not even sure that's enough!

 

[TheWaddler]

Quote:
if your bird free range during the day that plenty of room

But only if they free range every waking hour of every day of the year. If the poster has bad weather that chickens wouldn't want to be in, then they would stay indoors and that is not enough room for them to hang out in. JMO. And even then it still seems small just for sleeping in. ONE square foot per bird? Really, you think that's enough?

My chickens never and I mean never hang out in the coop, bad weather or not. They sleep and lay in there and that is it. As soon as the door is opened they come barreling out and won't go back till the sun goes down. I have watched them intently for nearly 3 years and for central Texas and for me, my chickens needed about 6 inches of space per bird is all, what they take up on the roost each night. They technically only take up about 4 inches each, they cram in next to each other except for my head hen, the leghorn. I also have the luxury of a friend who will let my birds out if I leave town for any time, that is the only time they would ever stay inside the coop basically, so always use that when taking into consideration for coop sizes....will you ever leave your birds for a short time alone.

Now I am not telling people that 6 inches of space per bird is all they need at all, but if you have the right conditions your coop does not have to be large at all. It needs to accommodate their sleeping needs basically if you live someplace with very mild winters and blazing hot summers (God bless Texas eeh). No matter what size you settle on don't skimp on the ventilation, we moved to a new place and it had a huge slab out back so I put the coop up there. Put a remote thermometer in the nest boxes so I could watch the temp from inside....well on one of them 109 degree days my nest box temp was 155 degrees in the sun. Needless to say needed a few adjustments.

As for the green roof and skylights in your coop, Pat had some sound advice. Skylights leak....its what they do, in fact I think they were designed to do that because they do it so well

You should be pretty comfortable with the idea of properly "drying it in" if you are going to attempt to put some in or you WILL have leaks, no if's and's or butt's about it. If your coop is not massive a green roof can be fairly simple to do, again the trick is "drying it in" mixed in with some reasonable bracing for longevity. My coop is designed to have a "green roof" if I can ever get it to a permanent location, maybe I can get some pics up here one day to show how I beefed up the roof to handle the dirt and water without making it overly crazy in cost or weight. I build houses for a living, my coop will never fall down or blow away without the likes of and OZ type tornado

 

[I'm1chickencuddler]

I have over 2 sq. per bird. They don't hang out in the coop. They only go in to lay and sleep. And when I am scraping and cleaning 2 or 3 will come hang out with me. I have looked in there when they are all in and there is more than enough space for them. I could easily add more, though that is not in the plans any time soon. They have a couple shelter areas in their yard they don't hang out much in those when it's raining either. They hang out on the poles and branches around their yard. They have quite a bit of space. Thank you for your concern.

 

[I'm1chickencuddler]

My girls are happy. I don't have any bare butts. I have taken a few with me to visit at the chicken swap where I was told by some professional breeders my chickens were happy, they had great legs(apparently there are mites and other icky things that can happen to their legs if not cared for properly), they had beautiful plumage and were sweet and happy. I let them out first thing in the morning. The only foreseeable reason they would ever be left in for any length of time would be if me and all my neighbors(there are 5 households that help and love my chickens) dropped dead suddenly. They have only been left in the coop intentionally the 1 day we had the hurricane(that was the day I got my first egg). I may be new to this but my girls are part of the family....they aren't "just chickens" like I hear from some people. Again, I appreciate advice when it pertains to me and makes sense. I am open to learning new things. I spend time with them everyday. I would think I would know if they were unhappy about anything. The math on the square footage was off a little by whoever said I barely had over 1 sq per bird. The math is over 2 per bird. Either way, they don't spend time in the coop. I guess that could change as their mood does but I will accommodate them as needed. Thank you again, for your concern about the space they have.

 

[gale65]

I'm1chickencuddler :

My girls are happy. I don't have any bare butts. I have taken a few with me to visit at the chicken swap where I was told by some professional breeders my chickens were happy, they had great legs(apparently there are mites and other icky things that can happen to their legs if not cared for properly), they had beautiful plumage and were sweet and happy. I let them out first thing in the morning. The only foreseeable reason they would ever be left in for any length of time would be if me and all my neighbors(there are 5 households that help and love my chickens) dropped dead suddenly. They have only been left in the coop intentionally the 1 day we had the hurricane(that was the day I got my first egg). I may be new to this but my girls are part of the family....they aren't "just chickens" like I hear from some people. Again, I appreciate advice when it pertains to me and makes sense. I am open to learning new things. I spend time with them everyday. I would think I would know if they were unhappy about anything. The math on the square footage was off a little by whoever said I barely had over 1 sq per bird. The math is over 2 per bird. Either way, they don't spend time in the coop. I guess that could change as their mood does but I will accommodate them as needed. Thank you again, for your concern about the space they have.

You said the area was 4 x 5 (the rest is nest boxes, right? ) and you have 18 hens. 4 x 5=20 and 20/18=1.11 sq feet per bird. If you do have 2 sq feet then your coop must be bigger than the 4 x 5 you posted. Nest boxes don't count for this purpose since they aren't general space for living-only for laying.​

 

[I'm1chickencuddler]

Quote:
You said the area was 4 x 5 (the rest is nest boxes, right? ) and you have 18 hens. 4 x 5=20 and 20/18=1.11 sq feet per bird. If you do have 2 sq feet then your coop must be bigger than the 4 x 5 you posted. Nest boxes don't count for this purpose since they aren't general space for living-only for laying.

There is an area 4x5 and 2 areas 2x5. Only 1 of those is nest boxes 4x5=20 2x5=10 30/18=1.67 if you don't count the other 10 sq from nest box space. Again, either way, they are only in there to lay and sleep.