How large hen house?

[CherylChick]

We have nine nineteen-week-old pullets (four Barred Rocks, four RIRs, and one Buff Orph), and one Buff Orph roo. The currently have a ten-by-ten run (actually a dog kennel, with hardware cloth on the lower level, and a nice roof) with two dog houses for shelter, and a "nest tub" (feed tub on it's side with pine litter, and packing tape over the bottom edge to hold in litter and eggs). We're building an attached hen house. How big should it be? It will be walled with the same metal roofing that covers the run, so I expect I'll need to add foam insulation? Would fiberglass held in place with chicken wire be OK?

 

[Pyxis]

Generally you want four square feet of space per bird in the coop, so with nine birds, that would be 27 square feet. You can go lower than that if you free range, though - for example, mine are out all day and only go into the coop to sleep, so they have about 3 square feet per bird instead of four. However, if you're keeping them in a coop and run all the time, you should go four square feet each, just so they all have room.

 

[CherylChick]

Thanks-we're planning a 6' X 8' hen house, so sounds like it should be big enough. I wish I could free-range them, but we also have six dogs, five cats, and are in the middle of the woods. Too many potential predators by far!

 

[Arielle]

Here's my 2 cents-- I've had chickens a few years. IF the weather is bad like snow, the girls don't like to come out of the coop. THis is when bigger is better. ALso and area that is covered but open on the sides is appreciated by the hens. A place to get out of the rain and a place free of snow.

Enjoy your girls!