How many birds can my coop hold? *Pics*

[_-Captain BRM-_]

1/2" hardware cloth

What about in the winter? Won't it get cold?

 

[bill3607]

No I was just wondering other folks opinion I was fitting 26 chickens in there just fine. I down sized the flock tho because there just got to be a lot and my chicken s are my pets and I wasn't able to give them the time that I needed to make them all friendly

I am sorry but there is no way 26 chickens were fitting in the coop pictured. You must mean in the "run" which is not a coop. The coop is the white box, and from the looks of the coop you could put a couple to 3 in there.

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Yes. It's a shed conversion.

How many chickens can it hold?

 

[3KillerBs]

@3KillerBs is great at explaining the space needed to humanely keep chickens.

Thank you.

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

So how do I add ventilation?

The roof is corregated steel. Whats wrong with not having good ventilation? I know that it needs it and am not disagreeing but wondering.

Ventilation is critical for several reasons:

First -- good health. Birds have very delicate respiratory systems and cannot maintain their health without an abundant supply of fresh air. The ammonia generated by their poop is irritating even to a human and we're much more tolerant of bad air than any bird is -- remember the canary in the coal mine thing?

Second -- temperature control. Heat is a deadly killer for chickens, much more dangerous than cold. If you're in a warm climate (knowing your general location is very helpful because climate MATTERS), you will need at least double the minimum unless you can locate the coop in deep shade. If you look at my brooder coop article you'll see that despite 16 square feet of permanent ventilation and 10 square feet of supplemental ventilation I still had to put up a shade tent to keep the temperature down so that I didn't cook my chicks.

Third -- moisture control. This is important all year round and even moreso in cold-climate winters. It's not the cold itself that causes frostbite, it's cold plus moisture -- ice freezing on their combs and feet. Abundant, roof-level ventilation removes the moisture to keep the chickens dry and healthy. This photo is from an article on cattle barns, but the principle is the same:

As noted above, the best ventilation is above the birds' heads when they're sitting on their roost. Could you provide some interior photos and actual dimensions of the coop?

Do any of you guys have pics of ur coop?

I have several coops.

The brooder coop:

The Little Monitor Coop

Neuchickenstein

I'm in central North Carolina so heat is my main concern.

What about in the winter? Won't it get cold?

We don't have to keep chickens warm.

We keep chickens dry and out of the wind and they keep themselves warm with their built-in down parkas.

 

[DobieLover]

What about in the winter? Won't it get cold?

You would have to cover a portion of it with a tarp.
I personally wouldn't do a full wall removal (open air coop) in the north where we get real winters unless the design was a Wood's style coop.

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

I am sorry but there is no way 26 chickens were fitting in the coop pictured. You must mean in the "run" which is not a coop. The coop is the white box, and from the looks of the coop you could put a couple to 3 in there.

Well the coop has roosts in it. I'm sorry. Thanks for the help. A lot of my friends that have chickens have so many in a small area and I didn't know. They got to free range every day and I did down size

 

[3KillerBs]

How many chickens can it hold?

PS. The brooder coop is 4x8 and thus holds 8 adult chickens. The Little Monitor Coop is 4x4 and thus holds 4 chickens. Neuchickenstein is 16x16 and thus could theoretically hold 64 but since only half has walls, 25-30 is a more realistic number. As an open air design it's a coop and run in one rather than just a coop.

 

[DobieLover]

How many chickens can it hold?

My run is fully predator proof so the pop door remains open all the time. When the birds come off the roost, they head straight to the run to wait for me to let them out into their pen.
I'm currently housing 27 birds. I've housed as many as 30.
The coop is 8x12 with a 4x8 storage room in the front.
The run is 28'x12' with a 4x8 annex off the back and they also have access to the maternity ward and it's run which adds another 40 sq ft.
Their pen is about 1/3 acre.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The hottest the summer got this year it almost never surpassed 86. Winters got down to 7 degrees? Maybe. I don't remember. And yes on the snow. But since the roof if the corregated steel it just slips right off

You are VERY fortunate. You have a great climate for chickens. They are (compared to us) VERY cold tolerant, and compared to us, NOT very heat tolerant.

The most important thing you can do for chickens in all but very extreme environments, is give them a dry, draft free, well ventilated place to sleep. The second most important thing is a protected place to live, eat, and roam.

Chickens come from an open environment. We've bred them bigger, heavier, more frequent egg layers, but the species was designed for open air, lots of space. Their respiratory system is vvery primative. When you trap chickens in a small space, all their waste (droppings) gets concentrated in a small area, not spread over the jungle. Their waste is very high nitrogen (if used as fertilizer, fresh, it will "burn" your plants, even grasses) which is expressed in part as ammonia. Concentrated ammonia is both alkaline and corrosive - very bad for a chicken's breathing. In commercial hen houses, employees sometimes need to use respirators!

Its also high moisture. Chickens are prone to frostbite on their feet, and combs when high moisture combines with very cold air.

If, on the other hand, you can ensure good ventilation, so that even if the air flow is making the coop cooler, that moist, ammonia laden air is rapidly moved outwards, the frost bite risk is greatly reduced (no water to freeze) and their lungs will thank you for it. You just don't want a breeze on them, because they will puff out their down coats to keep themselves warm - and a breeze that pushes feathers out of the way, exposing skin underneath, defeat that - much like wearing a down jacket unzipped and bare chested make part of you very cold on a windy winter day.

Hope that helps explain the thinking some.

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Thank you.

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

Ventilation is critical for several reasons:

First -- good health. Birds have very delicate respiratory systems and cannot maintain their health without an abundant supply of fresh air. The ammonia generated by their poop is irritating even to a human and we're much more tolerant of bad air than any bird is -- remember the canary in the coal mine thing?

Second -- temperature control. Heat is a deadly killer for chickens, much more dangerous than cold. If you're in a warm climate (knowing your general location is very helpful because climate MATTERS), you will need at least double the minimum unless you can locate the coop in deep shade. If you look at my brooder coop article you'll see that despite 16 square feet of permanent ventilation and 10 square feet of supplemental ventilation I still had to put up a shade tent to keep the temperature down so that I didn't cook my chicks.

Third -- moisture control. This is important all year round and even moreso in cold-climate winters. It's not the cold itself that causes frostbite, it's cold plus moisture -- ice freezing on their combs and feet. Abundant, roof-level ventilation removes the moisture to keep the chickens dry and healthy. This photo is from an article on cattle barns, but the principle is the same:

View attachment 2865127

As noted above, the best ventilation is above the birds' heads when they're sitting on their roost. Could you provide some interior photos and actual dimensions of the coop?



I have several coops.

The brooder coop:

View attachment 2865128

The Little Monitor Coop

View attachment 2865129

Neuchickenstein

View attachment 2865132
View attachment 2865148

I'm in central North Carolina so heat is my main concern.



We don't have to keep chickens warm.

We keep chickens dry and out of the wind and they keep themselves warm with their built-in down parkas.

I meant by the cold cause I would be removing that whole board. Thank you!!! You have been so helpful!!