How many can I keep in my coop?

[SarahYoungner]

I am in the process of building my hen house/run. The House is 4x8 and the run is 10x13. I am only going to be housing hens, mainly Rode Island Reds. How many hens can I keep in my house? maximum\
Thanks

 

[Yay Chicks!]

The coop is a good size for about 8 hens. Although the run is large enough for more, it's always nice to have more room in the run than you need.

 

[darin367]

my girls have 2 coops available 24/7..... 16 birds pack into a 5x6 coop, they do this by choice....... they have an 8x8 available, same set up, but like the sardine feeling i guess........ so i say you can put 15 in there no problem......

 

[1muttsfan]

my girls have 2 coops available 24/7..... 16 birds pack into a 5x6 coop, they do this by choice....... they have an 8x8 available, same set up, but like the sardine feeling i guess........ so i say you can put 15 in there no problem......

I would not try this with RIIR's, they tend to get much more aggressive when not given enough space to spread out. The general rule is 4 square feet of coop per bird, or more if possible. 8 hens would be the maximum.

FYI, outdoor run space should be 10 square feet per bird.

 

[karlamaria]

my girls have 2 coops available 24/7..... 16 birds pack into a 5x6 coop, they do this by choice....... they have an 8x8 available, same set up, but like the sardine feeling i guess........ so i say you can put 15 in there no problem......

Nope, not good, I would say 8 tops. My coop was 5x6 and I had 5 birds, I thought that was to small lol, I just got done redoing my coop and pen, it's now 10x6 and there is only going to be 9 birds tops! Pen is 12x16

 

[Hinotori]

I'd also say 8 as well. If they only used it for sleeping and free ranged, it would be a different story.

I had 24 birds shoving themselves in a 6x6 coop. The roosts in the 10x16 weren't good enough apparently. Neither was the small dog house that was set up for them. We're down to 19 in the 6x6 but I think I'm going to take it out and force them over into the bigger one since I can't stand up in the small coop to clean it.