How many chicken per sq ft ???

[Raccoonrider]

I suppose I had it coming. I put up a nice pen for my chickens in the spring when they were chicks and they had a good run. But now the raptors in the area have started to take notice. I have slowly been adding to my collection over the past few months and up until a few days ago had 12 chickens. Now i have 10. I fear due to the design of my pen I will never be able to fully 'predator proof' it and must abandon it to find an alternative means to protect my babies. And fast. And on a budget of under 100. I have exhausted my options of using pvc pipe and wire.. its too expensive. Or building a wooden frame and using wire....too expensive. Trashy, I know, but I have found a metal swing set that I can wrap in wire and connect to their coop/nesting box. So...my question is. is 180 square feet enough living space for 10 chickens? Could I get a couple more before it becomes bad living conditions? They had over 1000 sq ft previously and have never had to test...figured id ask some folks that know.

 

[Dracana]

The usual numbers I have seen are 4 sq ft per LF in the coop and 10 sq ft per LF in the run. You can get away with less if you have bantams.

 

[Raccoonrider]

2 of the 10 are bantams. 3 BCM ...originally 5 . and 5 barred rock. So you think id be ok to get 2-3 more?

 

[galvinj]

4 sq' inside coop per bird
10sq' outside run per bird as Dracana said

 

[Dracana]

You said 180 sq ft. Is that in their coop? Their run?

 

[Raccoonrider]

The coop has roughly 30sq ft. The run that im looking into ...which is just a metal frame swing set (minus swings plus some wire fence) would provide about 180sq ft. With the space under the coop and nesting boxes i guess it would put it just over 200 square feet for the run.

 

[Dracana]

Your run is plenty big enough BUT your coop is a bit small for the 10 you have now. Even though you say that 2 of them are bantams.
You can run into issues come winter when they don't want to leave the coop. They may have enough sleeping room, but they also need a bit of room to move around in there.

 

[Raccoonrider]

Yeah I have actually been picking up pallets here and there in hopes to add on to it at some point. The BCMs are only about 7-8 weeks old right now so theyre not taking up much space. But it is in plans for the future.

 

[Dracana]

I wouldn't add any more until you make that coop bigger. And I wouldn't worry about anything being 'trashy'. Your chickens certainly don't care. As long as they have a dry shelter, safety, food, and water they will be happy as can be.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I don't like recommend square footage for chickens, those numbers are for production hens who are usually debeaked. I have found that crowding leads to pecking and other agression issues. So let those numbers be in the back of your head, but i don't think they should be followed, the more room the better.