How many chickens can fit in here?

[cmom]

Quote:
I agree I think you have hit your limit. If you get more than one more chicken you would have to add another nest box ,rule of thumb, 3/4 chickens per nest box.

 

[digitS']

Quote:
Excellent photo's on the BYC page but since this housing seems so well thought out, I'm not too surprised. Thank you for all the construction information! You said that you should have gone with a lighter plywood - can you tell us what you used and what do you think would have been better??

Well, we do indeed need to be concerned about Winter drafts. Perhaps you could think about some way to baffle the intake vents.

Despite their hardiness (darn good for a critter from the tropics), we shouldn't be taxing our laying hens very much. It's quite an accomplishment for an hen to lay her weight in eggs in just over a month. If we want to coddle very many eggs in our kitchens during Winter months, we should be coddling our egg-layers.

The smaller size of the EE's probably make them a good choice.

I was thinking of suggesting to expand the existing coop with the addition of an attached nest box but I don't think you should be willing to do much in the way of a "tack on." Maybe think about building a 2nd tractor

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Good job!

Steve

 

[pasta514]

digitS' :

Excellent photo's on the BYC page but since this housing seems so well thought out, I'm not too surprised. Thank you for all the construction information! You said that you should have gone with a lighter plywood - can you tell us what you used and what do you think would have been better??

Well, we do indeed need to be concerned about Winter drafts. Perhaps you could think about some way to baffle the intake vents.

Despite their hardiness (darn good for a critter from the tropics), we shouldn't be taxing our laying hens very much. It's quite an accomplishment for an hen to lay her weight in eggs in just over a month. If we want to coddle very many eggs in our kitchens during Winter months, we should be coddling our egg-layers.

The smaller size of the EE's probably make them a good choice.

I was thinking of suggesting to expand the existing coop with the addition of an attached nest box but I don't think you should be willing to do much in the way of a "tack on." Maybe think about building a 2nd tractor

.

Good job!

Steve

Thanks for the compliments!

The plywood is T1-11; 9/16" thick 7-ply with grooves. The thickness remaining in the groove is 1/4". I bought it because I thought it was waterproof, so doesn't need to be sealed but in fact it is not. It needs to be painted or sealed anyway to keep the moisture out and the interior sanitary. My original design was to make it semi-movable, but in the end turns out a tractor was the way to go. It's kind of big for a tractor, so I should have tried to keep the weight down. Thinner plywood and where possible more 2x2 instead of 2x4. Besides, the T1-11 costs at least double compared to the cheapest sheathing ply that you can buy... and if you are painting anyway no one's going to care.​

 

[henmommy]

DigitS wrote: "At 3' x 4', they've got 12 square feet of floor space. If the average height is 3.5', the birds only have 42 cubic feet. Divide 42 by 3 and the rule of thumb says that you've only enuf room for 14 pounds of chickens."

My question is when dividing the 42 by 3, what does the 3 represent? I have a 10X6X8 coop with 14 hens & 2 roos. Is that enough room? During the day, they all free-range. I am in upstate NY where winters get very cold. An area chicken farmer told me he keeps his hens inside all winter. If these girls/guys can't get out on cold snowy days, is this enough room inside?

 

[Heather J]

Henmommy, The three in the equation comes from the idea that each pound of bird needs three cubic feet of space, even if much of it is above four feet. According to my calculations from what you said, you have room for all of your birds if they are about ten pounds each. I think many breeds are less than that even when they're more than a year old and done growing.

Also, I don't know how cold it is where you are in the winter, but if the day is at least twenty-five degrees in the winter, I open the doors and let the birds run. In the sun it will feel warmer than that, and heaven knows there will be plenty of days when I won't be around to let them out after it warms up decently, and they'll be sleeping before I get home from work at night.

 

[dangerouschicken]

Four MAX. Cute coop and run. Really useful space!