How many chickens can I fit in my 16'5" by 16'5" chicken pen?

[Pullet Press]

It will be well over 120 sq. ft.?

Augh. I have no clue. The plans (found on BYC) stated that it could hold 30 chickens. IDK.

 

[Pullet Press]

7x7=49=WAY TOO SMALL a coop for 30 birds!
I'm personally shocked that you have 9 birds in a prefab and they come out of it with both eyes and their scalps intact.

If you truly want to provide a proper home for your birds, you need to provide much more space. Unless you have a fully predator proof run attached to the coop you need to shoot for 4 sq ft per bird in the coop. That is a big coop for 30 birds.

Okay. I guess I'll have to find plans for a bigger coop. I want to base my plans off of the chicken tractor coops from Lumnah Acres. Thank you for all of your help.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You need to look at actual measurements for a coop, if you aren't sure post a link or a photo of the plans and have folks take a look.

What is in the pen? The floor is one half packed dirt/mulch and the other half is concrete. There's a tree in the bottom middle of the pen.

So nothing else in the space, such as clutter for them to interact with? Adding "stuff": https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/ is a good idea to keep birds busy and to help provide hiding spaces should conflict arise, but clutter does eat up space, which is why I personally feel the 10 sq ft per bird minimum is too minimal. I think you're already pretty much maxed out for the space you have, because integration of new birds favors space well over minimum.

 

[aart]

What is in the pen?

The 'coop' is the enclosed predator and weather proof place they sleep at night.
The 'run' or 'pen' is the larger confined space they spend the day.