How Many Chickens Can I Have?

[Chickmate]

I hope I'm posting this in the correct place. It would either be here on in the Coops forum. I think I read somewhere that you should figure 4 sq. ft. per bird. So am I figuring correctly that I can keep 35 chickens in a 10x14 coop that has an attached 14x25 run? Just wondering if I figured right because it sure seems like too many chickens for that small an area. Advice anyone? Thanks!

 

[annaraven]

I've heard it's MINIMUM 4 square feet per chicken in the coop PLUS 10 square feet in the run per chicken. So, yes, in theory, you could keep that many in your setup. But they'd be much happier if there was more space. And you'd be happier too, I suspect.

 

[Chick Charm]

Your set up will work for 35 chickens. The more room the better but that is already one big set up so sometimes we just gotta make it work. 10 sf per bird in the run is standard but more and sometimes even less can work. The coop target is 4 sf per bird but some will go as low as 2 sf per bird depending on the set up.

 

[teach1rusl]

The 4sq.ft housing and 10 sq.ft.run numbers are generalizations, and yes - MINIMUM generalizations at that. In year-round warm areas, folks can easily get by with less indoor space because the chickens literally are never indoors except to lay eggs or roost at night. In areas that get cold winters, you'd want more indoor space than the generally quoted 4 sq. ft., because your birds will most likely spend quite a bit of time indoors for a few months. Your gut reaction is spot on - that does seem like an awful lot of chickens for that size of an area, especially for your area, IMO.

 

[jaketheeggman]

They would be just fine i have a small coop with a lot of hens i just have a big run area for them so they can get outside.

jake

 

[Chickmate]

Thanks so much for the great replies and advice guys. The more chickens I have the more I want, but I also don't just want them to be OK, I want them to have enough room to be happy chickens. When the weather is warm enough I will leave the run door open so they can free range if they want, but like you said teach1rusl, here in SE Michigan that won't be very often in the winter. I now have 23 chicks and have 8 more ordered that will arrive in April, that makes 31. I'll keep it no higher than that and am expecting I will probably lose a few to predators. I know I have more than several roos in that count, so may have to rehome a few of them as well.

 

[PapaChaz]

we have a local guy here who builds coops and advertises a 4x6 will hold up to 20 hens. I wrote him and called him out on it. of course he told me he was putting me in the spam folder so he wouldn't have to read my mail any more!

as if i care! i posted an ad as well for a few days to watch out for people trying to sell coops and advertising their limits incorrectly, of course he flagged it enough to get it taken out. I would think based on the minimums as most everyone else here has said, your coop and run would be big enough, but you can't have too much room for them. you seem to have the right idea about keeping them happy! good luck

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

It is always better to go for more space than you need.

I am thinking of this winter which was quite cruel to me and my birds and I had several weeks where they couldn't leave the barn this winter and as such I was glad they had tons of room to be happy in.

Good Luck!