how many chickens can I have

[papeine]

I have a 12x12 chicken coop with four nest boxes.. what would you guys say is the maxium chickens I could have? currently I have 12

 

[teach1rusl]

How large is your run? Or do you totally free range?

 

[papeine]

Quote:
probably 24 by 50... they are out of the coop when I have home.. so mostly weekends and evenings.. although with the time change they don't always get out at night...

 

[teach1rusl]

Well, if they're inside the coop housing for most of the day (unless I misunderstood you), then I'd advise sticking with 12. However, if I did misunderstand you, and they're out in the run during the day, then you could have upwards of 30 chickens if you had enough roost space...
If you live in a year round mild climate, then you could have more than that... How many are you wanting to keep?

 

[chickendude]

Quote:
probably 24 by 50... they are out of the coop when I have home.. so mostly weekends and evenings.. although with the time change they don't always get out at night...

Is your property 24 x 50 or is your closed in run 24 x 50?
Your coop being 12x12... your square footage is 144 sq ft. I like a minimum of 5 sq ft per bird in the coop. (with a run with at least 10 sq ft per bird) So that would be 144 sq ft / 5 = 28.8 birds in the coop.
If you leave them in the coop all the time or at least the majority of the time I would increase the sq ft per bird to 10. That would allow you 14.4 birds in the coop.

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
probably 24 by 50... they are out of the coop when I have home.. so mostly weekends and evenings.. although with the time change they don't always get out at night...

Is your property 24 x 50 or is your closed in run 24 x 50?
Your coop being 12x12... your square footage is 144 sq ft. I like a minimum of 5 sq ft per bird in the coop. (with a run with at least 10 sq ft per bird) So that would be 144 sq ft / 5 = 28.8 birds in the coop.
If you leave them in the coop all the time or at least the majority of the time I would increase the sq ft per bird to 10. That would allow you 14.4 birds in the coop.

3sqfft is fine for standard bird

 

[chickendude]

Quote:
Is your property 24 x 50 or is your closed in run 24 x 50?
Your coop being 12x12... your square footage is 144 sq ft. I like a minimum of 5 sq ft per bird in the coop. (with a run with at least 10 sq ft per bird) So that would be 144 sq ft / 5 = 28.8 birds in the coop.
If you leave them in the coop all the time or at least the majority of the time I would increase the sq ft per bird to 10. That would allow you 14.4 birds in the coop.

3sqfft is fine for standard bird

Yes I agree that 3 sq ft in most cases is fine for standard birds. I have all lg breed birds and find they do much better with 5 sq ft in the coop.

 

[waterchicken]

mmm.... what about bantam?

 

[Ole rooster]

The OP didn't say anything about bantams. Least I don't think they did. The assumption has to be they have the large breed of chickens. Always better to go high than low.

 

[waterchicken]

mmm... True, I guess.