how many chickens can my coop accommodate.

[SLWyandotte]

i'm building an 8'x8'x8' coop with a 8'x70' run. couple large oaks provide extra shade over the run. how many grown chickens can this accommodate. planning to use milk crates secured to the wall on their side for laying boxes. figure a 2" strip across the front of each should keep the nesting and eggs in.

 

[Momagain1]

ok; I think your run is huge and could house up to 80 chickens???? ( I did the 8x70=560, divided by 7 (at least) sq ft per chicken = 80 chickens..

Math is not my strong suit; so someone PLEASE tell me if I did it wrong..I need to know so I know with my run too..
mine is 10x25; whichis 250 sq ft ; divided by 7 (at least) which equals 35 chickens..

 

[Momagain1]

sorry; 8x8 is 64 sq ft; divided by the very minimum feet needed for indoor housing of 4 sq ft per chicken; you could only have 16 if you go by that...

but also its all dependent on if your weather is stable all yr round to where they can roam outdoors in the pen much mor than they'd be willing to be indoors..

but for roosting purposes; 16

again; please someone correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[Iheartchicks<3:)]

my coop is 7x9 and it could probably house 20 chickens, they also free range so maybe more! I would say about 30 comfortably for you...

 

[Judy]

Quote:
This is the way it's usually looked at. But there are many factors to consider. If the OP is in Canada and the chickens will be stuck in the coop for weeks on end, a better number of chickens would be 5 or 6. If he is in Florida, he doesn't need the fourth wall, and could keep a whole lot more than 16 with good planning of roosts and so forth.

 

[Momagain1]

ok thanks!!

Thats what I was tryign to tell Dh too...he wanted 30 chickens..and our coop will only "hold" 25..but he says that he wants to raise some meaters and cull in the fall like November b4 its too darn cold..and they wont need to
use the coop so it'll bring our # down to about 23 or so...in our 10x10..but I'm not sure that it'll be sufficient enough for a couple months winter snow if need be...

so what you say makes sense!

 

[SLWyandotte]

i'm is southern alabama. hottest part of the day in summer is in the 100's in the sun but the run is shaded so high 90's, in the winter the temp might get to 15 degrees 1 day a year. maybe. usual the temp might get in the 30's for a week then jump into the 50's for 2 weeks. this is the dead of winter. it was in the 80's here in december. now we are in the 80's during the day and high 50's at night. we get some pretty severe thunderstorms and the occasional hurricane but i'm about 70-80 miles from the coast so usually just tropical depressions. snows about once every 5-6 years maybe an 1/2" to 1.5". but again the run is shaded and covered by 3 big oaks about 200 years old. does that help with the figures?

eventually i'm going to just fence in the back yard and let them use it as a run. so 60'x140'