How many chickens can roost in an 8x5 coop?

[Zinjifrah]

8 ft. x 5 ft. = 40 sq. ft.

40 (sq. ft.) / 4 (sq. ft. per bird) = 10 birds.

If you want 20 birds, you would do better to have 8 x 10 for the coop.

Be sure to subtract feed, water and nesting areas from the square footage available to the birds. For example;

A 2 sq. ft. waterer and a 2 sq. ft. feeder would reduce an 8 x 10 coop's capacity to 19 birds, instead of 20: (8x10) - (2+2) / 4 = 19.

 

[red horse ranch]

It depends on whether your birds will ever have to be confined in the coop because of bad weather. I know you have had blizzards and snow in your area and an occasional hurricane comes up the coast. The chickens will not want to be out in a run when that kind of weather is happening. You need a minimum of 4 sq ft per standard size chicken. An 8x5 would only allow 10 birds and even then you may have aggression problems during confinement periods. You need at least an 8x10 for 20 chickens.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

My question was about their roosting area which would be 8x5 probably .

I have coop that is about 8ftx8ft with about 16 ft of roost on one side of the coop, and the other half is just walk space. The roosts are one lower bar and one upper bar, both span between the width of the coop so aprox. 8ft each

I currently have 16 chickens that are about 15 weeks old and all but a couple fit on top roost. So with two 8ft roosts I think 20 birds would be comfortable, but at 5x8 the coop would only be roost space.

So far so good in that space for me, but they are some of the more docile breeds, still young, and I feed and water in the covered run. I think eventually I’ll end up with just a dozen or so birds total.

Anyway Not sure how much that helps, but you can have a look at my coop page to get idea of my space and maybe that will give some ideas on your space.

 

[JDN]

It would be like 30' or 40', possibly 50'x8'ft. I live in the piedmont area of NC.

If the run and coop are connected and part of the run at least is shaded and covered from water (tarps work fine,) you should be alright with 20 chickens. Put up three roost bars 8 Feet long.

The 4 sf/bird rule is important living in a suburban yard where the chickens are locked in the coop every night. When they just use it to sleep it isn't as hard and fast. Focus on a big run. And Shade, where you're at.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I disagree with the above. Even in a non-suburban setting, unless you can be assured that your run really is Fort Knox, locking them up in the coop each night will save you a headache. Predator attacks may not happen frequently or constantly; and you may be able to stay happily complacent even for years, but when it does happen you will feel some regrets and think "I should have closed them up".

Snow is not the only concern. When it is hot and even with plenty of ventilation and fans my birds like to be spread out on the roost, not sit right next to each other (except the youngest ones that still like that assurance of not being alone).

 

[lazy gardener]

My bottom line: 5 x 8 = a maximum of 10 birds. Any tighter spacing than that is going to result in behavioral problems: aggression -> feather picking -> blood shed -> cannibalism. Crowded birds are stressed birds. Stressed birds are much more prone to illness. Many problems can be prevented by preventing crowding and stress.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Our coop is approximately 4x8 ft. Our roosting area is about 3x4ft. It has two bars about 4ft each. In this picture, there are 12 birds on the 2 bars. Fat Bobby sleeps on the water bucket because she doesn't like the ramp to the roost. Lol. We haven't had any problems locking them up every night, but they are in a 2500 sf run every day.

 

[Folly's place]

Hamster, is this your first year with chickens? Do you have a covered run too? This will be very difficult in winter for them!
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by roosting area. They do not roost in an area, they roost on roosts which are linear. I don't believe in hard and fast magic numbers for chickens, there are way too many variables. One of those variables is personality of the individual chickens. Most get along fairly well but some are just brutes and bullies to any chicken around them. They can change the dynamics of your whole flock. What works well for me might not work at all for you. I don't give guarantees on the behaviors of living animals, you never know what one will do.

I'm guessing your roost area is 8' long. If your 20 chickens are all the same age and are fully integrated, the minimum I'd go with is two roosts 8' long each. I'd set the first one at least 12" off of the wall, a little more is better but 12" will do. The next one should be at least 12" from that one. In most cases that will handle 20 chickens but if you wind up with a brute or two, you could have issues.

But there are other considerations. Chickens don't necessarily take up a lot of room when they are on the roosts, but they need to get on the roosts. That means clear area to land when they fly up. The roosts also need to be higher than the nests or anywhere else you don't want them sleeping. The higher the roosts the more room they need to spread their wings and fly to get up there and, equally important, the more clear room they need to fly down in the morning. If they bang into walls, nests, feeders, waterers, or other things on the way down they can injure themselves. If it is that crowded they may not even attempt to fly up.

We use all kinds of different configurations in our coops. Some are so crowded and jumbled the chickens cannot fly so they use ramps or intermediate steps so the chicken scan walk or hop up and down. Some people use ladder roosts instead of roosts the same elevation. The roosts are only one component of the coop. What the rest of the coop looks like will have an effect on what you can do for roosts.