How many chickens do you think will fit?

[jennhalgren]

My wonderful husband is building me a coop but thinks its too big for 4 chickens. its 4x4x4 coop, and 16 ft run plus 4 ft under the coop. my question is, its this too big? because if it is, that means I could get more chickens right? lol. I don't think this is what he thought of when he said it was too big but I want more then 4 chickens lol.

 

[wsmith]

My wonderful husband is building me a coop but thinks its too big for 4 chickens. its 4x4x4 coop, and 16 ft run plus 4 ft under the coop. my question is, its this too big? because if it is, that means I could get more chickens right? lol. I don't think this is what he thought of when he said it was too big but I want more then 4 chickens lol.

4x4 floor space in the coop is generally big enough for 4 adult chickens, but no more. The general rule of thumb (thought there aren't any "coop police") is 4 square feet per adult bird in the coop, and 10 square feet per bird in the run. Your run is 16 x ?

In incement weather, whether is is snow or rain, chickens like to be protected. If they have to stay indoors for more than a couple of days, overcrowding can create issues withint eh flock, including pecking to the extent that some can die. Overcrowding should be avoided. That being said, if you are in an area that doesn't experience bad weather and the chickens will be outside all the time, then you could probably get away with a couple more hens in your coop. I wouldn't do that though......

 

[jennhalgren]

Well shoot, I was wanting a few more lol, but I want happy chickens more. the total run size is 20x4, that's counting the 4x4 space under the coop. it has 2 feet of head room so that I can put the food and water under it. we have 4 rabbits and I was tell my husband that the coop isn't too big. it would be the same if we put the rabbits in the coop with out cages because the rabbits are about the same size as the chickens. he still thinks its too big. I think he just doesn't want to look at it. maybe I should let him pick out the paint colors lol, that might help.