how many chickens per our coop dimensions???

[HaleMoa]

we built a 10x16 ft run, 6 ft high, and attached to it is a sleeping hutch, its total area for them to sleep in is 7x2.5 ft, 3 ft high. if i run two 7 ft perch's from end to end a foot and half high, how many birds is that enough room for comfortably??? right now we have 17 chickens, 4 are roos, so they're coming out eventually. which leaves us with 13 pullets. they're all happy, but they're just 5 weeks old and can still fit nice. we're willing to cull down a few if necessary, but how much could we fit comfortably in a 7x2.5x3 ft sleeping space??? all of them, or less some??? the more we can keep the better.

 

[HaleMoa]

oh, another thing... in addition to the space they have in their run, we're also planning on letting them range around in the afternoon once they get used to the coop being their "tree" house.

 

[Verboten]

Hello!

It seems like the general rule of thumb for backyard flocks is 4 square feet per (standard sized) bird. You may be able to get away with less but with 17.5 square feet of floor space and 13 pullets you are giving them each less than a foot and a half of space.

You will probably need a bigger coop even if it means a smaller run. Things may be different in Hawaii though.

 

[HaleMoa]

wow thanks for that tip verboten. with that equation, it sounds like we can only fit 4 or 5 hens.

and yah, hawaii has good outdoor weather, so the chickens will pretty much be outside, all day, year round. in the run during the morning and scratching around the yard in the afternoon. so there's no getting holed up in the winter time for them. lately they leave the coop by 6 am and, unless it rains, they're free to scratch around all day until the sun sets. so i was kind of hoping that with all that freedom they could maybe give us a break and squeeze just at night at bedtime. but does it work like that??? hmmmm....

 

[eggchel]

If the run is totally enclosed (including top) to protect from night time predators, and the sleeping hutch is open to the run and the chickens are never shut into the sleeping portion, then you would use the square footage of the run, as well, when calculating occupancy but you would calculate at the occupancy rate for a run.... which is 10 square feet per standard bird.

In that case, you have room for about 16 birds, more if they are bantams.
However, if you shut them into the sleeping area at night for their safety or because of weather, then you should use the size of the sleeping quarters to calculate at a ratio of 3 to 4 sq ft for a standard fowl and 1&1/2 to 2 sq ft of space for a bantam.

Two 7 foot roosting poles are enough space for 16 chickens if they are standard size and more if they are bantams.




Chel

 

[HaleMoa]

thanks eggchel that was very very helpful!

yes, we made sure to tightly secure the ENTIRE run. we used a combo of chicken wire and plyboard for the sidings and topped it off with galvanized roofing for one third of the roof, and the other two thirds of the roof is tightly sealed up with chicken wire. (our island is the only one in hawaii without the infamous chicken stealing MONGOOSE, so we have just cats and dogs to fend off. but we still wanna play it safe because the cats here are pretty feral and brave.)

right now we lock them in at night just so they get used to the idea of sleeping in there. they're still tiny so its okay for now. but i guess when they get big we can eventually leave the hutch door open all the time so they have access to the run, but keep the run door locked shut. hmm, sounds like we may be alright???

thanks for your guys help. this forum is awesome!