How many chickens would you suggest?

[Someone.Summer]

I have a 10x18-20' coop and a 10x8' coop. The chickens are allowed to free range daily from 6am to 9pm on 8 acres of pasture and have access to about 6 acres of wooded area. How many chickens do you think it would comfortably keep? What would be the maximum?

 

[chicken grandma]

What state are you in? Weather makes a difference.

 

[Someone.Summer]

I live in CT

 

[Someone.Summer]

bump please

 

[emys]

The general rule is 3 to 5 square feet of coop per bird - more is better! In your case do not count all of your pasture and woods unless you intend to cull a whole lot of birds before winter.

Heavy snows and active predators (raccoons will hunt during daylight especially in fall when youngsters are trying to fatten up) will keep your birds mostly inside during winter months. If you have any covered, secure run areas then go ahead and factor that in.

 

[VelvettFog]

I suggest more.

 

[emys]

More square feet per bird or more chickens??

 

[Darklingstorm]

That is a hard question to answer. What is the purpose of the chickens? Meaties won't be around long and you can get a lot of them. Egg production, less of them. Dual purpose, I would go with 4-5 sq. feet per chicken. Large breeds, 4-5 sq feet per bird. Largest breed (Jersey Giants) 5-6 sq. feet per bird. Bantams, 3-4 sq. feet per bird. Are you going to breed your own? Incubator hatching or broody hen? One flock or two (for breeding rotation)? How much can you afford in feed per month? I know you said that you want to free range, but what about winter months when the snow is deep (run space)?

Once you figure it out, then it should be rather easy to figure out on how many you want/can have. This is the list I went through when deciding on how many I wanted, purpose and breed.

 

[ECBW]

You have enough to be a chicken farmer, not just a backyarder.

 

[VelvettFog]

Quote:
Why, more chickens of course. I always suggest more chickens. I teach chicken-math