How many feet is your coop? how many feet per chicken do you guys have, or you don't measure it like fish in a pond space?

[kaylyntheweirdginger]

once we add our new chickens to the coop we will be at 8.8 sqf in the coop and 7.4 sqf in the run but we keep the coop door open (its a walk in shed) so they technically have 16.3 sqf per bird. they do free range too but they are being confined to the coop and run till they get used to it since they were only recently relocated to this coop from our old coop. we (will) have 21 chickens and have 6 runner ducks

 

[Boise-girls]

What's the difference between run and pen?

It might depend on who is saying it. I call the smaller, more secure area a pen - probably because it's two joined Universal Poultry Pens from TSC (8'x16').
It's inside what I refer to as their yard or run (24'x56'). It used to be a dog run with concrete pad, grass and trees, but it hasn't been used for dogs for years. They all became house dogs.

 

[Brooks_]

Makes sense and I had considered that. Maybe it was just a typo. A 519 sf per bird pen?

 

[RubelliteRose]

We have 2 coops. The smaller 4x6 coop (24 sq ft) has 7 chickens that choose to sleep there so 3.4 sq ft / bird. The larger 8x10 coop (80 sq ft) has 8 chickens that sleep there so 10 sq ft / bird. Both coops are connected to a 216 sq ft. run which equals just over 14 sq ft. / bird. 72 sq ft is covered and 144 sq ft is uncovered. We will hopefully add an additional 96 sq ft of covered space to the run next year. We also free range whenever we are home.

 

[Ryguy3684]

I have an 8x8 coop, with a 5x5 addition that holds the nests. The open floor space for the coop comes out to 4.5 sq.ft per bird. Our covered run is 18'x9', so 11.5 sq.ft per bird. They have free run of the fenced in part of the back yard, that's about 1/4 acre. We only keep them confined to the coop/run if we're out of town.
Bigger is always better, but there are many factors that go into how much space is needed inside.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I... Have an over crowded coop to say the least.

An 8x8 (64 sqft) for 47 birds.

They have to be let out every day.

I have them free ranging in my 3.5 acres, and sometime they roam onto my neighbors land, which is 46 acres of hay and corn.

I haven't had any issues with them fighting, but I do go down to at most 20 birds for winter.

I keep the water outside of the coop so that they have to go out even when it's snowy.

 

[Boise-girls]

Makes sense and I had considered that. Maybe it was just a typo. A 519 sf per bird pen?

Or a really, really big pen!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

OK, you've seen the "thumb rules" -
per bird:
4 sq ft "house"
1/4 nesting box (per hens, round up)
1' roosting bar
1 sq ft free ventilation 24/7/365
10 sq ft "run"

All together I have about 400 sq ft of "house" (including the grow-out box in the barn) and two runs - the small one attached to the grow out pen is about 320 sq ft, while the main run which has got to be closer to 2300, maybe 2400 sq ft (40-something by 50 or 60-something, and not a good rectangle).

The first house is two levels, 8'x12', which involves a number of mistakes I would not make a second time. The second house is shared with the goats. The third "house" is a top hinge door in the side of my barn wall, which leads to a section set aside for little chickens. Measures 13.5 x 4' or maybe 16.5 x 4" (I can never remember) with a 4' pony wall partitioning it from the rest of the barn, and another 3' of bird netting "wall" above that to keep 'em where they belong. Access for humans is via a full height door into the space.

My flock free ranges an area of about 4.5 acres, of which about 1.75 acres is pasture.

The main space is currently shared with three goats. With the ducks, I typically maintain a flock between 55 and 70, year round.

 

[Happy hen lover]

I have 5 hensI have 20 sq ft coop. =4 sq ft per bird. Their run is 160 sq ft. ,(counting under coop) . So over 10 sq ft per bird which I am so glad it's oversized as no free range here too many cats in neighborhood.

 

[DobieLover]

What's the difference between run and pen?

The run is attached to the coop and is as predator proof as the coop.
That setup sits inside the pen that is formed by electrified poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger.
When possible, the pen is where they spend their time.
They use the run during winter when there is too much snow on the ground to get around well, when it's raining too hard for them to stay outside, when they are waiting for me to let them out, they eat in there and like to dust bathe in there.