How many hens can my yard support?

[Mrs. K]

I think the plastic is going to have too much water condensation. It will become very damp in cool weather.

 

[julieetroy]

The coop shown in the link you provided looks very small for 15 hens. I currently have 8 active layers, ranging in age from 1 - 3+. They are currently laying 5-8 luscious eggs per day . My set-up (shown in photo) includes a home-made, raised coop 4 x 8 ft plus a fenced run (12 x 12 + 4x8 sheltered space under the coop); fence originally 3 ft. high but now 6 ft high). Although my yard is 1/2 acre fenced, I opted for the enclosed run for safety of the hens because my yard abuts woods with lots of potential. The girls are not free-range, but seem to be very happy and safe from predators! If I were you, I would do some more checking and consider alternatives before making the purchase. Good luck!

 

[julieetroy]

I posted a long message, along with pic of my set-up. I think my info and suggestions would be very helpful to you, but I am not seeing my post in the thread

 

[msyfoopoo]

I have had 10-12 hens on 1/4 acre; half is in flower beds, and half is grass. The grass is doing just fine. Any plants that are shallow rooted, will die because of their scratching (killed my huge bed of raspberries in 2 years). They love scratching for worms in the beds. Save your leaves, and pile them up, and they will go crazy digging thru the pile next year. They love tomatoes, so keep them out of your veggie garden (let them in once a week to gather bugs then kick them out). Make a dirt area for them to dust (I have an old hard plastic pond liner, and fill it with dirt, sand, and peat and they use it often.

If I had it to do over, I would make a much, much larger coop to store all the other stuff that goes with chicken keeping. When you start out, you don't understand you need room to keep supplies. A quarter of my shed is for chicken supplies, cause my coop is way too small. I keep on hand: 1 barrel for feed, 1 barrel for scratch, 1 bale of hay, 1 bale of straw, 1-2 bales of wood shavings, table for egg collection, a sick bay cage, a small travel cage, oyster shell bag, grit bag, and a small cabinet for first aid, heating lamps, and misc small items. My next coop will have a divider; one side for the chickens, and one side for all the chicken keeping supplies. Those small coops are a waste of time, cause you will have to build something else to store all your chicken stuff. Also, I would make a coop I can walk in w/o stooping.... getting too old for that stooping stuff.

My chickens spend ZERO time in the coop during daylight. I do have a covered run, though (highly recommend... mine hate rain & snow). They only go into coop to lay during the day. You need a run with your coop.

The other problem I ran into, was not enough boxes for hens to lay in (2 to start with). I used the formula that is online, and that worked fine, until one of my hens when broody.... then I had hens bitching to get in to lay.....so I ended up adding 2 more boxes to handle overflow. So bump up your result from the online formula by a couple.

The things I would do different in my run: Make it permanently covered (tarps are ugly), make a plan for the sides so the blowing snow won't come into the run (tarps are ugly), use carpenter's cloth all the way around the run and down into the soil 12-24".

And don't forget electric if you live in an area that freezes, cause you will need to keep water unfrozen.

Also, spring for the automatic opening/closing chicken door.

 

[pacorona]

My White Leghorn can fly up in my Magnolia tree, and I cannot reach the lowest branches!! Smaller birds can really fly!!

 

[crobbins2009]

You guys are so awesome! I love all of your advice but I'm on my phone so it's too hard to point everyone out and quote them. This weekend I'm going to build a wooden shed I think. I really don't have the time nor do I want to, but I know in the long run it's going to be the best bet. I have 12 chicks that need to be kicked out of my basement ASAP so the coop is getting built this weekend! I'll let everyone know how it goes

 

[16 paws]

You guys are so awesome! I love all of your advice but I'm on my phone so it's too hard to point everyone out and quote them. This weekend I'm going to build a wooden shed I think. I really don't have the time nor do I want to, but I know in the long run it's going to be the best bet. I have 12 chicks that need to be kicked out of my basement ASAP so the coop is getting built this weekend! I'll let everyone know how it goes

Great choice. I think you will be much happier in the long run. I had no idea when I started off with 3 chicks that I would love it so much. Now I am getting close to 50

and I am glad I have plenty of room for them. I have a hard time not letting my broody hens hatch eggs lol thats how I ended up with so many.haha
Good luck on your build. You will have a lot of fun.
Marie

 

[crobbins2009]

I wanted to post really quick (before I get to work for the day), just to let everyone know thanks, and that my coop is finally (for the most part) finished!

We still need to make a ramp from the chicken hole and finish the roosting bars, but the chickens are outside! I couldn't be happier to get them out of my house. lol

I also was able to get 2 eggs yesterday

Now if only I can convince the puppy that it's a chicken coop and not a dog house!

 

[lazy gardener]

Good job.

 

[16 paws]

I wanted to post really quick (before I get to work for the day), just to let everyone know thanks, and that my coop is finally (for the most part) finished!

We still need to make a ramp from the chicken hole and finish the roosting bars, but the chickens are outside! I couldn't be happier to get them out of my house. lol

I also was able to get 2 eggs yesterday

Now if only I can convince the puppy that it's a chicken coop and not a dog house!

So cute. I am glad you went with a bigger coop. They will love it! Great job!!!!