How many hens can my yard support?

[Mrs. K]

Personally, I like having a coop and enclosed run. Then allow them outside of that area at my convenience.

Not to rain on your parade, but you really do not want to max out your numbers in the beginning. This will lead to frustration on your part. We don't know the size of your family, but that many birds are going to make about 7 dozen of eggs per week and cost more to feed.

There is a rule of thumb of 4 square feet per bird, so that house assuming that is that size, should hold about 7 birds. Those of us that have been doing chickens for a long time, know that too many chickens make for all sorts of bad behavior and highly stressed birds, which can ruin the hobby for you. That may be why they are getting rid of them down the road?

I can understand wanting to get laying hens, because it takes forever for those chicks to get big enough to lay. However, young pullets like that should sell quickly. See if you can get 3-4 of those layers, that would get you started, fit nicely in that set up, leave you a little room to work with and not cost much in feed, also leave you a nice back yard.

Personally, I think 15 is too many for your set up!

Mrs K

 

[crobbins2009]

Yes I have about 3/4 of an acre that is chainlink fenced in. This is connected to the back of my house. There is absolutely nothing on it that I'm worried about the chickens getting in to or ruining. I have no back porch, and the back deck that I do have is 2 stories high. The yard is full of grass that grows wayyyy too fast, weeds, and that's about it. I do have a lot of landscaping, but it is all in the front of my house outside of the fence. IF they got to it I wouldn't be all that sad, but I think if they were to roam at all, they'd roam towards the back of our house.

So since it doesn't seem like this is a great deal, I'll wait on it. I am thinking about getting a small coop until I can build something. We are building a shed right now for our equipment, and really that needs to come first which is why I want to buy something already done.

 

[blucoondawg]

I'd just order some extra materials if you have the money and build a shed for the chickens at the same time

 

[dmanhefner]

It sounds to me like you should be fine. Do not buy that set up, those pre fab coops are far over priced and low quality. Build you an 8x8 shed or get a pre-fab one and refit it. .75 acre is a good size chicken yard, you would be fine with 10-20 birds on that. You dont have to have 4 square feet each if they are going to have access to outside all the time. Have your coop so that you can lock them up tight at night, this will deter most predators. Daylight you mainly have raptors if the fence is good, stray dogs can be a problem if they have access. You may want to clip wings, chickens will jump chain link because they see the rail on top as a perch. Good luck

 

[donrae]

I'd just order some extra materials if you have the money and build a shed for the chickens at the same time

This. Don't go with a smaller coop that you'll just outgrow before the end of summer. Just add on to your storage shed. You'll save money as you're only adding three walls and some roof, not a complete separate building. And a walk in coop will have you much, much happier in the long run.

 

[crobbins2009]

Thanks so much everyone for the help and the honesty! The shed that I am building is at the back of my property near the garden, so sadly it wouldn't be something were we could just add the coop to the front or backside of it.

I am wondering if there is a place to get good coop directions, examples, and actual building plans. I've seen a lot of ideas on the interwebs, but I'm looking for something with actual supplies list, cutting, etc. I can most likely work on a chicken coop while my husband is working on the shed on days after work, but I'm not super handy. I'm moderately handy -- but I've never build an actual building by myself. The sheds @ home depot and lowes seem a little costly, or like I may need to do a lot to get the foundation right. I found one that I though may be okay, but it says that it isn't in stock at my local lowes or home depot (although they have the display there). However, I'm confident that I could build this shed on my own from precut parts and whatnot.

this is what I was looking at: http://www.lowes.com/pd_496842-63001-182945_1z0wg8a__

I don't have hardly any flat land, so anything that is built is a huge pain because it has to be elevated to get it leveled. I also saw a lot of aluminum sheds that I liked, but I read that it was hard to get proper ventilation in these sheds.

 

[cavemanrich]

Did you check the 2 links at top of page. LEARNING CENTER and COOPS. You may get some ideas as to what would work for you.
The $600 shed you were considering can be most likely built for less if you shop around for materials.

Aluminum or steel sheds will also do the job since you said you did like some of them. Your concern was the ventilation. I think any steel shed can be retro fitted with enough vents to be GOOD.
I do not know how your financial budget is, and not asking to find out. JUST AN IDEA... Something you may consider is repurposing a retired travel trailer into a coop. They can be acquired at low price or even free. ( walk in, with windows for light. quite predator proof. insulated, weather proof. just needing interior rework and added ventilation.) Set it on the ground, or leave it movable. I was reading a post of such a venture that worked out great. I can find that thread if you wish. I did make some good comments to that person. . I myself repurposed a childrens LIL TYKES playhouse into a coop that serves me well. Cost me only time. If you look thru my albums , you can find pix of it. I only keep a small flock of hens, and ONLY AS PETS.

 

[crobbins2009]

@cavemanrich I'm not really sure of my budget. I'd like to stay under the $850 I was planning to spend on the coop and chickens on Craigslist, but really ID like to go way under it. I'd prefer build something that I found on my own, but just lack the time. I also have a 3 year old so building with him outside is a task. Lol the travel trailer sounds really cool. I'd love to take a look at that! They have 8 by 10 pre fab metal buildings at my Lowes for around $400 so that's something I thought might work. My land is so hilly and it shoots straight back, so sadly I'm near neighbors who id like to have a nice looking coop for. Also, if we go to sell our house in a year or so ( we want sething with around 40 acres), I want something I can take down or disclose of easily. The prefab shed I was thinking would be good if the new owners didn't want it I could sell it, or the wood one could be used as bonfire wood

 

[dmanhefner]

That prefab sounds good. You could add windows for ventalation.

 

[16 paws]

I have a metal shed I converted to a coop and it was easy to get plenty of ventalation in there. We just took off the back panel and put 2x4's on each side of the back, screwed them to the metal and put 1/2 inch hardware cloth on all of that back section. We live in sunny Cal. so were not worried about too much bad weather. I am more interested in having an open air coop. It keeps the chickens healthy. I would build a run and let them out for a couple hours a day. My chickens never go over my chain link fence, not once in 5 years. I have bantams and large foul. But I have had a bobcat jump over the fence into my property and kill a bird. So I dont worry about my chickens getting out I worry about what is getting in.
On the subject of them cleaning out your yard I dont know if I have super good chickens or what but mine dont eat everything in my yard. I have plenty of landscape that they just dont touch.They only thing I have to cover is my veggies. I just put chicken wire rounds over them. My grass is fine. They make all their dust bath holes in their run. I have 35 adult chickens right now.
They have about the same amount of space as you are talking.


The brown spots on my lawn are because my sprinklers were not spraying correctly. I have since had the sprinklers re-done.
That is not my metal coop. I can take a picture of that if you need one.
Marie