how many hens in a 8 x 8 foot coop?

If you are letting them out every morning then you could quite comfortably have 16 birds to a 8X8 coop. With that many you'll want 2 roost same height. If you coop them up a lot or plan to keep them cooped this winter then 6-7.

Rule of thumb for happy chooks:
4 sqft/ bird coop if they have 10 sqft/ bird of run.

 

I think of the 4/10 rule of thumb more as a minimum guideline. You'll never be sorry to have more space than that. The higher the stocking density inside a given area, the more work there'll be for the chicken keeper.

 

16

 

depends on the climate

 

Depends on the climate; also depends on your goals (ranging from "keeping them alive for a couple years" to "avoiding really-high risks of cannibalism" to "happy relaxed chickens")

A good all purpose answer would, quite seriously no foolin', be: "as few as you can manage to content yourself with".

Good luck, have fun,

Pat, having done 4 sq ft per hen indoors (plus ample run) and up to 15+ sq ft per hen indoors (plus ample run), and having SEEN how differently they behave with the larger amount of space, would never do less than 10 and I generally do 15 sq ft plus run. And no, that isn't because of my climate, I'm comparing their behavior in the *summer*.