How many hens in a dog house coop?

[Peruvian]

I am thinking of getting some layers and like the ease and mobility of a dog house coop. Assuming a large dog house, how many hens can it fit for a year round coop with an attached run?

 

[teach1rusl]

Depends on the size of the doghouse, whether you're getting LF or bantam hens, and the area where you live (do you get winters - so there's a chance they would be cooped up for days or do you live in a warm weather area where they would ONLY be in there to sleep/lay eggs). Kind of like saying I'm getting a hottub, how many people can I invite over to use it, without knowing how big the hottub is...

 

[Peruvian]

I'm assuming RIR and Barred Rocks. As my location states, I'm in VT (read: durn cold winters!)

 

[Orchid]

I am a TOTAL newbie so I can only tell you what I've learned here, so far.

You want a minimum of 4 square feet per full sized chicken inside the coop, or 2 square feet per bantam sized chicken. Your run should have a minimum of 10 square feet per chicken. You also need to figure that you're going to have to have some kind of heated waterer and a feeder inside that coop in the winter months - which of course is when the chickens will be spending the most time in there, too.

Your coop will need plenty of ventilation and in Vermont, I would think you're going to want to insulate the coop for less temperature variation in the winter. I'm in MN so I understand long brutally cold winters.

 

[teach1rusl]

In an area like VT, I would definitely go with 4 sq. ft. per bird. So a 3 x 4 dog house...three of the breeds you mentioned. Keep in mind that a nest box inside will take up living space in the winter time, as you only want them in it for laying eggs. A big 4 x 4 dog house...four birds. If it's a little less than either mentioned, I would go with one less chicken than mentioned. Of course the run would need to be a little more than double the size of the coop housing. If you don't insulate, you can stack hay bales around the sides of the coop to help w/winter insulation...