How many hens should I use for my coop???

[Chick Charm]

A good rule of thumb is 4 sf per full sized chicken in the coop and 10 sf per bird in the run. Using that figures to be 4 or 5 chickens. I remember mentioning that in the first response. Raising chickens for 30 yrs now I have used many different coops and set ups. You will figure it out and what works best for you and your hens. I like having healthy birds that have never been in "jail" or that are "crammed" so no need to think I would ever recommend that.

Wish ya the best.

 

[Beekissed]

My hens are very happy, I have had no health problems, they are very productive. I would agree that stuffing birds in a house in some climates is bad but what you are talking about is just impractical. My hens only sleep and lay in the coop, they have around 1850sq/f of grass run space that they can access whenever they want and they free range at weekends on 20 acres. I would hardly call that a jail and I don't really like my coop and runs being compared to a jail. I believe that my hens can show a lot more natural behaviour than many on here in small sand covered runs. I would go for a big run and small house over a large house and a small run any day.

That's a little different now, isn't it?

Yours are not confined forever to a coop and run and they have fresh soils on which to run and socialize, to get away from one another and to just BE. When you free range you can get by with a little less living room because they live in the big wide open and only sleep, lay and eat in the coop area.

 

[LPeaslee]

Hello all...I'm new to this so please bear with me ... I am in the process of building my coop...My limitations is my yard so this is as big as I can build it... the coop will be 48" x 76" and 48" tall with a sloped roof ... I have it off the ground and I plan to put the feed and water under it and a 2 foot high run 48" wide by 12 foot long... Hopefully explaining it well.... How many birds could this coop have?  I don't want them crammed in but I would like as many eggs as I can... I plan to have all hens orphs,RIR, Americanas...etc...etc... The reason I am asking now is I will be building the nesting boxes and would like to know how many I should build... Thanks in advance for any information.... 

The recommended run space per full size chicken is 10sq ft. You have roughly 25sq ft, under your coop and 48sq ft in your run, that equals 7 chickens.
The recommended space in the coop is 4sq ft per chicken. Since you have 25sq ft in your coop you can house 6.5 chickens, so let's just round that up to 7 full size chickens.
You should have 12" of perch space per FL Chicken, and a minimum of 1 nesting box for every 3 hens. If you end up housing 7 hens, you should have 3 nesting boxes.

So the quick answer is 7 FL Chickens.
You could add more but if you overcrowded them they may start pecking at each other.

 

[Slingha]

Maybe you should build them a 3,000 sq ft coop like some seem to be suggesting.

Remember, these are food, not people. 10-12 easy

 

[Beekissed]

These are food, not pets. 12-15 chickens. I guess you could build them a 3,000sq ft house too....

Really? You think food should be treated worse than pets? Because they are food? Move over big agribiz, the backyarder is going to take over the CAFO business!

Mine are not pets either but they still deserve a quality of life as they produce food and before they die for our table. I doubt there are many people on this forum who have produced and eaten more of their own chickens on this site than I, so food animals are a concept I fully embrace...but I do insure my food animals have a good life as I can give them before they die. We should all be so lucky.

 

[Slingha]

Really?  You think food should be treated worse than pets?  Because they are food?  Move over big agribiz, the backyarder is going to take over the CAFO business!    Mine are not pets either but they still deserve a quality of life as they produce food and before they die for our table.  I doubt there are many people on this forum who have produced and eaten more of their own chickens on this site than I, so food animals are a concept I fully embrace...but I do insure my food animals have a good life as I can give them before they die.  We should all be so lucky. 

Yes, they should be treated differently. My dog has a name. My chickens do not as an example.
3 chickens in a 4x6 coop is the worst advice I've ever seen on this board.
Do you really thing someone is going to invest hundreds of dollars to build a 4x6 coop for "3 max" chickens? That's just silly.
Storey's guide says 4 sq ft per bird.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, they should be treated differently. My dog has a name. My chickens do not as an example.
3 chickens in a 4x6 coop is the worst advice I've ever seen on this board.
Do you really thing someone is going to invest hundreds of dollars to build a 4x6 coop for "3 max" chickens? That's just silly.
Storey's guide says 4 sq ft per bird.

They do it all the time! Thousands, in fact. But one doesn't have to invest hundreds of dollars to house 3 chickens. It's interesting that you think you dog is somehow deserving of better treatment than other animals simply because he has a name.

That's more than a little scary...

Story's Guide was written by a college professor who has only had a small number of chickens and for only a few years, and does little of the hands on care for those chickens. She's an author, not an experienced flock keeper....but you can follow her advice if you wish.

And you can even think my advice is simply the "worst advice you've ever seen on this board"

.....but, it's freely given based on generations of keeping chickens and you can take it or leave it as you see fit, as can the OP. You are free to give her your advice straight from a book or site you've read and I'll give her my 38 yrs of experience with flocks and she can choose what she wants. That's how it's done here....you can pick or choose. That's what makes it nice!

 

[Belott]

Yes, they should be treated differently. My dog has a name. My chickens do not as an example.
3 chickens in a 4x6 coop is the worst advice I've ever seen on this board.
Do you really thing someone is going to invest hundreds of dollars to build a 4x6 coop for "3 max" chickens? That's just silly.
Storey's guide says 4 sq ft per bird.

People spending hundreds of dollars on a coop for 3 birds max!!!
I read on here of people doing it every day!!! And they end up over on the predator forum crying "something killed my poor baby"!!!

In my opinion beekissed gave sound advice. I would hate to be a chicken in the coops some of you are suggesting!!!

David

 

[Chick Charm]

Every coop has a purpose and use. How we use them in our our efforts for eggs, meat and pets is up to each of us. I hope the OP understands that chickens don't need a mansion to be happy and healthy.

 

[Mark1]

I agree 100% with this statement from Beekissed, ".but I do insure my food animals have a good life as I can give them before they die."

But, I have a 7x4' coop, with the access door always open so the hens can come and go as they please in a 40x60' fenced area.. I have another coop 8' long but all 11 of my hens prefer to roost in the smaller coop together. Your limiting factor is your run size, if you can increase it you can increase your hens to more than the 3-4 that your run will currently support. I wouldn't suggest 11 hens in that size of coop, my crazy hens just don't seem to mind.