how many hens will this coop hold?

[wjallen05]

Saw this on Ebay, but I am confused by the dimensions and am not sure how many standard size hens it will fit comfortably.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120611420085#ht_5213wt_782

 

[ducks4you]

I'd say no more than 6 birds would be comfortable closed in this.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

It looks bigger from the pic than it really is. The rule of thumb is 4' sq. per bird of coop space and 10' sq. for the run. The inside of this coop is 4' sq and the run is 11' sq. By those standards you should have only one lonely bird in there. Have you thought about building a coop yourself?

 

[shanmcd]

I just purchased a near-identical coop from the same seller. Mine has no run, sits lower to the ground and has nesting boxes on both sides (6 total...too many!). I am VERY new at this, and actually don't have any chickens yet, but wanted to offer some insight to the coop itself, if it is helpful.

The henhouse is MUCH smaller than it looks. The roosts are fairly close to the removable droppings pan and the tiny doors are going to make the interior a real hassle to scrub out when needed. The layout in general is different to most I have looked at...there is no obvious place for food/water inside and the spacing gives the hens the option of roosting or nesting. I am guessing 5 hens as a max, but again, I am new at this!

The things I love about our coop: Naturally, the price! But it is also darling and turned out quite sturdy. It was VERY simple to put together, in fact we lost the instructions but were still able to complete it in an evening. My planned modifications will also be easy to do...move the roosts, convert half the nesting boxes, hinge the roof...In other words, if you aren't very skilled beyond ikea this coop offers a good start.

Hope this is helpful!

Shannon

 

[wjallen05]

Thanks all for the info.

I am having a heck of a time finding anything big enough. Everything I've found looks big enough for about 2 chickens. *sigh*

Yes, I have thought about building myself. In fact, my father in law has offered. He built the coop I have now. There is a picture of it on my BYC page. The problem is, we are moving and I can't take my coop with me. (really, it can't be moved. It is HUGE anyway) we are closing on Sept. 28th and moving the following weekend. My father in law is building me a goat barn and we are hiring someone to put up fence. I am afraid we don't have time to build a coop and I don't know what to do with my chickens in the mean-while. I suppose I'll drive back and forth every day until we get something build... it's just a 45 min drive to the new house.

 

[tristancolli]

it would prolly be cheaper to buy the stuff and make one urself.

 

[UrbanChick101]

Coop/House living area

Inside size is 25.5" x 25.5"

Approximately 4.5 sq ft

The above is from the page on Ebay. That is a tiny box, 2ft by 2ft, great for one chicken, maybe one or two rabbits, but nothing else. Our city says 4sq. ft. per bird, I have read many places that is about the average that you should go with. Look on craigslist, we found our Chicken Coop "child's playhouse" 4 x8, on there for a reasonable amount. We have added insulation in the ceiling, paint, nesting boxes (we are going to build some into the wall for outside access to the eggs) roosts and hardware cloth over the windows. We made one of the windows the Pop Door, and built an 8x8 pen. This setup we will be using to home 6 birds & we can't wait to bring them to the house we have prepared for them!!!

 

[The Sheriff]

My contractor erected this simple 8x8 box for me a s a temporary coop while he is building my barn and coop combo. It's just siding, a roof, a door and a floor. He had it up in minutes, would take me months. He plans to re-use the wood when he takes it down.

 

[teach1rusl]

I would check Craigs List for a free or cheap large dog house as a temporary set-up. They're pretty easy to modify. Then you can spend a few weeks either looking for something or building something more suitable/permanent...
Yeah, that coop could handle 2 small bantams and that would be it. But at least they admitted that they no longer made recommendations on how many birds it would hold. Makes me wonder what they USE to tell people...

 

[FiveHens]

Quote:
Yes, hate to say, I have heard the same. But maybe two bantams? Other keywords for craigslist/ebay are old shed, (new shed), dog house, play house, etc.
Good luck!