How many is too many? Or is there such a thing in chicken raising ;)

[David61]

Good point on local laws - I will investigate. I wouldn’t want more than the 10ish number anyways I think.

kids arent allowed in that yard as it’s solely a chicken yard. It’s separate from the main yard where the kids play and use.

Cool beans. That said, i would do ten hens easy.
Pic the quiet pet breeds and no roosters. The city or county ordnance should be on the city website. UDO aka unified development ordinance

 

[Ac7941]

Ok so exact dimensions:

interior room (w roost and next box) 6x8 ft
Exterior room (feed and water room) 8x8 ft
4 nest boxes, each 12x16 inches

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Is the exterior room the run or still roofed?

 

[Ac7941]

Is the exterior room the run or still roofed?

the whole coop is roofed and there are windows that can be opened and closed on all sides of the interior room

 

[floppysquirrel04]

the whole coop is roofed and there are windows that can be opened and closed on all sides of the interior room

I wouldn’t put anymore more than 15-20 birds in there. That’s still a lot tho, and if you extended the interior room you could have even more.

 

[TooCheep]

Ok so exact dimensions:

interior room (w roost and next box) 6x8 ft
Exterior room (feed and water room) 8x8 ft
4 nest boxes, each 12x16 inches

Okay. Here is my answer. I'm glad to see that you are enthusiastic about raising more hens, but also trying to take their welfare seriously enough to ask about limitations. I'm sure some will disagree and will post accordingly, but at least this is a starting point. Assumptions:

• You are counting on housing only full-sized, full-grown hens generally.
• Basic backyard chicken owner space recommended minimums (rules of thumb): 1ft/bird roosting space, 4sqft/bird coop area to move around in when enclosed for the evening, 10sqft/bird daytime run area, 4 birds/nest box (minimum 2).
• I'm counting your exterior room as part of the "run" since you say they will have nearly full-time access to the yard and presumably can easily pass in and out as desired.
• Per your PM, you have 15ft of roost space, though I'm concerned about how messy the upper roost appears to be in your picture. The roosts should be far enough apart that the birds won't poo on the other roosts or birds at night.

So, your estimates comes out as follows:

• Roosting at night: 15 hens
• Nest boxes: can handle 16 hens
• interior room (main coop): 48sqft --> 12 hens
• exterior room (64sqft) + yard (??) --> 6-7 if locked in for long periods (days), noticably more if allowed to roam. Multiple roosts in there helps. I'm assuming they will only rarely be locked in- maybe if you have severe weather in the area or something.
• Given all this, I'd say that you can comfortably house up to 12 hens without cramping them. The coop area is your limiting factor and I would expand this if you want to house a few more.

As others have noted:

• Local laws may limit you to a certain number of birds. Not running max capacity certainly isn't a sin as it provides more space and hopefully a happier flock.
• Chickens produce poo. If you garden, it can actually become a valuable part of composting. Otherwise, it is a waste product you have to think about handling.
• As long as your kids have a backyard area that is separate from the chicken field, I wouldn't be too concerned about that part. If they are playing in the same yard where you have a bunch of chickens running around, I'd be more concerned. Biosafety (washing your hands after doing anything with chickens) is a primary way to help prevent getting/spreading diseases and children playing in an area crowded with chicken poo doesn't work well for that.

 

[floppysquirrel04]

12 is a good number without cramping, but if you REALLY kept up with keeping it clean and added another roost you could probably do about 15.

 

[featheredplanets]

I’d stick with 12 as a maximum number for now. It’s too easy to overdo/overload yourself when it comes to chickens and that quickly leads down the wrong paths. 12 is a good fit for your coop/run.

 

[Ac7941]

12 is sounding reasonable to me as max number too. Thank you all for your input!

 

[aart]

I plan on raising some chicks (in the shed pictured) as a fun project for my 4 year old in the spring and want to know how many is too many to start with.

Right now with 6 it seems ok but I’m sure at some point it’ll start to feel like too much.

So you have 6 adult birds now... and plan to add more chicks?

Great info given already, tho I think space is a bit tight, the 4/10 rule is bare minimum IMO.
I saw no mention about integrating more birds, that works best with extra space.

I've found it easier to brood right in coop and integrate at about 4-6 weeks.
Some pic links are broken here, just click on icons and they will open in a new window:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/