How many more hens can fit in this coop?

[charlie1051]

For the record, there's nothing wrong with living in the city. My gam gam lived in the city.

However I guess farmers don't know jack and should ask online chicken support groups questions more often...

 

[StinkyAcres]

For the record, there's nothing wrong with living in the city. My gam gam lived in the city.

However I guess farmers don't know jack and should ask online chicken support groups questions more often...

I guess you're on the wrong forum. Most of us here on BYC are hobby farmers who consider our birds pets. And, no, I've never lived in the city.

I'm not saying this is you, and this is my opinion, but most farmers I know who farm for a living seem to me to place money above the welfare of the animals. This is understandable because crowding their barns, pastures, and coops is the only way they can make a profit and they can't get attached to their animals because they will eventually be butchered anyway. I tend to think they are not as tuned in to their animals and they just don't know or care how much happier and long-lived their animals could be if they gave them a bigger and cleaner place to live.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Dang that thing is built to withstand a defcon 9, class 10, nuclear bomb!!! Love it. I think I know who built it. Hey not to argue with or ruffle any feathers here..... cram that sucker full 'o chickens!

You got 6 in there and they free range all day? Chicken math says you can do 6 more....easy peasy. They're only sleeping in there yea? And yea not to make anyone angry, at least in the USA... but my 1/2 a cent worth says... you got room for more ladies.

If all they’re doing in there is sleeping, then maybe, but when - not if, but when - they start feuding over something, there’s not enough room to get away from one another. Also, when weather gets bad - hard rain without a break for days in a row; a surprise dump of heavy snow - they need to get away from one another, meaning at a minimum a LARGE run.

It is in fact physically possible to cram a bunch of hens in a coop. It’s also possible to have 8 humans sleeping in a studio apartment. I’ve got five nearly-grown in a large Nestera, while other posters here who free-range all day can see a dozen pile in. But those particular chickens have options, other coops to go to, and lots of time and space during the day to let their ya-yas out. I don’t think that this is true of OP’s setup.

I always get the heebie-jeebies when I read a post that starts with (essentially) “how many more birds can I cram in this coop?” In my experience, this question comes from a human desire for more more more, not from wanting the optimal conditions for creatures whose lives they control.

 

[Sefirothe]

For the record, there's nothing wrong with living in the city. My gam gam lived in the city.

However I guess farmers don't know jack and should ask online chicken support groups questions more often...

There’s a big difference between a farmer’s flock of livestock and a backyard city flock seen as pets.

And absolutely nothing wrong with either view and all the variable spaces between both ends of that spectrum. So long as the animals are given what they need and treated decently.

 

[NatJ]

I believe the 4sq ft per bird recommendation was settled on through trial and error, less space than that and BYC members have been more likely to see bullying, feather picking, etc. I don't know if there have been any formal studies done to back that recommendation (if anyone has any I'd love a link so I can read it) or if it's all anecdotal.

The number has been around for a long time.

For example, there is a book published in 1949:
Practical Poultry Management, 5th Edition
by James E. Rice and Harold E Botsford

I found a .pdf of it at the internet archive:
https://ia801806.us.archive.org/17/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.233717/2015.233717.Practical-Poultry.pdf
(Hopefully that link works. Otherwise, try googling for it by title and you might be able to find it.)

On page 89:
"The smaller the flock, the more floor space is required per hen. Ten hens might need 6 to 8 square feet per bird. Leghorn hens may be kept profitably in flocks of 100 or more with an allowance of 3 square feet per hen. For heavier varieties, 4 square feet per bird is the usual figure. It is always well not to overcrowd."

I have seen the same numbers in other books published at various times over the last century or so. I sometimes see bantams mentioned as needing only 2 square feet each.

I don't know if there have been any formal studies done or not, but I would expect them to have happened quite a few years ago if they were. Studies that old can be difficult to find online (I've seen some on other aspects of poultry raising, but haven't specifically searched for ones on square footage.)

Like any other rule of thumb, it will work well enough in many cases but have problems sometimes.

 

[AinaWGSD]

The number has been around for a long time.

For example, there is a book published in 1949:
Practical Poultry Management, 5th Edition
by James E. Rice and Harold E Botsford

I found a .pdf of it at the internet archive:
https://ia801806.us.archive.org/17/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.233717/2015.233717.Practical-Poultry.pdf
(Hopefully that link works. Otherwise, try googling for it by title and you might be able to find it.)

On page 89:
"The smaller the flock, the more floor space is required per hen. Ten hens might need 6 to 8 square feet per bird. Leghorn hens may be kept profitably in flocks of 100 or more with an allowance of 3 square feet per hen. For heavier varieties, 4 square feet per bird is the usual figure. It is always well not to overcrowd."

I have seen the same numbers in other books published at various times over the last century or so. I sometimes see bantams mentioned as needing only 2 square feet each.

I don't know if there have been any formal studies done or not, but I would expect them to have happened quite a few years ago if they were. Studies that old can be difficult to find online (I've seen some on other aspects of poultry raising, but haven't specifically searched for ones on square footage.)

Like any other rule of thumb, it will work well enough in many cases but have problems sometimes.

Thanks! I wasn't sure where the recommendation came from just that it's been the generally recommended minimum for as long as I've been keeping chickens.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The number has been around for a long time.

For example, there is a book published in 1949:
Practical Poultry Management, 5th Edition
by James E. Rice and Harold E Botsford

I found a .pdf of it at the internet archive:
https://ia801806.us.archive.org/17/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.233717/2015.233717.Practical-Poultry.pdf
(Hopefully that link works. Otherwise, try googling for it by title and you might be able to find it.)

On page 89:
"The smaller the flock, the more floor space is required per hen. Ten hens might need 6 to 8 square feet per bird. Leghorn hens may be kept profitably in flocks of 100 or more with an allowance of 3 square feet per hen. For heavier varieties, 4 square feet per bird is the usual figure. It is always well not to overcrowd."

I have seen the same numbers in other books published at various times over the last century or so. I sometimes see bantams mentioned as needing only 2 square feet each.

I don't know if there have been any formal studies done or not, but I would expect them to have happened quite a few years ago if they were. Studies that old can be difficult to find online (I've seen some on other aspects of poultry raising, but haven't specifically searched for ones on square footage.)

Like any other rule of thumb, it will work well enough in many cases but have problems sometimes.

Thank you for this. I just accepted it as true and correct since it seemed to be a "generally accepted" standard. I took it as one of those things that "everybody knows," ya know? Under these standards, my 8x10 coop will hold 20 LF birds comfortably. But I have sometimes pushed the limits to around 25 or so without problems, simply because of attrition. Some of my birds are older and I may lose one or two as time goes by. Or I'll discover I have a cockerel or two that needs to be culled, and before long my numbers are down to what they should be.