how many would fit??

[bufforp89]

I have a rabbit coop that will soon be vacant so of course this means more room for chickens! Its about 8 feet long and 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall. I would like to use it for small bantam type chickens but would like to know if it would even work? How many chickens would fit? I plan on building a large run for them and they would have a few hours to free range as well. Any help would be very appreciated!

 

[adkchickmama]

BuffOrp89, we started out with an old rabbit hutch. It is about the same dimensions you have. we had a section closed off for the rabbits house, the rest was open run. Rabbits were long gone but when I got chicks a year and a half ago we had the wild idea to remodel it into a coop. In the house side I put the food and water up on cement blocks to keep out the chips. They could enter that through a widened doorway from the main run. What had been the open run part for the rabbits my DH enclosed with two large doors that open out so we can get in to clean easily. He added plexiglass windows for light on the upper part of the doors and a pop door on the bottom of one. Also added a pop door in the third (original rabbit )door of the room that houses the food, so if there were squabbles someone could make a quick escape. He added a slider to the back wall with an old plexi - glass window that went to a entertainment center. He made a channel it could slide sideways in, so we could open that for fresh air in the summer. For the roost we used a 2x4 about 5 feet long and set up 5 inches off the floor. It runs down the middle of the coop on the old open run side. We started with 8 chickens from chicks and I now have 13 chickens and 1 roo housed in this coop. We had an old dog run 7ft x 12 ft. We put over this coop and ran wire over the top and wired the bottom so nothing could get in, then I added sand so they could have something to scratch in. The coop is up on cinder blocks so they could go underneath on nasty days. When is was nice weather I hung their water and food from underneath so it was out of the rain. This was enough room for 8 chickens orginally. Once they were older (about 6 months) I let them out to free range during the day. We have never lost a chicken in this coop. I don't know how to upload photos yet as I am still new here but will try to get you some if you like.

 

[PandoraTaylor]

Way Cool