How many?

[ab2401]

So I just went out and leaned how big my coop to be is and its.

4x8 feet and the run part of it is 7x10 feet.


How many chickens do you guys think I can fit it there?

 

[seminolewind]

I would do 5.

 

[skennedy]

Quote:
I have read that each chicken needs 4 sq. ft. in the coop and 10 sq. ft. in the yard, with that in mind I would not put more that 7 chickens in your coop. Do you have enough roost space for that many?

 

[ab2401]

I haven't got the inside done yet

 

[mudshark]

I think the run is too small for the coop; the coop is fine for at least double the number of chickens that the run is OK for. If you free-range for much of the time then the run size is less of an issue.

 

[ab2401]

I thought the run was pretty big.... but I don't know much about chickens... when I look at pictures of coops the runs always seem small..... the coop was already here when we moved in so I'm not going to re build it..... it was for doves or something and I'm just going to up date it for chickens.


if I can only have a few chickens then thats fine.

 

[tvtaber]

I agree that the runs on a lot of coop pictures seemreally small, but that may be becasue the birds free range most of the day. The run should be three or four times as large as the coop, to support the same amount of chickens. They spend their days outside scratching in the dirt, dustbathing (in surprisingly large holes!), and cavorting about. For the run, the larger the better.

In your warm climate, I think your coop could be smaller than the 4 square feet folks generally use, since they hens will only sleep and lay eggs in there. My coop is really small (coastal CA, mild climate), maybe 30 sq feet for 9 hens. But, they are never in there except at night (10inches of roost per hen) and to lay (one nest box per four hens).

You could go as high as 10 hens with a large enough run or allowing them to free range, but trust me when I say you will want more chickens once you have them!

 

[ab2401]

HAHA I know, thats what I'm scared of is wanting more and not having the room.... I was thinking about letting them free run during the day but we live pretty close to the road and what not.... we have just over half a acre so..... I dont know


everyone around here has chickens

 

[Chickenaddict]

My chickens are scared to go in the road I think they know the road is a scary place and they watch the big cars and trucks drive by and almost appear to cringe a bit. I'm only on about an acre and have 12 outside and 9 in the garage soon to be outside with the others as soon as the mother hens chicks get a bit bigger. None of our neighbors have chickens around here either but they sure dig the occasional free eggs straight from the coop to their fridge. Mine are also locked up at night in the coop and have a 10ft by 15ft dog kennel as their run for those rainy days or being from minnesota those snowy days lol.