How much area is needed per chicken?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1198

 

4 sq ft for coop per chicken and 10-12 inches for the run ( that I've seen on BYC )

 

That said...is it less required space if you have an ark? My four girls free range during the day, but at night they huddle up in the top of an 8 foot by 2 foot (at the second floor level) ark along a long roosting bar with 2 nest boxes...the website says "six" is the max for the ark, and my four seem to have more than enough space considering they only use it for sleeping (and egg laying, once we get there).

 

Quote:I think you mean 10-12 ft not inches! On average for coop and run should be around 10-14 ft per chicken. More in the coop is good if cold or snow is common in your area!

-Nate

 

I think of 4 ft per chicken indoors plus 10 feet per chicken outdoors as minimums. Honestly, build as big as you reasonably can, especially with respect to the run (unless you plan to free range most of the time and confine them regularly in the run only part of the time). You won't be sorry having a large run...and your work to keep your setup clean and healthy will be less the more room your chickens have. As population density goes up, so does the risk of disease unless you do a lot of cleaning up.

 

we have a 6 X 8 coop and 8 X 8 run for our six red sex-links ... no room for more chickens. If only I took the advice from our chicken forefathers, I would have gone bigger to make room for more chickens ... we our girls

 

As much as possible.

There IS NO MAGIC NUMBER. Personally I am not a fan of this 4 sq ft indoors - 10 sq ft outdoors thing that has become nearly a religion on BYC. I guess it gives you a ballpark idea of what not to go much lower than. But that's really about the limit of its usefulness. In always-mild never-a-day-when-chickens-wanna-stay-indoors climates, you may not need that much indoor space. In cold winter climates, a lot more space is a lot better (personally having TRIED it at different stocking densities I will never go below 10-15 sq ft per chicken indoors *plus ample roofed run*, and that is NOT because of my climate either).

THESE NUMBERS PEOPLE GIVE YOU, THEY ARE JUST MINIMUMS. They are aimed at answering the question "below what stocking density does the chance of cannibalism increase considerably". For some people that may be their chief goal, just avoiding catastrophic cannibalism, but if you want the chickens to behave more-naturally and more-happily (and sanitation incidentally becomes much easier too) I highly recommend lower stocking densities, i.e. more square footage per chicken.

So I would suggest that the most humane approach is to build your coop and run as big as you can stand, and then put as few chickens in it as you can content yourself with. They will be much better off than if you crowd them up to the limits of what you can get away with, and management is easier too.

JMHO,

Pat

 

Quote:Amen and Amen