How Much Room Do The Chickens Need

[PolarBear]

I am using a 10x10x6 dog pen for my chickens. The top is covered with sheet metal to keep out predators. It leaks so I put a tarp over also. How many hens could comfortably live in such a set up? Letting them do any free ranging is out of the question because of neighbors dogs. My German Shepherd used to keep them out of our yard, but she has an extremely high prey drive and has tried desperately to get into the pen to get the chickens so she is chained up now, which is another reason I wouldn't feel comfortable letting them out. The hens all tend to stay huddled up so they are not currently using most of the pen anyway. I would really like to have 10-12 hens but I'm just not sure that would be humane. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[rockstar]

I'm interested in answers to your question too, as I have 8x16 run with 4x8 house with 4 nesting boxes and 16 ft. of roosting pole.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Generally acceptable minimums are 10 sq. ft. of run space per bird and 4 sq. ft. of coop space per bird.

Do your birds have a coop for shelter? It sounds like they're intimidated by your dog or something - huddling together doesn't sound like 'normal' behavior...

 

[PolarBear]

The dog is tied up about 200 yards away. They do have a Coop to get in. but it doesn't provide that much room per hen. It sounds like I have a new project. My wife should love that because she is tired of all of the scrap materials I am always collecting. Now I have an excuse to use up some of it.

 

[rockstar]

nesting boxes are mounted on the outside of the house in order to not take up room inside and are two 3x2 boxes with divider in middle to split box into two nests. I have slider doors on the outside of the boxes for egg gathering. Working well so far.

 

[rstampa]

Quote:
Thanks so much for your answer to this question. I've been searching all over this forum for that exact answer. I get all sorts of answers form 2 sq ft to10 sq ft per bird but no one differentiates between the coop or the run or total space.
So I want to thank you ColoradoMike for the precise answer.