How much space should I give my chicks?

[splitidol]

Hi! I’m trying to design a coop for my chicks but i’ve never built one before and don’t know how much space I should give them, I have 7 total ( 2 Plymouth Rocks, Cuckoo Maran, Golden Sex Link, New Hampshire Red, Buff Orpington, and a Silkie), Im scared i’m going to not give them enough room and I don’t want them to be stuck in our old rabbit hutch when they’re too big to stay in the brooder box

 

[DobieLover]

Hi! I’m trying to design a coop for my chicks but i’ve never built one before and don’t know how much space I should give them, I have 7 total ( 2 Plymouth Rocks, Cuckoo Maran, Golden Sex Link, New Hampshire Red, Buff Orpington, and a Silkie), Im scared i’m going to not give them enough room and I don’t want them to be stuck in our old rabbit hutch when they’re too big to stay in the brooder box

Welcome to BYC!
Rule of thumb is 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and 10-12 in the run.
You will find, however, that 10 sq ft per bird in the run is simply not enough room for the vast majority of chickens. They like their space and the nastier personalities will relentlessly drive off others that they feel are too close. If the other chicken has no where to escape, they can be pretty severely injured.
How large you make your coop also depends on your climate. If you cannot build a large, covered run that can be winterized and you live where you get snow, you will want a larger coop, shooting for closer to 6 sq feet per bird.
If you can make a large, predator proof run attached to the coop, you can use 2.5-3 sq ft per birds in the coop provided you have enough roosting space.

 

[Callender Girl]

It's always better to err on the side of building too big -- the birds will enjoy the extra room and it means you have the ability to get more chickens!

Good luck with your build!

 

[21hens-incharge]

At minimum a 4x8 coop but I know they won't complain about a 6x8 at all.

It will also allow a little wiggle room for roost placement, food and water and ability to move around for you.

For the run I would go with at least an 8x10 but again mire space is always welcomed by the birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

You might follow the link in my signature to see some of the things I consider important. I don't believe in magic numbers for space in the coop or run, there are way too many variables. That article discusses some of those variables.

I'm always in favor of more room as opposed to less. As I say in that article I find the tighter I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have to deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to manage things that come up. A lot of this is more about you than the chickens but you are very important too. And your chickens will benefit as well.

I think your climate is an important variable. If you live where they can be outside all day every day coop room is less important. I don't look at it as coop room versus run room, I see it as your space system. Chickens don't care if room is in a coop or in a run as long as they have room when they need it. Think about bad weather as well as good weather.

I do think you need to be able to access every part of the coop. You never know if you might need to retrieve and egg or maybe a chicken that doesn't want you to reach it. You might need to do maintenance or repair, or even add something. You need room for food and water if you feed and water in the coop. To me 8 chickens is the practical limit where you pretty much need to go from a small coop you access through doors and openings to a walk-in coop. If you stick with seven chickens you can go either way but if you ever expect to have more I'd plan on that now. If you ever plan to integrate new chickens more room is really beneficial.

One of them is a Silkie. Silkie's cannot fly. Your coop design needs to incorporate that consideration. To me that argues for a walk-in coop at or close to ground level with enough room for ramps inside. The ones that can fly often like to fly up and down to nests or roosts but they need enough clear space to spread their wings and fly but also enough clear landing space so they don't hit feeders, waterers, nests, walls, or ramps.

The bigger you make it the more expensive it will be. Bigger is better but you need to be practical.