how much space?

[Ebers]

I live in town & can't allow my flock to free range what is adequate space for each chicken..... How much area does each chicken need?

 

[DaddyBird]

Most city regulations are round about 2 Sqft per bird in the coop and 4 sqft outside per adult bird. The more you give them, the happier they will be.

 

[Ebers]

I have 15 hens in a 16 x 8 coop & run is that enough room I can always build on to it

 

[mithious]

I have 15 BR's and an 8' by 8' coop, run is in process and is 10' by 20', not sure what you mean by coop/run is 8' by 16'? My run is in addition to, the 8' by 8' coop....my coop is 32 square feet, and my run is 200 square feet. So total square feet is 232 feet.

I live up in the northern part of the US, so the birds will be confined about 3 months of the year to the 8' by 8' coop...I doubt they want to go out in 4 feet of snow...our snow starts here, around Decemeber, and by March is in a pretty good melt...soooo for 9 months out of the year, they will have 232 square feet and approximately 3 months, or less lately, 32 square feet. This is my laying coop. We have other buildings going up, after this project, for other reasons and a back up, two 9' by 12' stalls in our stable that have never been used...so will be used for quarantined new birds, or I need to separate for other resaons..processing, say...ect.

That help any?

Oh, and I raise the BR's because they take the confinement and cold well and are a dual purpose bird, failry good egg layer and good meat, and other reasons...

 

[Ebers]

My coop is 4' x 8' & my run is 8' x 12' so all together 8' x 16' is the area they have I live in oklahima so they wouldnt be confined much as our snowfall lasts about a week usually then melts off

 

[mithious]

Opps 8' by 8' is 64 square feet....my math is off....you have 32 square feet in your coop, and 96 square feet in your run, so you have 128 square feet total. The maximum square feet recommended is 4 feet per bird, minimum is 1 foot per bird,( I would NEVER do one foot ) and you have no confinement, sounds good to me! You have about 8.5 square feet per bird!

 

[mithious]

One week of snow, nice!!!! The birds shouldn't need to be confined at all, unless they choose to stay in, during your "winter snow"! Mostly the birds will want out and go in the coop for laying and at night for protection and sleeping...I bet yours will go out in your snow if it isn't like ours and too deep...I have read some of the Alaskans threads on coop/run management and their birds are out in a fair amount of snow with no problems!

Since I do have some fairly cold temps in Jan/Feb, I did double floors and double walls, plus, once the run is done, am putting shakes and trim on the coop, so it fits in with the other buildings here and has some added protection from the cold. I don't heat my layer coop either, at all! The BR's are very cold hardy, with no comb issues. One of the other building will have a heating option, for the other "reasons" I mentioned!

Best of luck and have fun!

 

[Ebers]

Thank you for your help best of luck

 

[DaddyBird]

I'd say you are perfectly built for the 15 bird flock you have. Good luck with them!

 

[Sueg4332]

I'd say you are perfectly built for the 15 bird flock you have. Good luck with them!

better build it bigger chickens are very addictive .