Same question on square feet per chicken in the coop or in the run, length per chicken of roost space, number of nests per hen, hens per rooster, how much room in a brooder, and all the other numbers that show up on this forum. You'll notice that a lot of different numbers show up for a lot of these. I've seen that 100 F in the brooder quoted but I don't think it is standard. I think 90 or 95 F are quoted more. At least I hope so, 100 F is getting close to too hot, especially if they can't get to a cooler spot.
I understand the need for guidelines. People with absolutely no experience show up to ask how to care for their chickens. They don't have the experience to even know where to start. Guidelines give them that starting point. Some numbers given on here are very cautious, they will pretty much keep people out of trouble even if they make some mistakes. Others may give numbers that can work in certain conditions but don't work in others, not cautious at all. They can get some people in trouble. We all have different conditions so the same numbers don't always work for all of us.
Where do some of these numbers come from? I don't know. For most, my guess is that somebody on here asked a question and somebody gave their opinion. Different people give different numbers so you see a lot of different numbers given. We all have different experiences, maybe some of those are actually based n experience, maybe they are just something they read or "well, it seems this should work so I'll use it".
Some numbers are taken out of context. Many of these come from studies paid for by the commercial poultry industry, either broilers or the egg laying hybrids, and may not have that much application to how we raise them. One easy example of "out of context" is number of hens per rooster. Hatcheries that use the pen breeding system and where their only goal is fertile eggs have come up with different ratios for full sized fowl or bantams that pretty much assures all eggs will be fertile if you use the pen breeding system. If you don't use the pen breeding system these ratios have nothing to do with fertility. In any case, they have nothing to do with roosters fighting, hens becoming bare backed or over-mated, yet they are quoted as the way to solve those problems. Totally out of context.
One that's been interesting to watch has been the roost length numbers. When I started on here I saw anything from 7" per bird to 15" as a minimum. Now I see 12" as the most quoted. It doesn't matter if you have tiny Sebrights or massive Jersey Giants, you have to have 12" per bird. It doesn't matter if they are all the same sex and age and fully integrated or a mix of maturity and maybe being integrated. Totally different situations.
I'll try to offer help to people, especially those just starting out. Usually with a little guidance they can do a good job.
I only measured the temp on the floor of MHP once when @azygous asked what it might be. To my surprise it was 82.5 in a 69 degree room. They should have been dead, if I’d followed the norms….instead they’d been using it for a week (or maybe even more) and were thriving! Since then most people over on the thread who have checked the temperature have reported an average of 82-86 degrees, and find that seems to be the sweet spot. Of course, it’s still essential to keep an eye on their behavior to see if you need to change the heat setting, or raise or lower the cave itself.
