I have 10 buff orpington chicks how big of a coop do i need?

[dawj]

I am looking to build a coop for the chicks my wifes parents gave us last weekend. seems like everywhere I look the size ranges from 4x6x4ft tall to 4x6x8ft tall to 4x6x5ft tall. Does anyone have 10 chickens?

 

[GiddyMoon]

Most people have more than 10 chickens

Normal recommendations for size is 4 sq feet of space in the coop per bird..and at least 10 sf per bird for the run. If you go to teh front page and click the coop link, you will see tons of ideas...as well as in these threads..welcome

 

[Little_Rooster66]

 

[dawj]

LOL I asked about 10 chickens to see if anone has 10 or so that are comfy in what size coop.

 

[GiddyMoon]

Quote:
You will get the standard answer 4 square feet per bird indoor = 40 sf total ...so you could do a 4x10 or a 5x8, etc....plus 10 sf per bird for the run...which equals 100 sf. Many people have larger, many might have smaller...but what your birds will need..based on where you live, your weather, your predators, etc..may be slightly different

 

[urbancountrygal]

I have 10 and I am doing 4x8x5 ft tall that will give me 32-40ish square feet and I am doing a run to give them 80 sq ft. But plan to let them out to wander around 1-2 times a day.

 

[truebluexf]

I've seen anywhere from 2-4sqft as recs for a coop. Ours will be 15sqft for 5 birds...somewhere in the middle, I guess, lol. But it's not too cold in the winter here overall, so I don't see weeks on end of being cooped up. I'm also making the downstairs screened in and not going to limit access down there, so that should help, I guess.

 

[johny]

I have Buff Orp’s also.
The coop is 8x8 ft on the floor.
The ceiling is 6 foot 2 inches so I can walk in and not hit my head.

Initially I got 16 BO’s. They were fine until the rooster matured. Then it was clearly too crowded as the roosters formed gangs to terrorize each other and the hens.
So we roasted all but one rooster last fall.

That left nine hens and 1 rooster.
But eventually he got super aggressive toward the hens and us. He was tasty too. We ate the three smaller hens too.

Now that there are just six hens living in 64 square feet of coop space and about 90 square feet of outdoor run, they are clearly happier and calmer.

Lots of words to say 6 BO hens live well in 64 square feet of coop. We live north of Minnesota where winters are long and they stayed coped up from late November to early April.

 

[Arielle]

BO are nice calm birds--at least mine are. I have 4 in the house.They seem to be more curious than my other birds: prefering to be out of the cardboard box and sitting on the thin edge. I think they like the view! LOL THe younges EE's are learning to fly up and sit with them. Trouble makers!

Bigger is really better. I have another group of young birds. THeir run is a square run using 100 linear ft of 4 foot mesh wire. THey use every square inch of that space; its 25 sq ft EACH. A few usually are resting inside the small coop.

We are still constructing the main coop. Started with a 10 x 10 initially but expanded to a 12 x 12 in the final plan. With the ability to expand if necessary.

Here's a little tip someone wrote in another post: while 4 sq ft per large fowl is the average; 3 birds living in 12 sq feet is much different than 25 birds using 100 sq ft. Hence, bigger is better.

Enjoy your BO--they are one of my favorites!

 

[Katydid2011]

I agree 100% with Arielle: bigger is better! Our hens have 12 square feet of floor space each in our coop and they use every inch of it. We also have perches that go all the way to 6' giving them plenty of room to expand up. We live in an area where there's a lot of rainfall, meaning the hens are inside the coop quite a lot during the winter months.

The more spacious the coop the less squabbling. I know that large coops aren't possible for people living in suburban or urban areas but I think it's worthwhile to go as big as possible. Having a covered run also helps, a lot! (Factoring in our covered run, each of our hens actually have 24 square feet of space.)

Congratulations on the new chicks!