I need an explantion about sq footage!

[Sootsie]

http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/farmanimals/chickens

The UK has different requirements 30 birds to 12 sqm granted this is a minimum

 

[sharol]

That would be about 129 sq feet divided by 30 = 4.3 sq. ft. per bird. About the same as the recommendations here.

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[Sootsie]

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i need go back to school lol never did get on with metric measurement never mind converting them

 

[Judy]

OP, if you can be outdoors in shirtsleeves yesterday, then you are among those who can probably get away with less square footage. In Canada, one of our finest coop people on here won't keep them at less than 15 sq ft in the coop (not the run, and no that's not a typo) but hers stay indoors for days on end in the winter, probably weeks on end. In warmer climates, coops need to allow for plenty of breeze, and shade is a big plus. You might consider making some large areas of walls out of hardware cloth with wood awnings so you can let plenty of breeze in when warm weather shows up. Apparently we are colder than you as I wore a warm jacket yesterday and have had frozen solid waterers every morning for several days, but my coop has several sq ft open to the air on all 4 sides for plenty of summer breeze. My coop is not in a shady spot and they will go in during the heat of the day in summer just for the shade, unless I'm letting them free range, when they go to the woods. Chickens have a whole lot of cold tolerance but can actually die, are at least stressed enough to slow down laying, in heat, especially over 100 degrees F. Another thought is, in a good sized coop like that, the 4 sq ft is not nearly as critical as it is in a tiny coop. You will have some happy chickens!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

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Yup what she said!


If you live up towards the mountains you're going to need more space than if you live DownEast where you'll have less chance of snow. (though this year it's even snowed in Fla!) I'm in the NC foothills. My birds can get out just about every day of the year. When we have the occasional snow, I have enough room in my coop where they aren't going to kill each other in the matter of a couple days. My big coop is 8x8 and I don't keep more than 12 birds in there. The big run is 40x80ft, but there is also an attached 10x10 that they can have access to 24/7 and comes in handy when we go off on vacation.

 

[tammyd57]

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Yep, the area that the OP and I live in will have more heat problems than cold. I've always used 3 sided coops to allow as much air flow in the summer as possible. We do get a lot of days over 100 degrees and hardly any freezing weather. Even on our coldest nights, some of my chickens prefer sleeping outside.
It has been shirtsleeve weather here for the most part. A bit of fog. We really do have mild winters compared to most of the rest of the country.

 

[wolfandfinch]

I'm going with 30 square feet for four chickens, but I'm only allowed to have 4 chickens. I think that after a while if my neighbours are happy and the chickens are happy and I'm enjoying it I may sneak in two more birds. that would require 24 sq ft, so I'd still be spacious. I'd much rather go too big than too small.

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

Ok here is day 2 of coop project: This is a shot of the back which faces south and the east side. The top flap is going to wire covered and can close if it is pouring or super windy. Every night in warm weather is pretty strong wind and uh...I dont know if that is considered a draft of not but I thought I should make a closeable flap. The roof line is 7 feet tall on this side. The middle section of the east side will be wire.

This second photo is of the east side again and a little bit of the north, which has only small vent areas since this is where the prevailing wind comes from. Seriously...the wind has twice BUSTED OFF our 20 foot tall aluminum flag pole once nearly killing me when I ran to cover the hay (rain was coming) I thought I should start calling for Auntie Em!

Then one more shot of the west side (before we got siding up) there is a people door and the sides of that will mostly be wire. I will make shade cloth screens that will fit over the west side and south side wire areas so they dont get fried and there is a huge oak to shade the run and coop. I know it doesnt look like much til we get all the fun "gingerbread" on it....

I hope Im doing this right. Ive been reading and reading on here since June!

 

[pnp4kidz]

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Hmmmm. Looks to me like this is your 'tester' run at building it, so when you are done you can come on over to our place and build the 'real' good one, OK?? I'm not too far, far east bay area. And I can do a BBQ , so.... When can u be here??????

 

[imamtgrandma2]

Hey, Egg Rookie...where in Clovis foothills? I live at the top of the 4 lane, in Auberry. We're neighbors..sort of.
We have to deal with snow as we're at 4700' and we're going to build another coop in the Spring (after tax time). My Girls are in a small coop that we added an extended run to. They must be happy as we're getting 3-4 eggs a day out of 4 hens.