i think we build the coop too small. newbie dilemma

[Picotine]

thanks all for your input!

after much debating, and the possibility that if they don't like the size of our movable coops and peck each other in an outright war... we finally decided to go with converting about 12x15 of our garage into a permanent dwelling for them with a summer days moveable cage

.

we'll keep our first coop for either the roosters, if a few hens needs quarantine or a few hens we'd try to get brooding in the spring/summer.

and hubby also found an other perk to converting part of the garage... it would provide additional support to the middle of the roof that's starting to sag.

for those who suggest pvc pipes, is that cheaper then lumber?

 

[stubbornhill]

Picotine, is there maybe any way that you could put the house on stilts and then enclose the bottom with another door for them to go into under your existing ladder? That way, you would only be adding the expense of the walls and not having to add more roofing. You would have a bi-level coop. Not sure how this would work out, but you would double your space in a jiffy.

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
yeah, the only problem is that hubby don't want to convert the garage like that. he's hoping that we can just put the coops and runs in the garage, throw a tarp over the runs to make it a bit warmer. with an extra roosting bar or 2 in the run... would we be able to keep more chicken per coop/run that way?

How many birds you could keep really comes down to how much space is available and what kind of life you want for them. I mean, in theory, in an 18 sq. ft coop (assuming that's all open floor space, not taken up by feeders, waterers, nest boxes, etc.), a person could stuff 18 birds in there and they might have room to turn around if they were not really big breeds. They would have room to do nothing but stand there, basically shoulder to shoulder, but that's about the way it's done commercially. Or you could take the same 18 sq. ft. with two birds, and each would actually have room to walk around, dust (bedding) bathe, flap about a little, etc. And then there's a whole lot of behaviors/spaces in between... Keep in mind that with overcrowding comes behavioral issues.
So look at how much space you have available, and give whatever number of birds you decide to keep as much space as you can give them...