My wife and I decided to try our hand at raising birds. We bought a couple ducklings. Then a few chicks. Then a couple more ducklings. Then a lot more chicks. We honestly got a little out of hand. I looked on the internet and found the following guidance: in the coop, 1.5-2 square feet per chicken, and 4 for ducks, with 8-10 square feet of run for each. I built a coop (not done, but functional) to those specifications, opting to the 2+ square feet to be on the safe side.
Well, after construction was well enough under way to be irreversible, I found this site and its 4 square-foot per chicken guidance. Not sure what to do. We're already into this coop WAY too much money for me to modify it. Here's what we have: 35 square feet of coop for the chickens with 4 nest boxes, 30 square feet below that for the ducks (the extra 5 square feet is stolen by a storage cabinet for feed). It's fully insulated (because I'm in the north where it gets frigid cold) and fairly well ventilated. The ducks have about 100 square feet of run, the chickens about 180. We have 14 chickens and 4 ducks, as follows:
Chickens:
2 White Leghorns
2 Buff Orpingtons
2 Black Sex Links
5 Easter Eggers (sold at the hardware store as misspelled Ameraucanas)
1 Barred Rock
1 Sapphire Gem (had 2, lost one)
1 Bantam Silkie (had 2, lost one)
Ducks (all breeds are guesses based on plumage, because they were a grab bag at the hardware store):
1 Dark Campbell
1 Blue Runner
1 Crested runner (mostly white, with a little brown on the tail)
1 Pekin (it's the youngest and already huge)
So that's my problem. I already have the birds. I already have the coop. I am out of construction budget. The flock may get thinned out a bit because we're really only interested in hens with maybe one rooster. The sex links and the Gem are definitely hens (obviously), the easter eggers were straight-run, and the rest were wing-sexed by an employee at the hardware store who had done 4H (so probably equivalent to straight-run). Right now, my best bet to avoid overcrowding is if a bunch of them turn out to be roosters and we have to find them a new home (which I know usually has a fairly grim end...). Suggestions? Should I just wait and see if they act too cooped up (no pun intended)?
Also, they are going to have to stay in their run. Too many hawks flying around to allow them to wander the yard.There's enough roost space for them to each have about 10" each at night, but the floor space is definitely too small by this community's standards (2.5 square feet per bird).
Well, after construction was well enough under way to be irreversible, I found this site and its 4 square-foot per chicken guidance. Not sure what to do. We're already into this coop WAY too much money for me to modify it. Here's what we have: 35 square feet of coop for the chickens with 4 nest boxes, 30 square feet below that for the ducks (the extra 5 square feet is stolen by a storage cabinet for feed). It's fully insulated (because I'm in the north where it gets frigid cold) and fairly well ventilated. The ducks have about 100 square feet of run, the chickens about 180. We have 14 chickens and 4 ducks, as follows:
Chickens:
2 White Leghorns
2 Buff Orpingtons
2 Black Sex Links
5 Easter Eggers (sold at the hardware store as misspelled Ameraucanas)
1 Barred Rock
1 Sapphire Gem (had 2, lost one)
1 Bantam Silkie (had 2, lost one)
Ducks (all breeds are guesses based on plumage, because they were a grab bag at the hardware store):
1 Dark Campbell
1 Blue Runner
1 Crested runner (mostly white, with a little brown on the tail)
1 Pekin (it's the youngest and already huge)
So that's my problem. I already have the birds. I already have the coop. I am out of construction budget. The flock may get thinned out a bit because we're really only interested in hens with maybe one rooster. The sex links and the Gem are definitely hens (obviously), the easter eggers were straight-run, and the rest were wing-sexed by an employee at the hardware store who had done 4H (so probably equivalent to straight-run). Right now, my best bet to avoid overcrowding is if a bunch of them turn out to be roosters and we have to find them a new home (which I know usually has a fairly grim end...). Suggestions? Should I just wait and see if they act too cooped up (no pun intended)?
Also, they are going to have to stay in their run. Too many hawks flying around to allow them to wander the yard.There's enough roost space for them to each have about 10" each at night, but the floor space is definitely too small by this community's standards (2.5 square feet per bird).