AuntiePatriciaUSA
Chirping
- Mar 14, 2025
- 15
- 63
- 56
By "chicken math" do you mean the area a chicken needs according to the definitions for store-bought eggs? My chickens never stayed in the coop after the door opened, and it was set to open at dawn, but they DID love to have plenty of space to roam, so could you let them out of the run or expand the run so I let them stay in the "run" until later.I have 5 adult hens and 6 pullets (one of which is a Brahma), so eventually we will have 11 hens living in the coop! Is my coop big enough to house all of them? I have a large run (as seen in the pictures) and the coop door is always open so they can leave the coop as soon as they wake up, so my logic was they don't need a huge coop. It's also worth noting that, in the summer, two of my hens sleep in the tree at night (I gave up trying to put them in the coop); along with that, a few hens sleep in the rafters. In the winter the run is pretty well covered by a tree and they can go inside and under the coop to escape the snow (I also shovel the run when needed). In the summer, along with the cover I just mentioned, they also have a raspberry bush for shade.
All that said, do they really need a large coop if they have plenty of run space?
Note: I don't have the exact measurements for the coop or run
PICTURES:
The Coop:
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Inside the Coop:
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The Run: (the run with the tall fence is connected to the run with the short fence)
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P.S. The reason that the coop is so small is because I didn't plan in being affected by chicken math
Otherwise, it looks like some of them are perched on the roost and others are in the rafters and that would give them plenty of sleeping room... they don't need that much space to sleep, especially in the winter when they all snuggle together. It's the outside, roaming space that store-bought definitions address, I think.
Can they get out quickly in the morning?
Are they safe to get out early in the morning?
If you don't think of the run as a permanent area, but as a temporary boundary, it won't be hard to make a bigger run. I found that for a temporary run, fence stakes can easily be moved as needed - just pour a little water where the stake is to come out or go in and it is easy to make a new boundary. They can have more roaming space and your yard will have the added benefit of 'fertilization'.
My neighbors loved to see them in the yard, as they drove home from work. When I did a goo-goo search for my house, the street-view maps showed the chickens in the front yard. But then the raccoons came one night and got into the coop... due to my own mistake...
Now, a dozen eggs are in the hatching machine.
They can get out of the coop the minute they wake up every morning and have access to a large run. Yes, I do believe it is safe for them to get out early in the morning. I live in a neighborhood so we do not have as many predators; and we have dogs who keep any unwanted animals away (although they don't live with the chickens).
The girls sorted out my fluffy Seal-point Birman when they were still pullets (being SL Wyandotte girls they're comparable weight and visual size - feathers and long-fur included!) She was approaching them with interest in the BBQ area that was all enclosed for them, and dominant girl took a run at her sqwarking and flapping, and Suzie high-tailed it up and over the 4' fence, and has kept her distance ever since! 
