Is my coop big enough?

[Othercat]

Our coop is 5 feet wide, 8 feet long and 6 feet tall. I'm building the run later today and I plan on it being 10x15. Is this enough room for 8 chickens?

 

[gunnarmcc]

yes, it sounds big enough the common standard you will see on here is 4sqft in the coop 10 in the run per bird

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Yes, and it's nice that you are building the run larger than the minimum. You will be glad you did!

 

[202roosterlane]

I think that should be fine. I bought a 8x12 building and put in two seperate runs. One run is 10x18 and the second run for my fizzles/sizzles (and other tiny chickens will be 8x12. I hope to have it divided into 4 areas soon so I can really divide the chickens up. I am sure your chickens will love the added space!

 

[Othercat]

Seriously? I thought ya'll were going to say the coop was tiny and the run needed to be twice as big!

Is there such thing as having too much space? Yesterday I drew up plans for adding on to their coop. The one they have right now is a little too drafty. The bottom half is wood, the top half is chicken wire and it has a metal roof. I want to build an enclosed coop the same width and height, but only 4 feet tall. It would look kind of like this (I made this using Paint so it's not exact)

So if that wouldn't be too much room (I'm worried they won't create enough body heat during winter), here's my question. Should I put the door where it is on the picture (on the front) or should I make the two connect on the inside so they don't have to go outside to go from one to the other?

 

[cmom]

It really depends on where you run will be as to where you want your door and you could always put a pop door in between that you can open and shut should you need to.

 

[sassypants'mama]

I would also recommend putting in a "people" sized door somewhere in there so you can get in if needed. I just recently connected the "nursery" to the regular coop when the chicks moved in with the big girls. I've found it very challenging that I didn't make the connection very accessible to myself, only the chickens

 

[Othercat]

The run will be directly in front of the coop(s). I'm attaching it to the edge of the barn and extending it 5 feet past the coop. Then when the second coop is built, I can just open up the one side of the run to include the second coop.

 

[Othercat]

sassypants'mama :

I would also recommend putting in a "people" sized door somewhere in there so you can get in if needed. I just recently connected the "nursery" to the regular coop when the chicks moved in with the big girls. I've found it very challenging that I didn't make the connection very accessible to myself, only the chickens

That's funny! Yesterday when I was building a section for my chicks in the coop, I realized I had screened myself in. I had to crawl through the tiny chick hole to get out.

I've been playing with a couple of ideas for people access. Maybe a door on the back wall...​