Hi everyone! We have 12 chicks and our coop is going to be 4 X 71/2 with 6 nesting boxes and their run is going to be 7 1/2 X 10. Is this enough room for everyone or should I thin out my flock eventually?
I think you might need a bit bigger space,but I am just going by my own experience.I have 7 hens and 1 rooster.I have them in a 6x8 shed. They had the entire yard,but are now limited to a 20x 90 foot area(guessing). When I just had the 7 hens in the shed during the winter,and in a very small run off the shed they pecked at each other a lot.
I would have to think that the coop is big enough but the run is not. You are probably going to have to cull the flock down to about half. My coop is 8ftx4ft with 5 nesting boxes. My run is about 9ftx25ft. I currently only have 4 laying hens but I plan to have more in the not to distant future.
Crap. Well, I don't plan on culling anyone so I guess we're going to have to make the run bigger Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.
You need to look at expanding the coop too. A coop should allow about 4 square foot per bird of inside space. Currently you have 2 sq ft. As another person said, you will likely have a lot of pecking and fighting issues. As to outside, you need 10x12 minimum and your birds will love you if there was more available
