Maximum Chicken Number In My Coop?

[misskes]

My current set up is a 24 sq ft coop w/3 nesting boxes (not included in the square footage), 3 large roosting poles (of which only one gets any use) and a 120 sq ft pen. I have 6 hens at the moment.

I would like to add 4 more birds. My main concern is nesting box to hen ratio and coop space at night, though only 2 of my girls roost at night while the other 4 huddle together at the coop door.

Do you think this is feasible? What would be your personal maximum in this set up? My hens do not get out of their pen unfortunately as I am within city limits and it is not allowed.

Thank you for your input.

 

[Mrs. K]

General rule of thumb is 4 sq ft per bird, and you are at the max now. With the hens you have listed, I would not put any more birds in there. Is this a pre-fab coop? Often times, they list more birds than can really fit.

Over crowding birds will often cause a lot of horrible behaviors and cause a lot of tension in your flock. They won't all just get along and be nice. If you want to add birds, you would need more coop space.

The nesting issue is not a big deal, it is the coop space, and that we are going into winter. In the dark days of winter, birds spend close to 14-16 hours a day roosted up, as the day is so short. On bad weather days, they may be in there even more.

No, I would not add any birds, and I might reduce your current numbers to 4. How old are your birds?

Mrs K

 

[misskes]

General rule of thumb is 4 sq ft per bird, and you are at the max now. With the hens you have listed, I would not put any more birds in there. Is this a pre-fab coop? Often times, they list more birds than can really fit.

Over crowding birds will often cause a lot of horrible behaviors and cause a lot of tension in your flock. They won't all just get along and be nice. If you want to add birds, you would need more coop space.

The nesting issue is not a big deal, it is the coop space, and that we are going into winter. In the dark days of winter, birds spend close to 14-16 hours a day roosted up, as the day is so short. On bad weather days, they may be in there even more.

No, I would not add any birds, and I might reduce your current numbers to 4. How old are your birds?

Mrs K

They are 6 months old. The coop was built from scratch.

 

[junebuggena]

6 is a good number for that coop. 4 more would really be crowding things inside the coop.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would stay with the birds you have. 4 more would cause you more grief than happiness. If you want those 4 new ones, then you need to do some subtraction too. 6 month old birds would be worth a bit, point of lay hens. Could get $10-15 per head.

Chicken math needs to use both addition and subtraction.

 

[misskes]

Thank you both for your input. That answer is pretty much what I was afraid of. I need to look into expanding my set up.

 

[lazy gardener]

If you expand your set up, I strongly urge you to build it bigger than you anticipate needing. If you think a nice flock size would be 10 birds, build it to house 20 birds. (80 s.f.) You may be perfectly content with your flock of 10 birds, Then Ethel decides to go broody, or your current flock ages out, and you need to replace them if you want more eggs... so that means integrating some pullets.... and on and on it goes.

 

[aart]

That coop might be fine for 6...
...but the 4sqft rule is not written in stone and does not always 'work',
IMO it is a bare minimum.
Especially in winter, especially in harsh climates.
4sqft per bird in coop often does not take into account space for feeders, nests, waterers, etc......you'd need to subtract the space those things might take up.

 

[lazy gardener]

And, to expand on what Aart is saying: the smaller the flock, the greater the importance of having MORE than the 4 s.f. minimum/bird. B/c the top hen tells the underdog to get out of her space. In the mind of the top hen, she owns everything within a 10 foot radius. In a 30 s.f. coop, it's not possible for the underdog to retreat far enough. So... if she doesn't retreat, then she's gonna get her face ripped off.

 

[Mrs. K]

As another idea, if you are building, I would recommend a second set up, rather than a bigger one... lots of fun. Crazy, but sometimes you need a separate place.