My coop and run (for now)

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Thanks, I plan on putting gutters and maybe collecting the rain water for the garden and plants.
 
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Their halve is only 4x8. I have 6 Buff Orpingtons. Do ya'all think it would be ok to add 4 more for a total of 10. What would be the safest/healthiest/humane limit? The run is 8x10.

Thanks in advance
John

with a run of 8x10 the generally accepted formula is 10sq feet of run space each.. so 8..
Then again you should also have 4sq feet of coop

And I noticed earlier you said you had bought layer..? To my uneducated eye your birds look a litle young to be on layer yet.. How old are they?? guesstimating their age, they wont be hurt by it, but some people say the high levels of calcium can be bad for growing birds.

The birds were hatched Oct first. Now you got me thinking about the feed... It is crumbles, I'll have to check on the exacts tho.
 
Quote:
Their halve is only 4x8. I have 6 Buff Orpingtons. Do ya'all think it would be ok to add 4 more for a total of 10. What would be the safest/healthiest/humane limit? The run is 8x10.

Thanks in advance
John

John.............I copied this from another post, as I can't figure out how to link to another post. I thought RIDGERUNNER did a very good job defining space. Here it is:

The rule of thumb is 4 square feet per chicken in the coop along with 10 square feet per chicken in the run. If you don't have the room in the run, then you need more room in the coop. This rule of thumb does not guarantee you will never have problems based on space if you follow it. It also does not guarantee that you will have problems if you violate it. The breed and personality of your chickens and your management practices factor in. But it is a guideline that usually works.

There are several things that make up the requirement for 4 square feet. First, it assumes you have a sufficient number of chickens for averages to mean something. If you only have 2 or 3 chickens, I'd give more room per bird.

It assumes you feed and water in the coop, not outside. 4 square feet should give your chickens room to get to the feeder and water. When you feed them, they all want to eat at the same time so they need access to cut down on the squabbling and to help assure one is not being kept away by a bully. And they need to be where the roosting birds do not poop in them. This takes space.

Chickens are basically ground dwelling birds, so nesting boxes do not count against the square footage if they are high enough so the chickens can get under them. If they are at ground level, though, they do reduce the available room.

The 4 square feet gives them some personal space if they are locked in the coop for extended periods of time. It cuts down on the squabbling and fighting if they are confined by weather or if you go through a spell you cannot let them out of the coop into the run. If they are locked in the coop and not allowed outside for several days in a row, 4 square feet per bird may not be enough. That depends a lot on the personality of your individual birds. More is always better.

The 4 square feet takes into account the poop load your coop can carry without poop becoming a big problem with standard management practices. They drop a lot of poop at night while on the roost. If you use a droppings board to help collect and remove the poop, this component becomes less important. In any case, your coop has to stay dry or poop wil be a problem.

If you are very sure they will never be locked in the coop for any significant length of time (which means you need to get up early enough every morning to let them out when the sun comes up) and you will never lock them in the coop early in the evening because you are leaving to go somewhere, if you feed and water outside, if they have lots of room to roam outside whenever they are awake, and if you take good care of the poop load, you can probably get by with less room.

In essence, if you are just using the coop as a roosting or roosting and egg laying area, you can get by with less, but I still believe the 4 square feet per bird is best. Few people really manage to do all this unless they are willing to take some chances with predators. It is real hard to not have times they are locked up some. I'm mentioning this to give you an idea of what goes into the rule of thumb and how your management practices can influence it.

By the rules of thumb, I can have 38 in my run and 24 in my coop. I currently have 10 and will reduce down to my permanent laying/breeding flock of 1 rooster and 7 hens shortly. That number will go back up into the 20's when I start hatching chicks next spring, but chicks take up less space per chick. I really do believe more room is better. I'm mentioning this to also alert you to the possibility of needing more room if you hatch chicks. You should plan for the maximum number of chickens you will have, not the minimum. I've seen your posts on here. I think you will want to hatch chicks. And I think you want to understand what is going on.

Good luck however you decide to go. I think you will do well.

I have 6 Buff Orp's and was thinking getting 4 more but maybe just leave it at 6 and see. The nesting boxes are elevated and the food and water is outside. I keep them out untill the sun sets then shoo them inside. In the morning I am usually up way before the sun rises and go out to let them out along with a cup of joe and decide what is in store for me for the day. Since retirement from the military this has been good therapy for me and it keeps me busy and out of my brides hair. I wont be hatching any chicks in any foreseable future, plus no known roos yet. This is just for eggs (for now)
wink.png
 
Quote:
with a run of 8x10 the generally accepted formula is 10sq feet of run space each.. so 8..
Then again you should also have 4sq feet of coop

And I noticed earlier you said you had bought layer..? To my uneducated eye your birds look a litle young to be on layer yet.. How old are they?? guesstimating their age, they wont be hurt by it, but some people say the high levels of calcium can be bad for growing birds.

The birds were hatched Oct first. Now you got me thinking about the feed... It is crumbles, I'll have to check on the exacts tho.

mmm.. by popular opinion its a little early to have them on Layer. It has all the calcium they dont need. I dont think it hurts them one they are fully feathered, its just when they're fuzzy little chicken balls you should worry. But if you can, they would be better on some kind of grower crumbles.
 
I bet those top nest boxes don't get used too much. They look high up for the girls to get into, maybe it's just hard to tell from the picture. My girls all tend to use the same nest box for some reason. I've seen some that have a little rail right outside the hole for them to land on when jumping up.

Nice coop, I'm sure they are going to love it!!
 
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I just stuck those up for now and have to put the rails up yet and then move the top one to a different area or remove it alltogether.
 
nice coop ! i have a suggestion about the roof if it rains you will get a alot of water running into your run from the roof.
 
Purpledona... Working with wood is pretty easy, just squares and angles put together. Thanks for the complement tho!

Andy... I plan on gutters but just have not got them yet, been working on run and coop security lately, I just put in welded steel wire fence around the run and hardware cloth enclosing the soffets. I think the gutters are comming soon tho.
 

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