need help! how much pen room do 6 silkie chickens need? plz answer!

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
i have the coop already. this is just the run. for the 3 silkies i was planning to do a 6 foot by 3 foot pen. which would be 18 sqft, 6 sqft per bird. i am also going to let them free range at least 2 hours a day, when i am home. does this sound good? thanks for your answer!

Yep sounds fine to me.

 

[ericsplls]

Your size is right. I'm not sure why you are keeping them in two coops if they will free range together.

 

[silkie101]

im getting six silkie chicks soon and my coop is 10x8 not including the run

 

[franstojek]

Hello-

We recently got 7 Silkie Chicks. They will be ready to go outside soon so we are preparing there house. We are building a 6x8 house. It will be 8ft. long 6 ft. high and 5ft. wide. We were thinking of using the back half as the house/coop and the front part as the run. We will let them roam the yard when we are home to supervise otherwise they will be in the house. Is this enough room??? Or should we only use the 6x8 as the run and build a separate place for them to sleep. We do have a greenhouse we could build a coop in for them to sleep. We were just afraid it may get too hot. Please advice.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Not sure where you are at franjostek, but I think the greenhouse would get too hot for them as well as not be ventilated enough. The house you are building should be plenty big enough for 7 silkies. You could build a run off that so they can be enclosed but safe outside when you are not home to freerange them.

8silkies--I built my silkie coop as a 3x3 coop with a 6x4 enclosed run. I have 5 silkies in it now and they do okay, including the first snow of the season. My run is covered so they have a fairly dry place to be in. Do not use chicken wire for your run. Everything will get through it and eat your birds. Use welded wire mesh. It is more expensive but it will keep out the predators. Make sure to cover the top of your run as well because the hawks and owls will also be looking for a free chicken dinner. Plenty of ventilation is important. Here is a pic of my coop and run:

This was when they were babies. I am planning on building a couple more small coops so I can move one of the boys out and start a different breeding quad. I hope this helps.

 

[franstojek]

Thank you madsenaccord for your response and for you photo. I think we will leave the 8x5x6 structure as the run only. We just purchased a chicken coop/little chicken house with perch and nesting box off of Amazon and we will put that in our greenhouse and just keep the greenhouse windows open 24 hours for ventilation. This way they will be locked inside a house inside the greenhouse for extra protection. Construction is not one of our talents. Ideally we wanted the run attached to the coop but since they will free range most of the time hopefully this will not be an issue Oh we live in San Diego so it is warmer than most parts of the country. We have canyons by us but not right next to the house. So I suppose predators are here but not too likely to wander and jump our fenced in backyard hopefully!

 

[franstojek]

So we have built a chicken run and we surprised ourselves it actually looks rather nice. We have decided to go ahead and build our silkies a house/coop next to the run. My boyfriend and I are in disagreement about how big the house/coop should be. We have 12 silkies total. They are babies now so we may not end up with 12 in the end since we can not have roosters. I say the house should be 8x6. (8L/6H.) He says that is too big and 4x6 is plenty. Any suggestions on who is correct?

 

[Blondiechic]

Hello!

I realise this is an older thread, but please could someone let me know these measurements in mtrs?

I just called my husband but he said he doesn't work in feet - and I am not a lateral thinker.

I just got my second Silkie yesterday and they are inside at night and out during the day (fenced area off their aviary) but while I think they have enough room I want to make sure - they live in my back garden while the other 'big girls' free range the whole place...the silkies just don't seem to explore as much - or is that just mine?

Thank you!

 

[Scooter&Suzie]

Hello!

I realise this is an older thread, but please could someone let me know these measurements in mtrs?

I just called my husband but he said he doesn't work in feet - and I am not a lateral thinker.

I just got my second Silkie yesterday and they are inside at night and out during the day (fenced area off their aviary) but while I think they have enough room I want to make sure - they live in my back garden while the other 'big girls' free range the whole place...the silkies just don't seem to explore as much - or is that just mine?

Thank you!

I find that 3 sq. feet per silkie is just about right; they bigger than bantams, but smaller than the normal size. So 1 sq. meter would fit about 3 silkies.

 

[Blondiechic]

Excellent! Thank you - my two are swimming about in space then! I told Sean I could easily have more in there - that was met with a wall of silence! Seriously though I am very happy with my two - they still don't use all their outside area, I have to go and pick them up and plonk them around the side to get them out and about; but they do bathe now though - yeay!