We are planning on building and large coop and run that will be big enough for at least 50 chickens very comfortably.(heritage breeds for meat) The run and everything will be wood and hardware cloth. Preferably a divided run to separate birds if needed. Does anyone have any ideas on something like this? This is what we have so far- I ordered my first 6 chicks at the end of September they are almost 11 weeks now. We bought an already built 4x6 coop with 6 nesting boxes and built a fully enclosed (hardware cloth) run... This is for our laying hens. I will be adding 4 more hens and a rooster in the spring. The girls in their "big girl" coop. After a week I let them go out and explore their run. There is a large field across from us not to far from our barn where we would like to raise our meat chickens. Never done this. So any & all help welcomed! Would like to get 20 Delawares st run. 10 barred rock 10 buckeye 10 black jersey giants. And then will be adding 2 easter eggers, 1 golden buff, 1 golden laced wyandotte and a rooster for the others for my laying coop. Thanks everyone. Oh.. well I guess I should tell you the ones I have since I shared everything else. 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Light Brahma, 1 Cuckoo Maran, 1 Dominique, 1 White Rock, 1 Buff Orphington
I seriously hope that you building a bigger coop if you plan on raising 50 chickens! A 4x6 coop is pretty small for 50 birds As a rule you should allow 4 sq.ft per bird for your coop and and about 10 sq. ft of run for each bird. A 4x6 coop might hold 6 chickens and it could do a few more but I would not push it. The girls will start fighting and hurting each other if you cram them into too small a space. I know that some people will cram birds into a coop at 2 sq ft per bird (12 in the case of your coop size). That is just too small of a coop IMO for that many birds, let alone 50. As far as nesting boxes one per every 3-5 birds is about right. Why on Earth did your builder put 6 nesting boxes into such a small coop? One nest box (two at the most)would have handled a small coop like that with ease. I hope I did not read that right or if I did, please reconsider your plans!
Oh no! Our birds will be comfortable. The 4x6 is for my laying hen I will have 11 chickens in that one. The larger coop and run are going to be for the meat chickens
Take a look in the large coop section on this site. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/large-chicken-coop-designs-pictures-of-chicken-coops
