Need to know if we have room for more chickens.

[colincrompton]

Okay so we have 5 chickens right now, we used to have 6 but our 6th one was a roo and thus made a magical journey to the stewpot. We want to have at least 6 chickens though. We have enough interior room for 6 chickens with 3 nesting boxes. And we have enough exterior run room for much more then 6. We also free range them almost every day (we never let them free range if we're gone.) As I said, we want more chickens, However we can't just raise a single chick and would need to have two before we introduce them to the rest of the flock, can we have 1 chicken more then the ideal interior square footage per a chicken if we free range them every day?

 

[CrazyChookLady5]

i reckon you could add a few more chooks!

 

[HS Pye]

Hi,

From what it sounds like, you could put in a couple more chickens.

HS Pye

 

[colincrompton]

Chooks?

 

[CrazyChookLady5]

are you saying that to me??

 

[HS Pye]

Chooks = Chickens.

HS Pye

 

[3riverschick]

Okay so we have 5 chickens right now, we used to have 6 but our 6th one was a roo and thus made a magical journey to the stewpot. We want to have at least 6 chickens though. We have enough interior room for 6 chickens with 3 nesting boxes. And we have enough exterior run room for much more then 6. We also free range them almost every day (we never let them free range if we're gone.) As I said, we want more chickens, However we can't just raise a single chick and would need to have two before we introduce them to the rest of the flock, can we have 1 chicken more then the ideal interior square footage per a chicken if we free range them every day?

Yes. You are in Santa Rosa and don't need to worry bout your birds being
cooped 24/7 due to foul weather ( i.e. winter). You can keep them at
3 sq. ft. each per adult large fowl inside with no problem. Personally,
I would not include the sq. ft. of the nest boxes when computing area.
Best,
Karen

 

[colincrompton]

yeah I'm saying that to you Chloe Adler. I realized you meant chickens, sorry XD

 

[CrazyChookLady5]

that all right,

 

[cafarmgirl]

I guess before answering that question it would be best to know what size your coop is. It's always hard integrating new birds into a small flock and a small coop makes it that much harder. They may be out during the day but they still have to come in to roost at night. I live in CA too and that means that my birds are indeed out much of the time but I still do not want to overcrowd them in the coop at night. And in stormy, wet, windy weather they do choose to spend more time in their coops.