New to chickening. What might I be missing?

[neo71665]

More space is always better especially with chicken math. I built a 10’x12’ that is 8’ tall and a 1600 sqft run I thought would by huge. I’m now pushing up against my limit.

Aint that the truth. When I built mine I set it up for 24 birds and I only keep 12.

 

[cmom]

More space is always better especially with chicken math. I built a 10’x12’ that is 8’ tall and a 1600 sqft run I thought would by huge. I’m now pushing up against my limit.

That is good and plenty of space with the addition of a 1600 sq ft pen, that's a good size. Good luck...

 

[Patchgirl]

Do you live in a snowy area? The coop will be to small if they can’t get out and unless I’m missing some framing that tarp isn’t lasting in the winter.

Id add more ventilation at the gable.

Thanks. There’s framing. My husband says it’s enough and with the manageable amount of snow we get we plan to push it off.

It's ok for now but they will need more run space as they get a bit older. It's good that you have another pen for the birds. I also throw scratch in and let them scratch around. Also predator protection. Here is a website that may give you some ideas. Often times several birds will use the same nest box. In most of my coops I have 12"x14" nest boxes but in some I do have one large community nest box. Good luck and have fun...
http://www.poultrydvm.com/featured-infographic/tips-for-protecting-poultry-from-predators

Thanks for the reply. They're only enclosed in that small space for now while they're little to keep the cats from harming them. Otherwise they'll have about 2000 square feet of run space.

 

[Patchgirl]

For the smell in the run- things are getting smelly because the poop is just sitting on top of the ground. Break up that packed dirt with a shovel, pitchfork, garden weasel, that garden tool thing that looks like a claw- whatever you can do so that it's not just hard and packed. I like to add all sorts of stuff to my run- I'd try to find leaf litter, some pine shavings, some loose dirt (I get a bag of the cheapest dirt that I can find at home depot and just dump it in), some wood chips, straw (but not too much), sand, really any loose, organic material- put it all in a giant pile and toss on some scratch, they'll spread it out for you. With a loose litter in the run, it allows the bottom layers to compost as things pile up, and the poop to get buried as they naturally scratch around. This is how I have my run and I never clean it, only add more material or mix it around some, and there isn't an issue with smell.

Oh thanks! This is just what I was looking for and super helpful info.

 

[Patchgirl]

It says that they live in CO, so I'm going to assume that it's a snowy area unless they're in the CO desert.
I agree, the coop is too small for 12 birds, and if the coop is 5x6 (I'm going to assume 6x6 with nest boxes) then the run looks to be about 7x6 or 8x6, which is not enough run for 12 birds either.

Thanks for your reply. Not a lot of snow except in rare instances. The tarp is there now only to keep the chicks dry in rain and then when we hear that it may snow, so that they have a little area to step out into that's not snow covered. We plan to push any significant amount of snow off the tarp as needed.

 

[black_cat]

Thanks. There’s framing. My husband says it’s enough and with the manageable amount of snow we get we plan to push it off.

Thanks for the reply. They're only enclosed in that small space for now while they're little to keep the cats from harming them. Otherwise they'll have about 2000 square feet of run space.

2000 square feet of constant run space, or will they be shut in the current run while you're on vacation, during storms, etc?

 

[Patchgirl]

Do you live in a snowy area? The coop will be to small if they can’t get out and unless I’m missing some framing that tarp isn’t lasting in the winter.

Id add

2000 square feet of constant run space, or will they be shut in the current run while you're on vacation, during storms, etc?

Good point. They’ll always be let out into the whole run unless it’s snowing sideways or something and they choose to stay in. The small closed in area is just temporarily closed in. Super cold/large snow storms do not happen often here and anyway is why I wanted a small covered area where they could come out into without snow. I’ve been told that the coop size is not the best but ok since they have so much constant forage area. I’ll even plow paths for them if we get a large snow. But yeah, we might get a few days in a row of sub zero temps 2 or 3 times a winter. May regret coop size then.

 

[saysfaa]

A 6" circle is 0.19 square feet. An 8 inch circle is 0.35 square feet. From that subtract for the bars of the louver (and the wires of the hardware cloth, if it has any). Two such circles is enough for about a half a chicken at a minimum.

Opening windows will add more ventilation. But, um, hm, chickens don't stop breathing during the storms. They actually need ventilation the most when it is cold (well, or very hot). Dry chickens are ok in cold, even down to 40 below or so. But damp chickens start losing body parts to frost bite at only a few degrees below the freezing point.

Chickens put out a LOT of moisture (more than most other domesticated animals). And it is warm moisture so it rises. But as it rises, it cools. And cooler air can't hold as much moisture. With enough ventilation, this doesn't matter because the moisture is carried away before it cools enough to not hold the moisture. Without enough ventilation, the moisture that the cooling air can't hold settles back down on everything - including the chickens.

Putting the ventilation above the roosts works the best. Putting it below the roosts is better than not putting it anywhere.

 

[saysfaa]

... Otherwise they'll have about 2000 square feet of run space.

At night too?

 

[saysfaa]

You might rethink whether the chicks will ever get big enough to not be harmed by cats. Cats are a bigger threat to chicks but they take adult standard sized chickens also.

I'm really sorry to have so many red flags. I would rather know what they are, though, so I could at least look into them.