old poultry book

[greathorse]

All of the above taken as positve comments. LOL. I just think that an author that states 10 sqft per bird may have been misqouted or misprinted. I have an old book that I enjoy, printed in a similar time frame and that author reccomends 3-4 sqft.

I agree the more the better, but still thinking that if you put a hundred birds in a 1000 sqft building they would look a little lost.


I by the way would be more than satisfied with a couple hundred eggs per day from the stuff I raise. I must not have the touch. 30 layers 4 eggs today. I will soon go broke at these rates.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

And who doesn't miss the Outhouse & the button hook?

Why is it that the people who were the most anxious to adopt the emerging science and technology of agriculture were those who were lucky enough to live in the good old days?​

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I've read that. That's a very generous space by today's standards. He was into setting laying records and realized that the least bit of stress was enough to put the birds off lay, so he gave them lots of room.

It really depends upon how you are going to manage them. In our little 8x8 coop in Texas we had fifteen birds and they only used it to lay in the nest boxes or roost at night. They were fed and watered outside and ranged throughout our backyard during the day. We could have easily used it for a lot more birds.

If you need to coop them up for extended period of times, feed and water them inside, plus give them room to scratch around, then the more space the better, but you reach a point of diminishing returns. Unless you have unlimited means, building a 10x10 coop for 10 birds, or a 20x20 coop for 40 birds is bordering on foolish.

Right now I'm keeping 2500 birds in a 4600 sq ft layer barn. It meets the fairly high standards of our organic co-op and American Humane standards, but it's fairly intensive management in the winter when they don't go outside. They spread themselves out between the nest boxes, waterers, feeders, and scratch areas. At night they naturally cluster on the roosts and you wouldn't believe the space that 2500 birds can fit themselves into. I'd say they only cover about 600 sq ft of the roost space leaving half of the roost space empty.

With all that being said, I'd say 4-5 sq ft for birds that need to be cooped up strikes a good balance between economical and manageable for hobby birds.

 

[pixie74943]

When I was building/planning everyone I asked said that you should have 4sq feet inside the coop and 10sq feet outside as the minimum... So I think most people do it.. although I also remember alot of threads of people saying they built to this recommendation and are now convinced it's too small!!!

Personally.. I take it as a minimum and am constantly badgering my dad to let me build an extension or two

 

[DIMBY]

I guess I do. I have 8 hens in 100 sq ft of run, and they roam in the back yard all day, about 2200 sq ft. I agree with al6517, they do seem very happy and healthy. When I started, I do remember reading somewhere about the 10 sq dt thing per hen, just can't remember where.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

The author was specifically talking about inside space at 10 sq ft (he said he sometimes doubled that) for birds that didn't have access to the outdoors. He said you could get by with much less if the coop was kept clean and the birds were allowed out on nice days.

 

[greathorse]

sounds like you have a commercial laying operation. Congrats on organic egg layers. How many eggs per year do you hens average if I may ask?

What is the rate at which they in general need to lay to be considered profitable? I hope I am not hijacking or prying. Just intersted.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

greathorse, I sent you a PM

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
There was also, I gather, a period when the fashion was to keep coops tightly closed and nearly-unventilated. As we might, in hindsight, imagine

they discovered that you had to put fewer chickens in a given amount of space when you do that. And 10 sq ft per chicken is a number often cited in conjunction with that type management style.

Basically there are a lot of different conditions under which you can keep chickens alive and reasonably healthy

Pat

 

[Judy]

How about 87.12 sq ft per bird?!!! Of course that is outdoor space. You might find this thread interesting:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=183795&p=1

My flock of 20 has about 4 sq ft of coop space but a large fenced yard is available to them which provides about 280 sq ft per chicken (it is about 75' X 75'.) Because the yard is so large, a lot of greenery continues to grow in it.

I do agree that the 10 sq ft refers to chickens kept solely or mostly indoors.