Is there anyone out there that has a flock of 70 standard size chickens or more that can give me advice on size and design of a chicken coop to build? My breeds consists of buff orpingtons, black australops, new hampshire reds, barred rocks, rhode island reds delawares and leghorns. If you have any pics of your large coops, I would love to see it your pics.
Cant show you any pitures as I am not on my computer(it crashed) but ours is 12.5 x 24. It is separated into three coops inside each with a door. Attached to it is a 15foot long run It runs the length of the coop and is also broken down into three sections. We used the frame work of an old awning carport for a boat. My son reinforced it with 2 x 4 and built me a beautiful coop. He dug down 2 feet all around the base so nothing could get in. We have added onto it in the back with three breed runs additionally. We have over 100 chickens but they are in more than one coop. Hope this helps
Most of what I read says you should have 2-4 square feet of coop space per chicken. Take that times 70 chickens... 70x2=140 70x4=280 So you'd want a coop between 140 to 280 square feet (I'd strongly suggest something closer to 280). 280 squared is about 16.7 feet so you could build a coop 16x17, 20x14, or any other size that fits your needs and equals the square footage required. No pictures... No coop... No chickens... YET!
we 'refitted" our 14 x 16 outbuilding into a coop-- it now houses 35 standard size gals... along with a few Bantams who will soon have a place of their own... We plan to get more birds-- but also to add more space... They aren't overcrowded, especially with the run open-- but I do not want to add stress by too little space.... figure at least 3 square ft of space per bird--- adding roosts, 2nd levels (wide shelves along a wall) also adds to the "square footage" by adding extra spaces for the birds to roost & rest...
