Pen for 8 chickens?

[jenesis536]

For the run/pen area, how big should I make it (ft wide x ft long)? I'm assuming the sq ft per bird does not include the height. Ideally I know the bigger the better, so I'll go as big as I can with the space, but what is the smallest I could go? I would like to find a happy medium for the birds that fits with the space we have. They will be let out of the pen for 3-4 hours per day.

I currently have an 84 sq ft pen for my 5 older girls (they are only 15 weeks right now), but for the most part they don't even use half of it, and when I let them out to roam they don't go more than 20 ft from it. I'm thinking of building a pen adjacent to theirs that I can open and close a small door between the two after I introduce the babies in a couple of months, that way I can keep them separate or open it up if they end up getting along.

How big should I make the new pen? Or for all 13, what should the total size be?

Thank you!

 

[Pequena Bandada]

Ideally, you'd have at least 130 square feet in a run (pen) for 13 chickens. That would be 10 feet by 13 feet. If you already have have an 84 sq foot run, then you'd want to add another one that's approximately 50 square feet. Then perhaps swap your babies and older chickens so that the five adults have the 50 sq foot run and the new chickens have the 84 sq feet.

 

[jenesis536]

I didn't even think of swapping the pens, but that might make even better sense with our space. We were struggling a little bit about where to put the new coop since it is wider and longer, but the older hens coop is narrower so we could move that and things would fit better!

Thanks for writing back! I think I can give them a little more room than you mentioned this way, too!