Please settle an argument!!

[tigerkitten45]

Hi! I need advice as i am soooo NEW at this! We are converting an old bobhouse we have measuring 4'x8' into my coop for my peeps....i say it needs to be enlarged, hubby says otherwise, they will have a large run besides the coop but we have 3 silkies now("ohmywannahugsqueezesocute!") and have 10 more bantams coming friday from EFowl, then 10 layers coming April8th. Am also worried about putting the bantams and the standards together, as i have heard opinions both ways. We plan at the moment to keep them seperate but it will mean more work to get ready as we will have to fashion a divider for the coop and seperate runs. Need to hear what you oh soOO wise experienced chickie lovers think!!!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Living space needs to be 8 - 10sq ft / standard bird and 4 sq ft / bantam (or so I've read on here)...the run can be a part of that, but you also have to consider that if you ever have harsh weather they will have to be locked up, so for hubby: NO a 4x8 coop is NOT big enough for that many birds. Expand, or build a seperate coop for the standards and use the 4x8 for the banties. Have fun!!

 

[patandchickens]

Good gracious, don't try putting 23 chickens into a 4x8 (32 sq ft) coop unless you live in Maui and they will QUITE LITERALLY be outdoors free-ranging or in a huge run all the daylight hours of all the days of the year, with no bad weather.

At a minimum, you need like 8"+ of roost space per chicken, plus room for them to get up and down from the roosts and not poop on each other, thus you can't realistically fit more than about 16' of total roost length in there AT MAXIMUM, which is scarcely room enough for that number of chickens (and that's IF they all get along spectacularly well, and IF they will spend zero time in the coop except when actually sleeping).

If you are in a climate that gets bad weather or Winter, you should aim for at least 4 sq ft of coop per chicken (could go a little less for bantams), preferably more. Plus ample run space or free-ranging.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

To be perfectly honest, the 4x8 will make an excellent nest box room.
Thats all.
I second all the above remarks.

 

[chicmom]

Hello there!

I also agree that you will need more room....like twice as much for that many chickens. I'm not sure where you live, but if you have harsh winters, where your chickens will be cooped up alot, then if they're too crowded, they get really mean with eachother.....pecking and pulling feathers.......it is NOT pretty.....

Make it BIG BIG BIG as your hubby will make it!

 

[Kittymomma]

You're right. The rule of thumb is 4 square feet per LF inside and 10 square feet outside--1/2 that for the bantams. I only have large fowl so I can't really say how mixing them will work. I know people on here have done it, but I would think it would work better in spacious conditions. When they get too crowded to lower in the pecking order chickens suffer and I think your bantys would get the brunt of that.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while a large run can to some extent off-set a smaller coop that only really works if the run is always usable. If it's not covered they won't want to be out there in bad weather and you will have crowding issues because they'll only be using the coop. If you do go with the smaller coop, but cover the run be sure to pay particular attention to the roosts. There is a lot of pecking that goes on while everyone tries to get the good spots for bedtime so making sure to have enough good roosts is also really important.

ETA:

 

[KKatknap]

I'm with the others. Standard chickens should have 4 sq ft/hen. So 4x8 would house 8 standard chickens comfortably.

 

[tigerkitten45]

Thanks for the answers, i knew i was right! But he sure isn't going to be happy when i tell him we need to keep building

 

[tigerkitten45]

I won, lol! We talked about it and after telling him what you all advised on here, he has agreed to help me extend the coop so that it will be an 8'x8', we have a large area to make into runs, and i would be willing to maybe let them do some free ranging during the day.

 

[bagendhens]

you could build a second house,
put the banties in the 4 x 8...
and build an 8 x 6 (or an 8 x 8 you know "just in case" lol) for your standards