Question on the "four foot rule" for coop population

[TammyTX]

I'm in south central Texas and my coop is small (8x16) because the birds stay outside most of the time. I do have a 50x50 chicken yard for them and a smaller 8x16 run planned but not completed. I have 49 six week olds and by the time they are 12 weeks I'll be down to around 35. It's a little tight but works great because the birds only come in to sleep, lay eggs and eat. I even keep their water outside (but not their food).

 

[Zahboo]

Figuring a 10x10 foot coop and guesstimating on the area used for the different "appliances"...

100 square feet (sq ft for 25 chickens)
-4 square feet for four nest boxes
-3 square feet for feeder(s)
-2 square feet for water(s)
-12 square feet (2'x6') for roost/pan area
=========
79 square feet remaining which is enough for 19.75 chickens.

Does this seem right?

Thanks for any feedback!
Ed

Okay.
- Nest boxes in most coops are raised, so they don't take away from the coop floor space
- Yes feeders and waterers should be subtracted from sq footage
- I plan to have my roost pan area raised so that it doesn't take away from sq foot.


But yes you are correct. This is why I am trying to raise above floor level majority of my things. Feeder and waterer can be put in a covered are in the run, everything else can be about 18" off the floor.​

 

[SpringChickens]

It seems to me, also, that the more birds you have, the less room per bird they need. i.e. If I only had two birds, I would feel like they were squished with 8 sq. ft. total, but if I had 1000 birds(!?!), they tend to flock together to some extent anyway, so I could probably get away with less than 4000 sq. feet.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

My chickens walk under the feeder and roosts and nestboxes lol

 

[Chickenmaven]

Quote:
It is easy to explain 19.75!!! According to THE CHICKEN MATH, we get to divide newly hatched chicks by 4 and teen chickens by 2. So, 19.75 is 10 full grown hens and 36 babies or 30 teens and 19 chicks, see?

 

[loverOFchickens]

OK so maybe this is a dumb question.
But what if they can get on top of the nesting boxes?

 

[KattyKillFish]

Quote:
you build the "roof" of the nest boxes at a slant!

then if they try to jump on them they just slide right off.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I think you mean "does that count as extra space"?

Not really.

Chickens are really basically ground-dwelling birds, and they just don't USE raised shelves very much in the normal course of their activities.

If you have a jam-packed coop it can't *hurt* to add raised shelves on the basis of 'any little bit helps' but it should not be treated as extra square footage to the coop when you're figuring how much room you have.

The nestbox roofs can double as droppings boards, though

Pat

 

[rebecca10782]

In my opinion, even four sq ft is nowhere near enough room, unless chickens are let out for at least a few hours a day to run and scratch. I am somewhat new to chickens and I never knew that they run! They have a big yard to free range in all day but the first time I let mine out into the driveway, they ran at top speed back and forth flapping their wings. It is the funniest thing I've ever seen! They were so happy!