Questions about Run/Coop space

[Melky]

Ok everyone, I have read TONS and I see generally speaking, that you should allow 4sqft per bird when building a coop. I have some mixed feelings about that. I currently have this coop set up from cconlyView attachment 1066440

bought these because they looked so good! Sadly, they are not at all practical and other then the fact that they look really nice, I hate them! LOL So....on to a real build.

Anyway, this set up is for 9 hens according to the site. I know a lot of people would argue it is too small for 9, but I had 11 in it without any issues until the larger birds started picking on my silkies and polish so I separated them, leaving 7 in this coop/run set up.

this has 4 roosting bars, and they are barely off the floor in the coop. I do not like that along with many things about this set up. But, all the birds seem to just squeeze together. they have PLENTY of space in that coop to all spread out, but they do not. they practically sleep on top of one another.

with that being said, I'm going to build a new coop/run. The hen house will be 8x8x8 and the run will be 16x8x6 (L x W x H) if I'm completely ignoring the run area, and I use 4 sift per bird as my bench mark...that would mean I have room for 16 birds if I'm using 8x8 to calculate square footage (although this isn't accounting for the 8ft height so in theory, I should have even more "sqft" to work with)...I would like to put 25 birds in this space...what do you think? in the run alone, they would have just a little over 5 square feet per bird. They will get some limited free range, every other day.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Steve

I think you will find it feels a little cramped if less than 10 sq ft per bird in run and 4 sq ft per bird in the house. If you have the space more is usually better. This helps to prevent squabbles in pecking order and provides good ventilation to prevent spread of disease. I just read an article today that recommends 10-15 sq ft per bird in the run. Good Luck!

 

[aart]

I think you will find it feels a little cramped if less than 10 sq ft per bird in run and 4 sq ft per bird in the house. If you have the space more is usually better. This helps to prevent squabbles in pecking order and provides good ventilation to prevent spread of disease. I just read an article today that recommends 10-15 sq ft per bird in the run. Good Luck!

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