Questions!! Building a new Coop.

[Peneliva]

Hey guys.

So I've experienced chicken math. I had my husband build a cute little tractor when I swore I was only going to get 3 chickens. It was great...Well...

Now I have more babies and I can't part with them so I am having him build me another coop for everyone and we're selling the small coop. (I would keep the other but the area we keep the chookies in is small and can only really handle one coop without looking crappy.)

So I have looked at plans and decided on a 4 foot wide by 12 foot long run with a 4 foot by 4 foot coop that sits on top of the run so that part of the run will be shaded and provide shelter from the rain. I was also going to run branches and stuff to allow areas to fly up to so the chooks can have roosts outside of the coop.

The coop will have 4 laying boxes and 2 roosts.

How many girls can I fit in there comfortably? It's going to be tractor style still...so I need it to be moveable so I can't get much bigger because I'd rather have less chickens that are able to have the best (Fermented feed, all they can eat grass) than have a lot of chickens that have just "ok" living conditions.

Thanks!

 

[1TurkenLover]

Your Sq Ft is about 64, If I did the Chicken math right. . . depends on adult chicken size:
Ours will be medium breeds. I'm new to chickens Sooo still learning.


This is Ours, WA state . Think Hot summer and Winter Rain. . .
Total Area is 5 x 16 that's about 80 sq feet ( NOT counting the 3 x 8 coop run )
Giving 7 sq feet per for a Med Chicken.
Total Med size Chickens 11

OR if you figure Big is better 10ft per adult bird is 8

 

[fiddlebanshee]

The coop portion can fit 4 chickens. 4x4=16 sq ft. Rule inside is 4 sq tt per adult chickens, 2 or 3 sq ft if they are bantams
Outside sq footage rule is 10 sq ft per adult bird, so 4x12=48 fits just about 5.

If the chooks are confined in the coop for any amount of time in the winter you really want to adhere to the 4 sq ft rule so that there is no agrression and feather pecking. Consider making the coop portion 4x8, with a 4x16 run.

my experience with chicken math is to go twice as big as you think you will need.

 

[Peneliva]

I don't know if I could do that and keep it a tractorcoop

The coop portion can fit 4 chickens. 4x4=16 sq ft. Rule inside is 4 sq tt per adult chickens, 2 or 3 sq ft if they are bantams
Outside sq footage rule is 10 sq ft per adult bird, so 4x12=48 fits just about 5.

If the chooks are confined in the coop for any amount of time in the winter you really want to adhere to the 4 sq ft rule so that there is no agrression and feather pecking. Consider making the coop portion 4x8, with a 4x16 run.

my experience with chicken math is to go twice as big as you think you will need.

.