Silkie breeding coop - ideas?

[The Lisser]

I have looked at many of the coop designs here on BYC, and did some searches, but did not find anything specific for a breeding coop - meaning, one that can be divided into sections to accommodate different ages, genders, and colors. I am planning to build a coop and run that I will divide into sections for silkies. I am thinking I will make the coop itself 12' x 16'. I currently have chicks in all standard silkie colors, but will probably just focus on 2 or 3 colors. I am letting them all grow out to see what I've got.

Some specific questions:

How much coop space do silkies need? They are not as small as most bantams, therefore do they need more than 2.5 sq ft per bird?

How high should I make the barrier walls between sections?

I've been told it's better to let the hens live separately from the males except when breeding. So should I have a large female section, a large male section, and perhaps a breeding pen, broody pen, and grow-out pen? So far all but one of my males have been raised together and I am hoping they can live together except when breeding.

Any other ideas are welcomed! TIA!

 

[E.M. Silkies]

Silkies do well in small areas so I don't think you need to stress about having a huge area but I like for mine to be able to stretch their legs. You wont want to have a huge male pen where you put all the roo's as they'll probably fight. But you could do a large pen to keep your hens with several smaller pens around it to put a roo and a couple hens for breeding purposes. And then just leave the roo and turn the girls back out to the big area when your done. If your just going to do three colors, you could do three roo pens and add the hens in there with them when your ready to get eggs from that particular group.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Being in Florida changes how we have to build our pens. We build them for predominantly hot weather and then wrap them in tarps when it gets really cold and windy.

Each of these pens is 5 X 8 and each of them have their own turnout paddock in front of the door. Inside each of the pens is a "condo" that can house the boys at night. We don't leave the boys with the girls 24/7 once they get the hang of breeding and we are getting excellent fertility in the eggs. When we put them up in the late afternoon, we pick the boys up and put them in their condo for night.

Edited to add that the pics were taken before everything was completed. Now there are knee high fences in between each pen to make individual turnout paddocks. We can step over instead of having to go through gates.

 

[The Lisser]

Thanks, 1997 & Three Cedars Silkies! And thanks for the pics, Judy!