Size for 16 chickens?

[kara_leigh]

I read somewhere, but can't find it, how many square feet you need per bird...or is it cubic feet? I can't remember. We plan to have 12 chickens, but planning for chicken math, my husband wants to build a coop for 16. What is the smallest amount of space we would need? (not saying we're going to make it that small, my husband just wants a starting point). How many nesting boxes would we need? Not all of our chickens will be layers, only a few will (maybe 4 or 5?). Thanks!!

 

[stellacat]

2-3 sq. ft. per bird, 2-3 hens can share a nest. For 12 chickens you would want at least 24 sq. ft. of floor space with probably 6 nest boxes. For the chicken run probably 4-6 sq. ft. per bird.

 

[Donner]

The standard answer is:

Coop and Run.
4 sqft per chicken of coop + 10 sqft per chicken of run.

Coop only
10 sqft per chicken.

 

[kara_leigh]

Oh, my chickens free range during the day so I don't know if that makes a difference. Eventually they will have a covered run for when we have to go out of town or will be gone for a long period during the day. Normally I'm here during the day so I can keep an eye on them, but I won't expect that from our neighbor who will most likely be the one to take care of them while we are out of town.