I have a pen that is 5 ft. by 10 ft. (outside part). How many chickens can roam in there? I only want a few right now and will be building a bigger pen later.
It depends on what size/breed you are getting and if they will be roos and hens or just all of one sex? Stacy
You have to figure about 4 sq. ft. per bird so you have about 50 sq. ft. I would say about 8 or nine not more. I have 5 girls in my 100 sq ft and they look nice.
Is this the total space they'll have available? To minimize picking, cannibalism, etc the conventional answer around here is to provide something like 10 sq ft outdoors (~13-14 sq feet total of indoors and outdoors) space per bird, so you're looking at something like 4-5 chickens before they start feeling real crowded. Fewer (that is, more space per chicken) is always better, except inside the coop in extremely cold winter areas where more space is *still* prolly better but you may need a way of blocking some of it off during the coldest weather. Hope this helps, Pat
I'm going to get 2 hens and a rooster to start off. I'm going to build a coop that will be outside the pen. It will be 5 ft by 5ft. If I decide to get more then I'm going to build a 20 by 20 run and a 10 by 10 coop..This will be my first time having chickens.