Soon to be Chicken Owner

[michael0641]

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.

 

[hazelton farms]

It depends on what size/breed you are getting and if they will be roos and hens or just all of one sex?

Stacy

 

[michael0641]

I was going to get 2 or 3 hens and a rooster..Buff Orpingtons

 

[Churkenduse]

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.

 

[patandchickens]

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

 

[michael0641]

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.