Sq ft chicken questions

[asthrngal89]

They rarely stay in the coop unless they are roosted I leave the door open so they can do as they please

 

[asthrngal89]

 

[junebuggena]

As I stated, you can get away with having a coop a bit too small as long as you make up the space in the run. Your setup has a coop that's a bit too small and a run that is way too small. Also, don't leave that window open overnight. Raccoons will shred that chicken wire. You'll need some ventilation near the roof line to vent the ammonia that builds up overnight.

 

[asthrngal89]

 

[asthrngal89]

Thanks guys I'll try to improve I got this tractor from a man that used to raise chickens...I'm just starting out. I had to rebuild the entire thing except the bones of it was rotted OSB board so it was a fixer upper

 

[asthrngal89]

before pic

 

[eviemethugh]

That's fine for the run....but how big is the coop itself?

2sqft is minimum for commercial operations, BYCer's usually are trying to improve upon that.
IMO 4-6sqft is minimum in a coop....especially if in a cold climate where day may be spent inside coop.

I didn't spend enough time searching to find every single usda fact sheet and my god I even had to read the minutes from a meeting they had last year...so here you go:
2square feet is the minimum requirement for ORGANIC broilers. 1 foot of indoor space and 1 foot of outdoor space.
"Normal" chickens are not nearly as lucky
Regular egg layers are allowed as little as 67 square INCHES per bird. That is less than half a square foot. Not even enough to move. In college I helped friends whose parents have operations like this, and every day starts with "sweeping" the chickens to find the dead ones. They lay their eggs on slanted floors that lead to conveyor belts, you turn those on and stand at the end to collect eggs. I SO wish I could have found the requirements for regular broilers, laying hens are usually afforded better conditions as they spend 18 months in them than 8 week old broilers.

Don't get snippy with me, like my poor chickens suffered in the space I gave them. yes, setting a limit to space feels cruel, no amount ever seems like enough, some of our chickens have thousands of square feet for a flock of 16, they stay in two small family units all the live long day on top of each other. God. I'm glad your chickens are such speshul snowflakes. Clearly elite and better off than mine.

 

[rides2far]

Nice job redoing the coop what a difference!