Square Feet Per Bird- 10' x 10' & 10' x 12'

[PepsNick]

I am so stupid, you know. I can't even find out how to do the math for this, LOL. We're building a coop with the help of some friends, and it will be either 12' x 10' or 10' x 10'. How many birds (LF) could I hold in each?

They will have a very, very large run and will free range every afternoon, plus all day on weekends. That doesn't matter though- I just want to know how many I could keep with the coop floor space rule.

Again, I am SO stupid, when it comes to math. Just FYI.

 

[Noncentzter]

10 x 12 = 120 sf = 30 chickens
10 x 10 = 100 sf = 25 chickens

This is by the 4 sf per bird...

 

[catdaddy66]

If the coop is 10 x 10' it will hold up to 25 large birds; if 12 x 10' it will hold up to 30. Nice Coop!!

 

[PepsNick]

Thanks, you all! I will be opening a thread next month on construction if you'd like to see.

 

[elmo]

Of course, you don't have to put that many birds in a nice, large coop like you're planning. I consider the 4 square feet per bird is just a sort of rule of thumb for the minimum amount of space you should allow for a coop under most circumstances. If you live somewhere with very bad winters and you think your chickens might have to be confined inside the coop for days on end, you probably would want to allow for a larger minimum square footage per bird.

The higher the stocking density of a given space, the more work there's going to be to keep it clean enough for health, odor control, etc.

 

[95yj]

the 4 sqft per bird is a good rule of thumb but i usually play it by ear, start much lower and then you can build up the flock.

 

[PepsNick]

Oh, yeah, I actually wasn't planning to go over a dozen.

 

[OkChickens]

Are you going to have 12 in each coop or 12 over all? What breed or breeds are you going to get? Have fun with the construction!

-Nate

 

[GarlicEater]

I think 12 in my 8X16 coop are about all the chickens I'm gonna need. I'm getting it finished to put a group of 15 in, but a couple are roosters, and a couple of the young ones are roosters. Free ranging does not do well here though - the place is too big, too much a maze of interesting things (from a chicken's perspective, it's a junkyard really) and too many more enticing food sources than chicken feed in a coop. Tons of much more interesting roosting places, too. So mine are just going to stay in the coop. However it's also got a 7ft ceiling and I plan to have it be an interesting place for them to live in, places to perch, interesting leftovers and goodies each day, etc.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
12 in that coop, in four in my current rabbit-hutch coop! The plan is BR's in the rabbit hutch, and my old girls, Delawares and Blue/Spash/Lavender Ameraucanas in the new big coop.

Thanks for asking!