Square footage for chickens?

[aatx]

The more space per bird you have in the coop, the better you will be. Less space leads to all sorts of problems - behavioral, waste buildup, spread of disease/pest, etc. You have 23 birds now, and 17 of them are only 5 weeks old. Big size difference between a 5 week old and a full grown chicken. You are at about 2.75 sq ft per bird.

A removable roost is normally done so that you can remove it to clean under it. Are you suggesting you are going to do something where you remove the roosts each morning and put them back in each afternoon?

 

[wwarren8200]

It would be permanent but I'd be able to clean it. What he had was 2 2 by 4's that went at a 45 degree angle about 6 feet in the air and had 5 roosts for it. The roost was 4 feet wide. Directly adjacent he had 24 nesting boxes. Would that work well? His chickens (and mine) seem to gravitate more towards the run than the coop most of the year unless it gets below 30 outside or is windy/stormy

 

[aart]

You can squeeze them into a coop/run with minimum space requirements(the 4/10 thing) and it can work great.....
......until it doesn't. When the tipping point is hit, it can hit fast and hard... with rather unpleasant results.

But the risk is up to you, you're the keeper and what is acceptable to one keeper is not acceptable to another.

IMO the more room the better.....down the road you may need to split your coop and run to integrate more chickens, having that option saved me a lot of grief a couple times.

'Extra' height in a coop is very good for ventilation up high where it does the most good. You can work out a better 'stack' with a taller coop....nest boxes off the floor to get more floor space, roosts a foot above nests so they don't roost(and poop) in nests and still have lots of head room above roosts too offer plenty of ventilation without drafts on the roost area.

I have a roost board that offers a place to hang out when the weather keeps them cooped up and can put the hanging feeder underneath. But they have to be able to get down from roosts without crashing into something and ramps can take up space.

Since you already have the 8x8 coop, I suggest that you keep your flock small for the first year until you get some experience with tending them and watching their behaviors.

There's a link to a great article about space for chickens in my signature just below this post....click the bold blue text below.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with AArt. The numbers game, is a game. What comes down to is the tension in your flock. If you are new to chickens, you might not pick up on it, until it is gone. The first or second year, I got a little carried away with the numbers. And I had a predator help me out...Ugh! But all at once, I realized that the flock was much more happy and content, with a smaller group, I am not quite sure how to explain it, but you could feel their relaxation. They lay better when they are given enough space.

You cannot just wish everyone will get along.

Mrs K

 

[teach1rusl]

Thanks. I'll probably do a removable roost for them. I saw a guy on YouTube who had 40 chickens and had the same coop and run dimensions I had and he build a big roost in the coop along with two dozen nesting boxes and they had plenty of space. Would you consider doing something like that?

Well technically, with enough roosts, you could probably cram at least 64 birds in there, since that's what commercial poultry houses usually do. But your question stipulated "comfortably." Most folks recommend 4 sq. ft per bird for comfort...more space = less squabbling. The least I've heard of from backyard chicken keepers (who generally want more for their birds than factory farms offer) is 2 sq. ft per bird. Since you're in AL and will most likely have mild winters, then you could probably get by with 2 sq. ft of indoor space. But watch your birds closely for feather picking, etc...as less space means more behavioral issues and typically more (bad) health issues...

 

[wwarren8200]

Well technically, with enough roosts, you could probably cram at least 64 birds in there, since that's what commercial poultry houses usually do.  But your question stipulated "comfortably."  Most folks recommend 4 sq. ft per bird for comfort...more space = less squabbling.  The least I've heard of from backyard chicken keepers (who generally want more for their birds than factory farms offer) is 2 sq. ft per bird.  Since you're in AL and will most likely have mild winters, then you could probably get by with 2 sq. ft of indoor space.  But watch your birds closely for feather picking, etc...as less space means more behavioral issues and typically more (bad) health issues...

I agree with AArt. The numbers game, is a game. What comes down to is the tension in your flock. If you are new to chickens, you might not pick up on it, until it is gone. The first or second year, I got a little carried away with the numbers. And I had a predator help me out...Ugh! But all at once, I realized that the flock was much more happy and content, with a smaller group, I am not quite sure how to explain it, but you could feel their relaxation. They lay better when they are given enough space.

You cannot just wish everyone will get along.

Mrs K

You can squeeze them into a coop/run with minimum space requirements(the 4/10 thing) and it can work great.....
......until it doesn't. When the tipping point is hit, it can hit fast and hard... with rather unpleasant results.

But the risk is up to you, you're the keeper and what is acceptable to one keeper is not acceptable to another.

IMO the more room the better.....down the road you may need to split your coop and run to integrate more chickens, having that option saved me a lot of grief a couple times.

'Extra' height in a coop is very good for ventilation up high where it does the most good. You can work out a better 'stack' with a taller coop....nest boxes off the floor to get more floor space, roosts a foot above nests so they don't roost(and poop) in nests and still have lots of head room above roosts too offer plenty of ventilation without drafts on the roost area. 

I have a roost board that offers a place to hang out when the weather keeps them cooped up and can put the hanging feeder underneath. But they have to be able to get down from roosts without crashing into something and ramps can take up space.

Since you already have the 8x8 coop, I suggest that you keep your flock small for the first year until you get some experience with tending them and watching their behaviors.

There's a link to a great article about space for chickens in my signature just below this post....click the bold blue text below.

Thank you. That's good info. My chickens have never pecked or fought except when they first started laying to establish a pecking order. They do great with smaller/younger birds and new birds. The ceiling is very high and yes our winters are pretty mild so I may keep it at about 2.5-3 sq feet per bird.

 

[wwarren8200]

I'm going to see how tall the coop is. How would you go about putting up enough roosting space?

 

[Mrs. K]

I made a major change in my own roosting, mostly from accident, but it has made a HUGE difference in my coop.

I lowered the roost so that there was approximately 12-15 inches of space above the chickens head while on the roost, and I moved the roost away from the wall. This keeps the whole area much cleaner, much dryer and my birds much warmer.

I think when people think of ventilation, they think of openings to the outside, but it also needs to be space around the bird. In my own set up, for years, the birds were close to the ceiling and close to the wall. In the winter the poo would pile up and freeze against the wall. I cleaned it frequently, but it was a major source of moisture in my coop. I just went down today to clean things out and add fresh hay, but really, while there was a lot of dust, feathers and dander, it was not damp.

So my advice is measure out from the walls and down from the ceiling close to 25 inches.

Mrs K

 

[wwarren8200]

Thanks a ton! Very helpful. Do you use wooden dowel rods or two by fours?

 

[teach1rusl]

One way to add roost space is to do stair step type roosts. For example, a three step roost: the lowest roost may run your 8 ft. length, three ft. off the wall, and only 18-24 inches high. The next step is two ft. off the wall and 30-36 inches high. And the highest roost would be a foot off the wall, but 42-48 inches high. This is a way of maximizing space without birds crapping on one another while roosting...

Many in my flock don't do well with high roosts, they're just too big bodied. So you will want to add runged ramps or chicken ladders if your have fat girl hens and your roosts are more than 30 inches or so high. Ramps/ladders can help prevent leg injuries from the big ones jumping down too. My lighter bodied hens (And., EE, BR and my bantam breeds) have no problems getting up high...but my buff orps struggle.

Oh, and I use 2x3s and 2x4s as roosts in all of my coops, even for my bantams...