Square footage

[mendogurl]

I am so bad at math, and I think the guy building my coop might be too :0.

My coop is 8ft wide X 8ft long, and 8ft high.

How many square feet is that? How many chickens could I have in it?

 

[#1California Chick]

OK, only the width and length count. The Height does not count since you are not going to stack your chickens on top of each other!!

We are talking the FLOOR space. So you have 8ft x 8ft. That is 64sq feet! You generally need 4 sq ft per chicken. 64 divided by 4 is 16. This means that you can comfortably house 16 chickens in this coop.

Since I don't know where you live, there are some gotchas's!! If you live where it is very cold and snowy and your chickens will have to spend many days locked up in the coop -- then 16 is probably the maximum that you should put in this coop.

However, if you live in a very warm environment (Southern California and Hawaii!!) and your chickens can get out EVERY day, then you might be able to squeeze in another chicken or two!!

What kind of chickens are you going to get? That might also make a difference. Some chickens do not like being locked up all the time .

Good Luck!!

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

If you decide to purchase 16-18 chickens, make sure you build a large enough run to accomodate them. The run should be approximately 10 sf per chicken (8' x 20' or 10' x 16', etc)

 

[LynneP]

...and remember that if you live in a snow zone you need more square footage for the birds ( about 15 sq ft/bird) for those days when you need to keep them inside. You can increase square footage with platforms, too. We did this. Shown on home page.

 

[mendogurl]

#1California Chick :

OK, only the width and length count. The Height does not count since you are not going to stack your chickens on top of each other!!

We are talking the FLOOR space. So you have 8ft x 8ft. That is 64sq feet! You generally need 4 sq ft per chicken. 64 divided by 4 is 16. This means that you can comfortably house 16 chickens in this coop.

Since I don't know where you live, there are some gotchas's!! If you live where it is very cold and snowy and your chickens will have to spend many days locked up in the coop -- then 16 is probably the maximum that you should put in this coop.

However, if you live in a very warm environment (Southern California and Hawaii!!) and your chickens can get out EVERY day, then you might be able to squeeze in another chicken or two!!

What kind of chickens are you going to get? That might also make a difference. Some chickens do not like being locked up all the time .

Good Luck!!

Okay. It was the height issue that was throwing me. When I calculated cubic feet, it meant my space was waaaayyyy too big. I am in Southern California and am getting 8 chickens next wek.
2-Rhode Island Reds
2-Plymputh Barred
2-Easter Eggers
2-Austrolorps

I picked breeds that had good laying and good temperaments. (hopefully) I have nine and a seven year olds whose job it will be to go get eggs in the morning.
"you mean we have to pick up chicken butts????"​