Starter help!!

Date sort Score sort
caleng

caleng

In the Brooder
Feb 1, 2017
5
0
17
Minnesota
Hello BYC Community! I am looking at getting 5 hens for laying eggs and my kids to enjoy!! Super excited!!! Can you tell me roughly how big I should make the Hen House and then how big should the run be?? They will unfortunatly will not be able to be free range chickens however i will let them out for a couple hours a day.
 
caleng said:
Hello BYC Community! I am looking at getting 5 hens for laying eggs and my kids to enjoy!! Super excited!!! Can you tell me roughly how big I should make the Hen House and then how big should the run be?? They will unfortunatly will not be able to be free range chickens however i will let them out for a couple hours a day.
Click to expand...
Are they bantams or large fowl? For large fowl I believe it's 2-4 square feet per bird and 10 square feet per bird of run space. That's not etched in stone though and depends on things like climate, breed, etc. Of course Jersey Giants need more room than Sebrights. Also hatchery chickens are usually a bit smaller than their SOP counterparts. If anything I'd err on the side of the larger end because I know what you're thinking, you're thinking five for now but trust me, you'll have 25 before you know it.
 
welcome-byc.gif
caleng glad you joined Us .Coop size is normally figured by the number of chickens size of chickens and climate . Colder climates larger coops . 4 to 8 square ft floor space per chicken runs as big as you have space for . My coops are 4ft.x5ft. and they roost ten chickens with runs 7ft x 16ft. I let them out to free range as much as possible . where I live they aren't trapped in side by the weather very often at all . smaller coops mean more frequent cleaning though .
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the valueable info!! Im up here in Minnesota so its cold 5months out of the year. So im thinking getting a few rhode island reds. I hear they are good in winter and good with the kiddos!
 
welcome-byc.gif


The bigger you make their coop and run, the happier they will be. Also, it can allow you to add a few more once chicken math hits you, lol.

Good luck to you!
 
For Rhode Island Reds, plan on at least 5 sq ft of coop space per bird and about 12 sq ft of run space per bird. They can be real grumps if too cramped. You can never build too big. Better to have too much space than too little space. Read through the articles in the Learning Center, and pay special attention to coop ventilation.
 
I really disliked my pure breed Rhode Iland Reds. They were very unfriendly, lots of pecking order disputes, and cannabilistic. I got red sex links this time, called Golden stars, and they are really friendly, calm, sweet, great layers all winter. They only had a very light molt. You Should study the breed section here it is very informative. RIR need lots of room in my opinion or they fight.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom