The golden question: is my coop too small?

[sunflowerenvy]

i believe your coop is small for 6 hens i would cut a hole in the coop nput the nest boxes out the outside and made it well insulation for the boxes to0 the the square area per chicken in coop is 4ft per stardard bird or 2ft for small birds and in the run it is 10 ft per bird

 

[churchillcoop]

Side boxes!! Yes. Extending the run is racking my brain a bit..any suggestion by anyone? Also here is a very "green" question.. but does every hen need a nesting box? If I have 6 birds do I need 6 boxes? Or can I have say 4 boxes and a roost?

Jeff

 

[PhilErvin]

They will share the nesting boxes. I see up to three girls in one box at once. I guess they think it's a good bet if the other girls are sitting there. Plus, I have always figured it's a guarantee that if you lay with a brooding hen your eggs will guaranteed hatch.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Either three boxes or one long one (community nest).

 

[churchillcoop]

Wow great this will save me lots of floor space in the coop since I now have 6 nesting boxes.. I just took out three of them.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Actually, you could get by with just two because the hens will probably only use two of the three, maybe even just one extra wide one.

 

[denise70]

Jeff - Hi from Meaford!

You are pretty close to me and we will have a similar winter. I am new to this too - I have had my chickens since April as day-olds and they are now 11 weeks. However, my husband is more seasoned having grown up around free range chickens.

You can check out the coop that we just build on my page. It is similar in size to yours 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 run with a raised 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 house. The chicken house is not insulated yet, but I have tried to make use of passive solar by facing windows south and east. Unfortunately that means that in the summer like now, it is blooming hot in the chicken house. It has been 30-35 here all week and my girls have been panting all day. What we did was put in two standard vents (one is seen in my page), plus we added a drop down door above the clean out door.

In the next month we will be insulating, because although like you I was told my barred rocks would be fine in the winter, I am feeling anxious about the below freezing temps. We are going to use ridge foam, cover it with plywood and also use caulking around the windows and cracks. We may move the coop near the house so that we can get to it easier if it snows. Also we are planning on doing the "deep litter" method of litter in the cooler months.

We only have 4 chickens - but my understanding before coming on here was 2-3 sq feet per standard sized bird (from several books I borrowed from University of Guelph) and 6-8 sq feet each in the run. I am not sure where the varying amounts are stemming from (who decided?) so we had intended on 6 hens as well and I built my coop bigger than the playhouse coop design to accommodate the 2 extra (playhouse coop is supposed to be fore 4 birds). I would say that very few pre-built coops follow the 4 sq ft per bird guideline. I think it depends on the chickens and their size too - bantams need less space obviously, and some breeds aren't tolerant of confinement. I also read 1 linear ft per bird on the roost. If that is true then with a 3x4 you would need 2 roosts for 6 chickens (even though they will probably crowd together anyway. ~Denise

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=60638

 

[CityChook]

I know you are planning to free range, but that might change when there's snow on the ground. Chickens are all different, but I'll tell you from experience that my chickens refuse to go outside when it's snowing. And here in MN, that's Oct-April. That's a long time to be confined to the coop when it's tight living. Could be an invitation to feather picking. Also, poo management is tougher when the quarters are smaller as well.

You might want to consider putting plastic up on their run walls to keep the wind and snow out. Put some hay on the ground and maybe they'll be more apt to spend some more time outside when the temperatures dip.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Hi! I'm east of you just north of Belleville. We get a fairly harsh winter here and my girls free range all day long all winter long. We don't have a run at all so we shovel out large areas for them to hang out in. The only days my girls chose not to go out on are the -30 and windy as heck days. On those days I still open the smaller coop door should they decide to go out and many times infact they do go when the wind dies down to hang out with the ducks or sit in the goat shed. I would insulate even if you only use the 1" foam. If anything it'll give you piece of mind!

 

[denise70]

Hi there in Springbrook!

Thanks for sharing about your ladies - I keep wondering what it will be like in the winter with our BRs. It is nice to know that they may still be able to get out and have fun!



Enjoyed seeing your labradoodles too - we have a golden (giant sized though).

~Denise