Hello everyone! I wanted to pick your brains on our plans for our chicken space in our back yard.
My husband and I are planning on building a chicken tractor that is 4x7 with a gambrel roof and letting them roam freely for most of the time in a fenced area of our back yard. Overall they would have slightly less than 1/10th of an acre to cluck around in for most of the day with berry bushes, some tall grasses, and hostas.
My first question is, how many birds would fit comfortably in a coop that size? I know the rule of thumb is 4 sqft per full-sized bird, but is there any leeway if they'll just be sleeping and laying in the coop? I'd like to have about 8 chickens eventually (we're starting with 4), so I'm just wondering for future reference if that would be too tight.
Second, we want to have a safe space for our birds when we're away. There's generally someone home, during the day, but when we go on vacation, etc we want an enclosed area so if a neighbor or someone is looking after them they won't need to worry about a chasing after a fence jumper. The area we're looking at is next to our house and has a 25 degree slope. It's about 15' x 5' ft. Is that too high of a slope? Would that space be too small for 8 birds to be confined to 3 to 5 days at a time 4 times per year? Any advice on making it more hospitable when they do have to be confined?
For reference, we're in Minnesota so winters can be cold and snow can be deep. We're getting an Ameraucana, a Wyandotte, an Orpington, and a Plymouth Rock.
I want them to be happy and I'm not going for the "stuff-them-in" method, but I'd like to get enough eggs for a family of five
My husband and I are planning on building a chicken tractor that is 4x7 with a gambrel roof and letting them roam freely for most of the time in a fenced area of our back yard. Overall they would have slightly less than 1/10th of an acre to cluck around in for most of the day with berry bushes, some tall grasses, and hostas.
My first question is, how many birds would fit comfortably in a coop that size? I know the rule of thumb is 4 sqft per full-sized bird, but is there any leeway if they'll just be sleeping and laying in the coop? I'd like to have about 8 chickens eventually (we're starting with 4), so I'm just wondering for future reference if that would be too tight.
Second, we want to have a safe space for our birds when we're away. There's generally someone home, during the day, but when we go on vacation, etc we want an enclosed area so if a neighbor or someone is looking after them they won't need to worry about a chasing after a fence jumper. The area we're looking at is next to our house and has a 25 degree slope. It's about 15' x 5' ft. Is that too high of a slope? Would that space be too small for 8 birds to be confined to 3 to 5 days at a time 4 times per year? Any advice on making it more hospitable when they do have to be confined?
For reference, we're in Minnesota so winters can be cold and snow can be deep. We're getting an Ameraucana, a Wyandotte, an Orpington, and a Plymouth Rock.
I want them to be happy and I'm not going for the "stuff-them-in" method, but I'd like to get enough eggs for a family of five
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