Tiny Chicken Coops

[The Moonshiner]

I said "to each their own" I'm not judging anyone or what they do. But I can't say I'd be happy seeing 6 birds roosting on a bar big enough for 4. Or 6 birds living full time in a coop that should hold 4.
Maybe I was wrong thinking it would sadden any of us to see that.
I was born in a great country with a lot of wealth but that doesn't mean I have any of it. That's a whole different topic though.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I said "to each their own" I'm not judging anyone or what they do. But I can't say I'd be happy seeing 6 birds roosting on a bar big enough for 4. Or 6 birds living full time in a coop that should hold 4.
Maybe I was wrong thinking it would sadden any of us to see that.
I was born in a great country with a lot of wealth but that doesn't mean I have any of it. That's a whole different topic though.

But who decides the coop is big enough for 4----reality or the Sqft Book/rule?

 

[User395221]

But who decides the coop is big enough for 4----reality or the Sqft Book/rule?

If the birds let everyone up there, and they fit, I'd let them decide whether there was sufficient room. If somebody wasn't allowed up, or they were fighting, then there's really a problem. That's the thing with recommendations and guides - they say "if you do this, you will avoid problems". The chance you'll have fights/issues with trying to scrunch them in is higher, but if they are "cool with it", a deviation (temporary or for financial reasons, or because of inexperience/whatever) isn't worth getting upset about, IMO.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Common sense and the birds themselves.
I have no interest in "the rule" or " what the book says" type of things.
We've both been at this long enough and with enough volume to know those are some guidelines someone decided. And no one asked me my opinion when they were deciding them. Probably didn't ask you either huh?
This thread is so twisted and sideways at this point.
I'm saying if 6 birds are on a roost and one turns its head and that causes 2 to fall of the roost I couldn be excited to see that.
But like I've already said. To each their own. Stack 10 of them up in a pyramid on a roost wide enough for 4 if that's what someone wants its not my concern.

 

[GilligansGirls]

In reading through this thread I wanted to put in a quote from most all y'all. Like most everything on this site I would like To see it be informative, not negative.
This is our first "adventure" into a life with chickens and we used this site as well as the book for trying to figure out what to do. I thought about building a coop but I figured it would be better to get some first hand knowledge first rather than have to tear it down later and build another one. I did not like the quality of the local box store coops so perused the internet and read reviews. And yes the one we got was SMALL! We only have 3 girls, that's what we started out with and they seem very happy. I have had to modify roosts in the coop part as well as the run. When they got bigger I built a bigger run for them. It has a hardware top and a "convertible" hard top for the rainy season and summer heat but can be removed for winter. And now that they are big girls (we just got our first two eggs this AM!) we will let them out to free range.
I never planned on this being a forever home. The run I can use as a tractor and can build a bigger/better coop. Hopefully chickens will be legal where I live then but that is another topic all together! There are absolutely beautiful coops posted here, some I think are bigger and nicer than my first apartment, or would at least qualify for low income housing and probably cost more. I see other coops diving around in the country that are nothing more than a lean-to. But in all of these the chickens seem to be running around doing what Chicken do. Here in south Texas we really don't need much other than protection and shade, but they are still "pets".
So to folks that have small coops because of being misled or just have confined space "Backyard Chickens" you may have to build on. I do think the "industry" is flawed but not all chickens are the same size so before you buy take that into consideration.