To many for 6x8 coop?

[Emma Miriam]

A 6x8 coop should really only hold 12 hens, 15 at most...so perhaps you could do a little coop addition. 8x8 would be the absolute minimum I'd go with for that many hens...and if you're adding, you might as well go bigger! 8x10 would be a good size.

Your coop looks nice, though. Ideally you should have 1 foot of roost space per chicken: in cold weather they'll huddle, but they like to spread out in warm weather. If you don't have super hot weather where you live, 8" per bird is fine. And yes, 1 foot from the wall is typically fine Also, make sure your roosts are 2 feet below your upper ventilation: you don't want breezes blowing on roosting chickens. So I wouldn't have your roosts any higher than 4 feet off the floor. How high are they currently?

You said you have two 4x8 yards for the chickens to roam all the time. Are they predator-proof? Do you close the door to the coop every night? Could you describe that setup a bit more? Also, do you ever let the chickens roam freely around the entire yard, or are they always in the coop/run?

 

[aart]

They need the one foot of roost length per bird to get all settled in, roosting time is pecking order time.

What is your climate?
Putting your location in your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

 

[crealbilly]

A 6x8 coop should really only hold 12 hens, 15 at most...so perhaps you could do a little coop addition. 8x8 would be the absolute minimum I'd go with for that many hens...and if you're adding, you might as well go bigger! 8x10 would be a good size.

Your coop looks nice, though. Ideally you should have 1 foot of roost space per chicken: in cold weather they'll huddle, but they like to spread out in warm weather. If you don't have super hot weather where you live, 8" per bird is fine. And yes, 1 foot from the wall is typically fine Also, make sure your roosts are 2 feet below your upper ventilation: you don't want breezes blowing on roosting chickens. So I wouldn't have your roosts any higher than 4 feet off the floor. How high are they currently?

You said you have two 4x8 yards for the chickens to roam all the time. Are they predator-proof? Do you close the door to the coop every night? Could you describe that setup a bit more? Also, do you ever let the chickens roam freely around the entire yard, or are they always in the coop/run?

Hi Emma Thanks they have a 50 foot x 100 foot 6' high fenced in yard/run I put two 4 foot x 8 foot shelters leanto's out there so the can get out of the sun/rain if the have too. There are 3 runs of electric fence wire @ 1 foot 2 foot and 4 foot off the ground. The electric fence charger is always on so it's pretty much predator proof, with the exception of hawks but I have not had any problems with hawks yet.

 

[crealbilly]

They need the one foot of roost length per bird to get all settled in, roosting time is pecking order time.

What is your climate?
Putting your location in your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

Hey Art I'm in southern illinois, I'll see what I can do about adding my location to my profile. But I have my doubts... I mean I can't even figure out how to unsubscribe to threads that I never subscribed too in the first place.

 

[21hens-incharge]

To add your location you can go to the "my profile" tab at the top of the page far right. It gives an option to edit your profile there.

To unsubscribe to threads you can edit subscriptions in your "subscriptions" tab in the bar below the "my profile" tab.

I hope that helps some.

As to the coop size I would agree with what others have posted that you need more space for that many birds. I have found that mine would fight once they were a bit older. It seems like the poor hen on the bottom of the pecking order can be singled out pretty easily and bullied by many. It can be bloody and brutal.

Just wondering with the roosts so high how do they get up and down without banging into walls?

My big birds (Brahma) need more space and I find 18 inches from the wall to help cut down on poo on the walls.

I would double your coop space if you can. Funny how the young ones do the "lets all be together, safety in numbers" thing then when they are older they are all "Get out of my face" at each other.

 

[Blooie]

Another easy way to unsubscribe is when you click on the subscriptions number that comes up and you get the list of active subscriptions, you'll see a little red x. Click that and it will ask you if you really, really I mean really truly want to unsubscribe.

I find that easier than going through the entire list of everything I've ever subscribed to under my profile. You are automatically subscribed to a thread if you post a reply or give a post a Thumbs up, which is probably why you are seeing subscriptions you didn't think you'd subscribed to.

 

[crealbilly]

To add your location you can go to the "my profile" tab at the top of the page far right. It gives an option to edit your profile there.

To unsubscribe to threads you can edit subscriptions in your "subscriptions" tab in the bar below the "my profile" tab.

I hope that helps some.

As to the coop size I would agree with what others have posted that you need more space for that many birds. I have found that mine would fight once they were a bit older. It seems like the poor hen on the bottom of the pecking order can be singled out pretty easily and bullied by many. It can be bloody and brutal.

Just wondering with the roosts so high how do they get up and down without banging into walls?

My big birds (Brahma) need more space and I find 18 inches from the wall to help cut down on poo on the walls.

I would double your coop space if you can. Funny how the young ones do the "lets all be together, safety in numbers" thing then when they are older they are all "Get out of my face" at each other.

I decided instead of moving a wall, I'm just going to butcher 5 of the hens when I butcher the turkeys in a few weeks (after the first frost). After all that why I went with dual purpose hens to begin with. They are food not pets

They fly right up to the roost from another 1x12 roost I have that about 3' (foot) off the coop floor. Surprisingly the turkeys do the exact same thing their box is the same height as the 1x4 roost. I put the lower roost above the PVC pipe nipple waterer so they would not poop all over the pipe.

Here are pics from the beginning of July, I since added another length of 1x12 over the top.

Whoever came up with the PVC pipe nipple waterer was a smart person mine holds a little over 4 gallons of water. They always drink clean water no chance for them to poo poo in this one.

I wanted to add that I got 17 eggs today from 17 hens all the eggs were in the nest boxes they use all 6 boxes. They had been laying 13 to 15 a day. This is the first 17 egg day.

 

[crealbilly]

Another easy way to unsubscribe is when you click on the subscriptions number that comes up and you get the list of active subscriptions, you'll see a little red x.  Click that and it will ask you if you really, really I mean really truly want to unsubscribe.   I find that easier than going through the entire list of everything I've ever subscribed to under my profile.  You are automatically subscribed to a thread if you post a reply or give a post a Thumbs up, which is probably why you are seeing subscriptions you didn't think you'd subscribed to.

Thank you umbs_up I'm just not seeing any of this that your speaking of. I know its my fault that I'm accessing BYC on a Android/chrome "smartphone" <--- not really smart don't be fooled

I guess I'll have to jump on my Linux Server/Firefox and do some tweaking of my profile.

Thanks

 

[aart]

Quote: Yeah, mobile apps seem to lack much, probably something about that in the Forum Info/FAQ forum.....love my laptop.

 

[Emma Miriam]

Hi Emma Thanks they have a 50 foot x 100 foot 6' high fenced in yard/run I put two 4 foot x 8 foot shelters leanto's out there so the can get out of the sun/rain if the have too. There are 3 runs of electric fence wire @ 1 foot 2 foot and 4 foot off the ground. The electric fence charger is always on so it's pretty much predator proof, with the exception of hawks but I have not had any problems with hawks yet.

Oh, then you've got LOTS of outdoor space! That's awesome. Then all you need to worry about is coop space

I decided instead of moving a wall, I'm just going to butcher 5 of the hens when I butcher the turkeys in a few weeks (after the first frost). After all that why I went with dual purpose hens to begin with. They are food not pets

OK, so you'd have 12 hens after that? That would be perfect. And then you'd have enough roost space too, I think.

They fly right up to the roost from another 1x12 roost I have that about 3' (foot) off the coop floor. Surprisingly the turkeys do the exact same thing their box is the same height as the 1x4 roost. I put the lower roost above the PVC pipe nipple waterer so they would not poop all over the pipe.

So how high is the highest roost? I'm just curious

I wanted to add that I got 17 eggs today from 17 hens all the eggs were in the nest boxes they use all 6 boxes. They had been laying 13 to 15 a day. This is the first 17 egg day.

That's awesome! Congrats! Can't wait for mine to start laying, still got a few months to go...