Total square feet/two story coop?

[rino081]

Can I count the "downstairs" portion of my coop as square footage when deciding how many chickens I'm going to keep?

The downstairs is not their run, i built it like that so they can get fresh air on weekends i'm outta town. Otherwise they will have access to a 5x10 run everyday.

The downstairs is also where the feed and water is and they will have access to it 24/7. In my mild climate I figure there is no reason to restrict them to the upstairs only. The coop is secure from predators via harware cloth and a pop door on the side that will be shut every night.

So basically I'm wondering how many chickens can fit comfortably? The coop is 4x3 so that would be 12 sq feet upstairs and another 12 downstairs (if i count that). those figures do not include the nesting boxes which is another 2.5-3 sq ft.

Thank you!

 

[Cara]

I wouldn't put more than 2-3 in it if there's a likelihood of them being confined for a weekend.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Not really. The area where they would have to be in case a severe weather, snow, etc is what is figured into how many chickens you can get. Basicly the space inside the coop.

My total space is 448 sq feet but only 48sq feet of that is coop. Actually 3 coops. That's only 4 chickens per coop even though I have all that room. I push it a bit because we have a good climate and they have access 24/7 to the large runs.

 

[Intheswamp]

What kind of chickens? Large fowl? Banties?

I would say three large fowl at the maximum though that is pushing it. The reason for suggesting three is in case one of them dies there is a pair left to keep each other company.

Ed

 

[rino081]

My chicks should be here tomorrow...I have 11 chicks coming 3 dominques, 3 Red sexlinks, 3 GP Hamburgs and 2 Danish Brown Leghorns. NO i'm not keeping them all. I have two friends with chickens that want the extras if I can't sell them on CL. I'm just trying to figure out how many to keep. None of these are large breed, from what I have read they will all be about 4.5-5.5 lbs at maturity.

Thank you

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Hmmmmmmmmmm My Red sexies are about 6lbs, my black are 8lbs+. Aren't Dominiques the size of Barred Rocks? Those are good sized birds.

I think that coop will hold at them most 4 "standard" size birds.

 

[underground chickenman]

I think you will have problems if you put more than three birds in that coop, and that's counting the run you described. I guess you could try four and if that didn't work, you could get rid of one of them, but then you have a chicken that needs to be introduced somewhere else, which can be a pain. I'd stick with three, tops. As somebody else pointed out, that's pushing it.

UGCM

 

[SandyK]

I say two at the most!! Why build so small??

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
I think I'd go to the Henderson Chicken List or some place like that and see if you can figure out which of your breeds is stated as having the most docile personalities and handles confinement well and go with those. In the room that you are talking about you don't want anything that might cop an attitude.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[rino081]

Quote:
Well cause in the bay area any size-able lot cost a million bucks so I gotta work with what I got, which isn't much. Check out my page it tells the story...

Hmmmmmmmmmm My Red sexies are about 6lbs, my black are 8lbs+. Aren't Dominiques the size of Barred Rocks?

The red sex link maybe get a little larger than I stated. It will be the biggest bird that I have, if I decide to keep that breed. I really to like their laying abilities though.
I want lots of big eggs!


I referred to the henderson chart extensively before ordering it says the the dominique pullets are mostly calm and do well in confinement and max out at 5 lbs etc...

The chicks are en route so I can't really change that nor do I want too, I'm really just looking for opinions on how many I can or should keep considering my coop/run size. I will be giving the majority away or selling. I ordered more than I need for the safety of the chicks. More chicks more heat. Otherwise if i would of ordered the 3 or 4 I need I would of probably gotten extra male chicks to give added warmth during shipping which would of been harder to get rid of. Or I could of lost chicks, ending up with only 1 or 2 and trying to introduce more chicks later.

I do have the ability to choose the exact chicks I wanna keep at the time I decide to thin out the flock. So I think I have quite a bit of flexibility down the road after living with these chicks and getting to know their personalities a little bit. I have enough brooder space to keep these chicks for a while so hopefully the calmer for docile chicks will stand out. That is definitely what I will keep.

Thanks for the opinions!

So far I gather that I should NOT count the downstairs towards the square footage of the coop? is this correct​