Updated7,1 2011 How many chickens fit in 10x12 coop/stall?

[GhostRider65]

Ok my refurbished horse stall is now a chicken coop, it measures 10 feet by 12 feet, I have read 3 feet per bird so this means I can reasonably keep 40? chickens in there, it don't seem big enough for 40 chickens, I will have 42 for awhile unill roosters are ready to go to freezer camp, which should be in September. but untill then will they be alright in such a small space? There's a nest box of 6 in there a large feeder, roosts, and a large water-er........seems crowded to me, they also have an enclosed run being built but not done we just got done leveling the area which is set up like this

Please help me figure out something..........or will this work?

 

[perchie.girl]

Nice sketch....

4 square foot space per chicken in the coop
10 square foot space per chicken in the run

The coop space you have is: 10 x 12 is 120 square feet divided by 4 is 30 chickens. If you are growing them out till the roosters are ready for freezer camp In my opinion it should be fine with forty +-.

The run space by the pop door is: 16 x 35 which is 560 square feet divide by ten is 56 chickens.

Six nest boxes should be fine. One box for five chickens six times five is thirty. But then they usually stand in line for the "Good box" LOL.

I think you are good to go....

By the way I Wanna Garage to put MY box stalls in.... Deep Deep garage envy here.

 

[OkChickens]

That sketch looks great! Yes 40 can work with that big run area. What kind of weather do you have there?

Nate

 

[GhostRider65]

OKChickens

Summers are super hot and muggy, ranging from 80 to 100 July and August, this year has so far been cool be have hit 70 a couple times but nights are still 40's,
Winter is ridiculous here, cold and snowy usually it's 10 degrees but we get 60 below with the wind chills, and it's always windy here in the middle of nowhere so that 10 is most days 20 to 30 below. and snow has been heavy the last couple years 96 inches or better. We been having strange weather the last 3 years rainy summers super cold and snowy winters.

perchie.girl

My husband would say it's a pain using my garage, that's his work space and a lot of our animals are taking up huge amounts of room, but until we can move to a place with more land of our own it will have to do, I don't have room or money to build a big barn for all the critters I want. We have 3/4 of an acre on a corner, and I rent 3 acres for pasture for the horses, but can't build on rented land and even if I canceled the garden I don't think that spot is big enough for the size barn I need. I really want a bigger garage hehe and so does my hubby Lol it's a 3 car garage but set up funny or it still would be a 2 car but right now it's actually a 1 1/2 with only 1 drive in bay 9x8, so the 1/2 is storage in the winter for the rider, bike and 4 wheeler. plus all of Adams tools and hoists and stuff. He really isn't happy about it he went from having a huge 26x35 space to about 13x26 LOL if he's lucky the chimney is also taking up a 2x2 square of his part. Thanks for the help guys......​

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Summers are super hot and muggy, ranging from 80 to 100 July and August, this year has so far been cool be have hit 70 a couple times but nights are still 40's,
Winter is ridiculous here, cold and snowy usually it's 10 degrees but we get 60 below with the wind chills, and it's always windy here in the middle of nowhere so that 10 is most days 20 to 30 below. and snow has been heavy the last couple years 96 inches or better. We been having strange weather the last 3 years rainy summers super cold and snowy winters.

perchie.girl

My husband would say it's a pain using my garage, that's his work space and a lot of our animals are taking up huge amounts of room, but until we can move to a place with more land of our own it will have to do, I don't have room or money to build a big barn for all the critters I want. We have 3/4 of an acre on a corner, and I rent 3 acres for pasture for the horses, but can't build on rented land and even if I canceled the garden I don't think that spot is big enough for the size barn I need. I really want a bigger garage hehe and so does my hubby Lol it's a 3 car garage but set up funny or it still would be a 2 car but right now it's actually a 1 1/2 with only 1 drive in bay 9x8, so the 1/2 is storage in the winter for the rider, bike and 4 wheeler. plus all of Adams tools and hoists and stuff. He really isn't happy about it he went from having a huge 26x35 space to about 13x26 LOL if he's lucky the chimney is also taking up a 2x2 square of his part. Thanks for the help guys......​

LOL... I have eighteen acres. Cant afford the garage/barn. Really don't need the garage for vehicles. But I like roll up doors for a barn because they are secure. Here in the desert Shade and ventilation is EVERYTHING. My dream is a garage style structure with roll up doors on both sides for a barn.

 

[OkChickens]

I would not recommend that quantity of birds in a room that size with the winters that you all have. Are your runs outside covered? It not imagine if there is 3 ft of snow outside and 40 birds are stuck in a 10x12 space which is 3sq ft. I know that winters up north can be cold and long sometimes. The birds will probably get bored and start plucking feathers. I would consider making a covered run for them to increase there floor space during bad weather.

Nate

 

[GhostRider65]

Quote:
Thanks Nate
I plan to cover at least part of the run and put up wind breaks north and west sides with heavy tarps, as we do for the horses every fall, my hubby also keeps the runs for the horses open by plowing them, but this last winter we got so much snow at once and it drifted so fast and furious they spent half the winter in their 20 x 40 paddock, because the drifts were 5 feet deep, even Jack my 16'2 hand Standardbred couldn't get around in drifts that big,
If I have too I will open the garage to them and just cover what I don't want them poopin on. I've planted lots of stuff for them in their very own chicky garden, so cabbage kale, foxtail millet,corn, mangel beets, chick weed and apples, raspberries,strawberries, grapes will have to keep them occupied if it gets too bad outside. Any other suggestions on keeping them from getting bored over the winter?? I try to plan ahead for stuff like this so any suggestions now would keep me busy while the weather is warm. BTW my garage is insulated well, and even with the big stall open facing south and the 2 long windows cracked it stays ok in there.

OOPPPSSS I forgot to ask are garge is insulated so well during our hot muggy weather the floors get slippery wet, so all my stalls have 1 inch rubber mats over the floor, and the chickens stall has sand over that, could that cause my sand to be wettish and mold????

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Thanks Nate
I plan to cover at least part of the run and put up wind breaks north and west sides with heavy tarps, as we do for the horses every fall, my hubby also keeps the runs for the horses open by plowing them, but this last winter we got so much snow at once and it drifted so fast and furious they spent half the winter in their 20 x 40 paddock, because the drifts were 5 feet deep, even Jack my 16'2 hand Standardbred couldn't get around in drifts that big,
If I have too I will open the garage to them and just cover what I don't want them poopin on. I've planted lots of stuff for them in their very own chicky garden, so cabbage kale, foxtail millet,corn, mangel beets, chick weed and apples, raspberries,strawberries, grapes will have to keep them occupied if it gets too bad outside. Any other suggestions on keeping them from getting bored over the winter?? I try to plan ahead for stuff like this so any suggestions now would keep me busy while the weather is warm. BTW my garage is insulated well, and even with the big stall open facing south and the 2 long windows cracked it stays ok in there.

OOPPPSSS I forgot to ask are garge is insulated so well during our hot muggy weather the floors get slippery wet, so all my stalls have 1 inch rubber mats over the floor, and the chickens stall has sand over that, could that cause my sand to be wettish and mold????

do your stalls drain? I mean when you spray them down to wash the mats? If so I wouldnt worry about it. Acutally if I remember my Architecture correctly garages are built with a slope of one inch over twelve feet toward the main door.

I use Rice hulls for my horse. Great stuff I put down 5 bales in a 24 x 24 pipe corral to give her a place to sleep that was dry, at a boarding stable. Shes a big girl and wont lay down unless she has a soft place and she was laying in her Pee spot. The rice hulls allow moisture to go through yet they stay dry on top. After the initial bed down I only had to add a bale of rice hulls per week. This is in a corral that gets cleaned daily and is open to the wind in a windy area. For a box stall One maybe two bales initially.

If you use sand go deep with it at least six to eight inches same for Shavings.... Shavings or Rice hulls might be warmer on their feet.

sorry I am very tired right now cant articulate. I will post tomorrow if you have questions...

 

[GhostRider65]

Get some sleep Nate, you do know you think better with a well rested brain...........LOL
Anyway yah I do have a few questions, about the sand why so deep? I have about 2 inches in there right now which they can scratch around in, when I get them out there that is they are currently still in my basement, in this

They are 8 weeks old BTW

Maybe I should start at the beginning huh....or you'll probably just think I'm looney tooney.
Anyway I ordered my chicks in early Feb. They were scheduled to ship March 23 and did most of them anyway, gggrrrrrr my order was screwed up and more are being shipped next week. anyway our weather is just now warming up and dry enough to start working on their coop and run. Its been a terribly cold snowy rainy spring
So after they outgrew their brooders 2 because they grew so fast 1 brooder wasn't enough so I split them up 11 in each brooder, then I still had to find another option to put them in until we could get the stall converted to a hen house, well my option was the 10 x10 x6 dog kennel that they are now in, in my basement. It has wood shavings on the floor about 6 inches thick I stir it up and add DE but it still smells too much for me, so I went with the sand for their stall for that reason, I think easier to clean out. less smell. The coop is mostly done but I have a few things to finish before they go out there. Like the sand I filled in today, it's just sand from a local, the neighbor built a garage and we got some of the dug out sand to fill the stall before they leveled it around the garage. So If I need to add that much I will have to buy sand and have it in there before they can go out.
I would have rather done the deep litter method with our winters but the smell of chicken pooh ain't for my nose.........LOL maybe I can add shavings over the sand for winter would that work?
I'll take some pictures tomorrow to post here so you can see it, and the lay out.
Yes our stalls have drains, but they have never had to work, I use shavings as bedding over the 1 inch mats, and even my old man Shadow with his bad kidney's and peeing out 10 gallons and drinking 5 didn't have a problem I clean them daily. but there's 3 drains in there, 1 right directly in front of the chickens coop. so if it ever would get that wet in there it would drain out the back wall under there pop door and out beyond the run. I have never had more than a slippery floor not running water or even drops in there in the 11 years I have been here. Why I said they have never worked. except when we hose down the stalls each spring.
How much do the hulls cost and where can you get them? I use pine shavings because I can get a 7 cubic foot bag for 4.00 dollars or a pickup truck load for 35.00 though that has been not good lately they have been cutting alot of hard wood and hardwood shavings are not very absorbent.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL not Nate but deb.... hee hee. Took a nap. I think the question was about moisture. Moisture is a big problem in coops. WRT the smell of poo the deep litter method is supposed to be very very good about non odor.... Because its drying out I read someone here describing the deep litter over concrete or wood as a kind of Dry compost. The ones who do it eventually wind up with about twelve inches of litter. In your case your whole Garage is probably so insulated moisture cant evaporate out. Your first thought of a thin layer of Sand is probably the best bet. Adding in the shavings when the humidity goes up too. You might check into the ventilation of the garage.

I really like rice hulls here in San Diego they run about seven dollars a bale and I believe they are five or six cubic feet. They dont have the wonderful smell that shavings have. They have little bits of rice in them still and the wild birds used to line up along the top of the pipe corral tappin their toes and lookin at their watches waiting till I was done. Then swoop down and talk amongst themselves while they combed the hulls for rice bits. Too funny. My horse liked them too till she figured out they were too much work. I think they would be great for chickens. there are a few here at BYC that use them Go up to the search feature and key in Rice hulls. Then again here we don't get the four seasons like you do. My place is in the desert too so its much much drier up there.

Follow your instinct With regard to your own environment. Then if it doesn't work try something else. Off to bed now.