Why do I need 4 square feet per chicken in my coop?

[rosemarythyme]

Oof, the run! At least the run walls are intact from the looks of it?

And I've had to lock my chickens in the coop on occasion, most recently due to flooding last year that turned the run into a riverbed. I have slightly over 4 sq ft per bird but there weren't any issues from locking them in for a few days until the floodwater subsided.

Can I ask how much space the smallest chickens like a sebright would need? Does anyone know? Half? 2 sq ft? That's all I'm planning to give mine. Since genereally a run will not be out of commission unless the roof collapses I was thinking 2 sq ft per bird in the coop but might as well ask.

2 sq ft per small bantam should be sufficient as the minimum for calculations.

 

[black_cat]

I see people started answering before checking out the video

Can I ask how much space the smallest chickens like a sebright would need? Does anyone know? Half? 2 sq ft? That's all I'm planning to give mine. Since genereally a run will not be out of commission unless the roof collapses I was thinking 2 sq ft per bird in the coop but might as well ask.

Personally, I'd keep them on the same rules- you can't have too much space.

 

[black_cat]

***PSA***
The video literally explains why having enough space per chicken is a good thing, OP knows that

 

[Folly's place]

About bantams; having more space is always better! The two sq. ft. for bantams thing won't be good...
Mary

 

[Cryss]

Because you want to raise happy, healthy chickens without having to engage in commercial-style intensive management (including debeaking), to keep it clean and well-ventilated and to ward off the behavioral problems of overcrowding.

A huge run *can* compensate for an undersized coop to some extent -- until circumstances change and it doesn't.

YES! You have said it exactly right! This video was meant to be informative. I am showing an example of why 4sqft is only minimal inside a coop. With my coop my 15 chickens have 6.4sqft/chicken, more than the minimum.

YES! Without enough room, the chickens can easily be stressed or sick. Pecking will be a large problem.

Yes, that is exactly what I was hoping my video would be showing.

sit in a closet for a few minutes and you will understand. all animals need space to be healthy and happy. if you don't have the space to build a proper coop then you should reevaluate keeping chickens. those guidelines are bare minimum and in my opinion very inadequate. it might work for a factory farm but not here.

I totally understand, I don’t need to re-evaluate. I did build a proper coop. As I explained in the video, my coop is 96sqft. I have 15 chickens but with the minimum requirements I could have 24. By showing how unhappy my 15 are at being locked into a coop where they each have 6.4sqft I was attempting to show the skeptics why they should not ever go to smaller than 4sqft. Many think it’s ok to give 2 or even 1 sqft as long as they have a big run! They aren’t thinking about the possibility of predator lockdown, failure of protective fences needing repair, or even just the need to go out of town for a day or two.

the closet part!!!

That was pretty funny but spot on the money!

Guys, the OP was asking a retorical question! She answered it in the video.

Watch the video and you'll see that with a collapsed run and chickens locked inside their coop, they are somewhat crowded at even far less than the recommended 4 sq. ft. per chicken.

Thank you for recognizing my rhetorical question! My chickens do have more than the minimum 4sqft/ bird inside the coop, 6.4sqft/bird. People that go to less than 4sqft need to see how distressful it would be.

 

[Cryss]

THANK YOU! I guess I wasn’t very clear in the video. Btw I had the gaps secured and everyone back outside in the run in 2.5 hours. I still have repairs to make but I believe it’s secure, just not very pretty.

 

[Cryss]

Thank you for the good video! Sorry to see your pen roof collapse. And to have fox prowling around besides!!! I hope you get it all resolved soon. It’s a good video to show space needed fir chickens!

***PSA***
The video literally explains why having enough space per chicken is a good thing, OP knows that

Thank you both for seeing what I was attempting () to show and explain.