Why does this coop say it will house 12 - 15 chickens?

[Monk]

will hunt for food, great work, looks awesome!

 

[Omran]

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Please don't tell me you are thinking of spending that much $$$ on some junk, I think for that much $$$ you can build 20x12' coop easy.

 

[jimmoose]

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Fine job! THATS the way its done.
jim

 

[serendipity22]

That coop is not a piece of junk. It is very nice. It has space to house 12 to 15 chickens. NOT AT ALL TIMES. It is a chicken coop. It is built on Skids so you can move it around your property and allow your chickens to different pasture OR you can build a FENCE around it and keep the chickens in the fenced area.

GOOD GRIEF! Maybe not all people are capable of wielding a hammer with proficiency.

 

[cindyanne1]

Please don't tell me you are thinking of spending that much $$$ on some junk, I think for that much $$$ you can build 20x12' coop easy

Oh no... I'm not planning on buying it at all. My husband can build just about anything and has, in fact, started work on a new chicken house for me that will be 8'X10'.

He says, though, that he wishes I would have known they needed 4 sq.foot of space before he built the first one for me... and tells me he *did* follow the plans for the first one, and the plans *did* say 12 to 15 chickens, and he doesn't know why he should have to build something else when the plans said that and he followed the plans.

He is building the new one because it makes me happy (AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!) but I do sort of understand where he is coming from, and stuff like that ad doesn't help!

 

[Grammahen]

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I totally agree! (although I would never put that many in there) Don't feel guilty buying a coop if you can't build one if it is what you truly want. Everyone's circumstances are different!!!!
The way I see it, my husband's big screen TV doesn't lay eggs.

 

[greenguys]

did all these "have to's" and specific, numbers only start occuring when people starting keeping chickens as a hobby vs. a necessity?

I doubt our grandmothers measured square footage.

But, it IS confusing because there is so much different information out there. Some people say 4 square feet per bird for the hen house....but elsewhere, it says to allow at least 1.5 sq ft. per bird for the house. We gave ours approx. 2 sq. ft. per bird for where they sleep.

If it needs more, we'll add a wing (no pun intended), I guess.

G.

 

[will hunt for food]

did all these "have to's" and specific, numbers only start occuring when people starting keeping chickens as a hobby vs. a necessity?

I doubt our grandmothers measured square footage.

I couldn't agree more!

I will also throw in the "cuddling", and treating the chicks like infants. Worrying if the chickens will get splinters? Et. al. ad nauseum. For crying out loud, they are outside birds, that we trick into roosting indoors so we can get their eggs.

I have quite a back ground in wildlife biology that comes in real handy when I find myself applying human traits and concerns to animals. In other words, I don't. I have studied wild turkeys for years, and chickens are not much different. The reason why wild turkeys are sometimes hard to hunt (kill), is because they are so freaking stupid. Not smart. Being called a bird brain is still not a compliment.

OK, I needed to get this off my chest.

 

[patandchickens]

The reason that our grandmothers would not have spoken about minimum square footage requirements is because they knew BY EXPERIENCE, and by eye, what you likely could and couldn't get away with.

If you didn't grow up around chickens, something a little more concrete is helpful.

Also, in older times people were much less hung up about reducing the flock if crowding-related problems developed... a higher proportion of people these days would rather avoid having to cull birds just because of having guessed wrong about how many they could keep.

Unfortunately the unpalatable bottom line is: the more space you can give the chickens, the better off they will be and the less likely problems will occur. The problem is, this is is in direct conflict with the fad for collecting all the collectibles you can, or with attempts to maximize production of eggs or meat with minimal expense/work. All the square footage numbers are just attempts to figure out how close you can likely cut it.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[LittleMamaBigPapa]

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That is some very beautiful, professional work!! I can not wait to see it when it is done!!!!! Please post the finished work.