Will my run be large enough???

[TDM]

Quote:
The consensus I see here on BYC and the professional international community is about two square feet per hen for housing.

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/poultryoverview.html

This is one of our mobile hen houses stocked at two square feet per bird.

 

[TDM]

Quote:
Actually, old school rule of thumb for the run was 500 birds per acre. That is one bird for 86 square feet of run space. The article I referenced suggested 400 birds per acre of rotating pasture . Anything less can invite disease into your flock.

 

[HappyChickenLover]

Yea chicks take very little room. But it can be nice give them a bit extra

 

[mrpekinduck]

seems big enough the general rule is 4sq feet per chicken but bigger is always better!

 

[triplepurpose]

Why are we arguing over what the general rule is? Who cares? Common sense should tell you if a coop is overcrowded or not. The point is that the chickens have enough space to be healthy and content, something I think we can all agree on. As Ridgerunner so thoughtfully took the time to articulate, there are many different factors that determine how much space is appropriate. Such numbers may sometimes be a helpful aid for beginners, but they are nothing more than an abstraction and not meant to get hung up on. Obviously, more space per chicken is better than less, but quoting figures as if they were gospel totally misses the point.

 

[HappyChickenLover]

Yep, just like my oegb need less space then 4 square feet cause they are tiny, but I like to make sure they have it good

 

[SIMPleChick]

We don't have a lot of room in our yard for a coop. We have 11 hens, a 4x8 coop on top and a 4x8 run on the bottom. It is techinally "too small" for 11 hens, but there are 3 nest boxes, plenty of room for food and water and lots of roost space, every chicken has enough room to have a few inches on each side of her on the roost so they can stretch out BUT they like to cuddle together on the roost anyway, and there is plenty of room for all of them upstairs and below at night and in the morning before we let them out to free range in our back yard ALL day. They love the set up and the only problem is they ALL love one side of the roost and push each other off the roost to get the favorite spot! LOL! Not fighting or pecking, just jumping up and down! LOL! If I had to keep my hens in the coop and run all day and night then I would not have 11.

 

[WendyGrama]

Hi I'm WendyGrama, new to the forum's but only a little new and out of touch with the chicken thing. I am currently housing 11 mixed standards and banty's from Welsumer & Wyandotte to the wee Seabright couple. There should be two roosters a Welsumer and the Seabright, so far so true, but we are only into the 2nd week. Soooo they started in a very large cardboard lined rabbit cage, that lasted the 1st week... they are so active it was a shame to see them limited and the water'rs were constantly needing to be cleaned out and the mash spread everywhere but in the feeder...

Now they are on my studio floor using old paint sheets for footing and bedding for now, seems easiest to change out daily, wash and replace, they have 5 times the space, several rocks helping to anchor the sheet bedding and cardboard walls and a long piece of desert wood I dragged in the other day. All of them are climbing the rocks, pecking at them, jumping off, stretching their wings, wandering independently and then gathering together as a flock at night mostly, during the day they spread out all over.

So now I am building a smallish coop but with a good size pen 16' by 12' and 6' T. The coop itself will only be 3' by 8' but I am roofing over much of the pen and extending the sides as part of the pen too, unless the weather is really bitter they will have constant indoor/outdoor, nesting boxes will be built outfrom the coop and feeders and water's kept in open space in the pen.

If a hen is broody I will likely remove her or cage her in the coop so she is not picked on. If the roosters don't get along... well I will deal with that if it happens. The thought being I will seperate the banty's from the standards.

In the past I have housed ducks, all sizes of chickens and multiple roo's all raised together, not to mention the goat who used to occasionally join in too. They mostly free ranged.

Because I am now in a 1/2 acre lot neighborhood with lotsa dawgs, cats, skunks and the odd coyote, these newbies won't get that option unless I am home, but the pen is right beside where plans for the veggie beds are so they will have seasonal option there with partial fencing and out back under the mesquites about 80' by 20' I have recently seeded with native grasses, wildflowers and yellow clover for possible rescue home for burrow or goats... will also be an option partially fenced with maybe a portable coop for there. And there is the back lawn/weed/planned fruit tree yard, but only when I know exactly where Ruby Kitty and the Dawgs are!

Does all this sound reasonable or just too much info. Its been so long since I have had chickens and I am really enjoying the chicken pyschology through observation. Will set up pix another time, way too overwhelmed at the moment!

 

[HappyChickenLover]

I try not to put too much effert into over engineering things myself. That said the sizes sound fine, if the roosters are together they should be fine. Welsummer and Seabright are not agressive/game birds, not like my oegb. If you want a garden, make sure the chickens don't get in it, unless you like sharing your veggies. I keep my trios of old english game bantams in 4foot by 6foot, 4-6foot tall pens with barrels with a roost in the middle of the barrel

 

[WendyGrama]

Thanx Chillin... just set 5 corner posts for pen, am sinking recycled metal roofing 1 foot down and cementing posts to help keep critters from digging in as well as two nice size chunks of hard metal mesh to see thru then chicken wire over all and use up whatever old metal roofing pieces I have over a good part of the pen. As I already have 2 fence panels built of pieces of old metal roofing I am thinking of using one of them inside the pen as a partial shade and divider they can still get around both sides of it and have a second waterer out there.

The veggie garden will be off limits except beds that are not in use. Anyone know anything bout lavendar and chickens I am planning at least one long row of lavendar and possible more as time goes by. If they won't eat and dig at the lavendar roots... they can have time in there too?

Chicks are still doing fine enjoying their space they have become very independent though.

I always put a shelf under my roost in the coop to keep them out of roost poop and easy to clean up so that frees up a bit of floor space too.

Thanx for mentioning the rooster types too, the Welsumer is very confident already and huge compared to the Seabright but so far so good, my most aggresive chick to date is 'Diva' one of the Golden Lace Wyandottes, she's like a kamakazi pilot always fluttering into everyone, jumping off the rocks and roost into a pile of chicks and the first to show up for anything new.

HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE, I WILL BE OUT DIGGING MORE POST HOLES AND GETTING THE COOP AND PEN READY FOR THE FEATHERED KIDZ!