Would like to get more...

[Studio2770]

We have our eye on Pekins but we have 7 hens in our coop. It's about 7 ft long and sticks out about 4 ft and it's around 5 ft tall. The run is 12 feet long and sticks out 4 ft. The thing is that we free range them all day. 5 of the 7 hens are leghorns, and then 1 EE and a cochin. I'm considering expanding the run, we'd have to expand out toward the grass.. I just don't want them being crowded. I do know the space needed for each hen, buuut they free range.

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There's a roost that runs along the boxes, then up top, then one of the same length as the bottom roost but higher(not in view).

The coop before it was painted. The hens were still young in this pic.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I'm not sure what you're asking? If you need to expand the run? If so, you don't necessarily NEED to if they're spending their days outside the run. But what if there comes a point where you have to keep them penned up for a few days (predator issues, coop training for your newbies, visitors, whatever it may be)? They might be fine in there, or they might be mightily unhappy and get grumpy with each other.
And, by Pekins, do still mean Cochins? Or Pekin ducks? If its the ducks, they'll require a bit more space than the hens and they aren't going to be using your roosts so don't bother factoring those into your square footage for them And how many are you planning on adding?
Either way, in my opinion, if you have the funds and time to expand the run, why not? Its certainly not going to hurt anything!

I hope that was helpful. Good luck to you

 

[Studio2770]

I'm not sure what you're asking? If you need to expand the run? If so, you don't necessarily NEED to if they're spending their days outside the run. But what if there comes a point where you have to keep them penned up for a few days (predator issues, coop training for your newbies, visitors, whatever it may be)? They might be fine in there, or they might be mightily unhappy and get grumpy with each other.
And, by Pekins, do still mean Cochins? Or Pekin ducks? If its the ducks, they'll require a bit more space than the hens and they aren't going to be using your roosts so don't bother factoring those into your square footage for them

And how many are you planning on adding?
Either way, in my opinion, if you have the funds and time to expand the run, why not? Its certainly not going to hurt anything!

I hope that was helpful. Good luck to you

Sorry, I didn't really provide a clear question. I guess my question is would we be ok getting more. I do feel like expanding the run is the most plausible thing to expand. We would just make another rectangular frame and screw the wire mesh to it. Though the edging in front of the coop already provides protection from digging, which making another frame doesn't protect from digging. The one time we had to keep them coop up, they just got upset really, but you are right, who knows when we'll have to contain them.

I'm talking about the Pekin chicken breed. We are thinking about, if we get more, getting 4. But I'm not sure if we'd get all Pekins or 2 Pekins and 2 BO. We want breeds that are quieter than our leghorns. That's the other thing, if our leghorns will be even more bossy toward a chicken that's not only docile like our cochin, but smaller. And I don't want to give away some leghorns to create space, that's just me.

I've also considering getting another coop for the newbies but coops are pricey. Or we could build a small coop like we did with our first one. I agree with you, more space never hurts.

We're also talking with our city council about the ordinance(chickens weren't originally allowed but they let us keep ours). They're trying to figure out a number, which was 5, but we have 7. I would like them to know if one of them gets chickens, they most likely WILL want more. We've also found some people who have or plan to get chickens, one of them owns 12, 2 are cockerels, and they live right next to the mayor!

Thank you for your response and I'm sorry about my question not being clear!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Haha! No problem! I was just trying to cover all the bases and provide the best response I could manage

Good luck with the whole ordinance thing, I hope they let you keep everyone