Chickens, and things related

[nmu98]

That's a BIG run to cover. Mine is only 12' x 16' so it was a manageable task.

How many birds do you have in your coop? I was going to try to build the same thing you built in a 16x16 or 16x24. I was planning on 10 birds.

I was basically going to make 8x8 boxes out of 2x4's and put them together.

 

[Tororider]

Either of those sizes would be plenty big for 10 birds. I think the recommendation is 10 sq ft per bird.

 

[nmu98]

So on a 16 x 16.. I could have 25 birds?

16 x 16 = 256 /10 =25.6

Maybe this idea is wrong, but I was hoping that with more area, the birds would poop in more spots.... Then.. MAYBE, it would not smell, as much? Or be as dirty?

I have had to put off this years flock due to time. I have stated making the pen and coop so I have very little work next spring. A smaller pen will cut on costs... but only by about 100-200 dollars. I am unsure if its worth making it smaller?

 

[bmac]

How many birds do you have in your coop? I was going to try to build the same thing you built in a 16x16 or 16x24. I was planning on 10 birds.

I was basically going to make 8x8 boxes out of 2x4's and put them together.

We have 19 birds, but they are all bantam breeds. With large breed chickens, they would be too crowded, I think.

 

[Tororider]

So on a 16 x 16.. I could have 25 birds?

16 x 16 = 256 /10 =25.6

Maybe this idea is wrong, but I was hoping that with more area, the birds would poop in more spots.... Then.. MAYBE, it would not smell, as much? Or be as dirty?

I have had to put off this years flock due to time. I have stated making the pen and coop so I have very little work next spring. A smaller pen will cut on costs... but only by about 100-200 dollars. I am unsure if its worth making it smaller?

That is my understanding, you could have 25 birds. Obviously the 10 sq ft is a recommended minimum. The larger pen you have for fewer birds will reduce the amount of poop you have in general, but you will still have chicken poop.

If it were me, I would build as big a coop as you can afford/have time to. If nothing else you have spoiled birds, but what is more likely to happen is you become addicted to chickens and want more. If it is built bigger you have room for more.

Good Luck.

Another resource is backyardchickens.com

 

[nmu98]

Thank you both for the information. I have read backyardchickens, but i like getting info from the like minded people here. To extend the pen out another 8 feet is only 4 more panels for me to build and 3 more 4x6's. I doubt it would cost that much. My engineering project is the full swing door, and smaller door. I want to be able to get my tractor right in the pen. I can drop off wood chips and scrape them out. Due to the supports, I might have to make 2 full size doors....

Again, Thank you. I really like to read these threads and your experiences.

 

[Tororider]

Very smart in being able to get the tractor into the pen that should make cleanout so much easier.

 

[Mike Costello]

My "Chicken Book" reccomends 4 square feet per bird on the large breeds. 10 square feet per bird is quite a lot of space--those birds will have to shout at each other with that much space! But they'll like it for sure.

 

[Tororider]

Yeah, I have heard 4-10, I err on the larger side. I have 3 full size chickens at my house in the burbs in an 8'x4' pen with a coop over top of it so the whole footprint is still 8'x4'. It doesn't seem lavish and I am not sure I would want more than one more. But I agree, 4 sq ft would probably be fine. It all depends on whether they will be allowed to free range at all too.

 

[dooleysm]

I started with 10 guineas last August and am down to 3 now. I think something found the nest 2 nights ago. I heard a guinea related racket around 4 am and when I got up yesterday the female was off the nest and missing a few wing feathers. There was a broken egg in the nest when I checked later. I think I'm going to try to sell the 3 remaining guineas on craigslist and be done with them.

I think I currently have 11 large breed hens, 1 large breed rooster, 4 bantam hens, 2 chicks being raised by one of the bantam hens, and 3 guineas that will be leaving soon. My coop is 6x9. The coop is attached via a chicken-sized opening to a fenced off area (7' fence) that is about 15'x45'. There is nothing green in that area. I notice no smell from the chicken poop outside. The coop is smellier, but not intolerable. The dog pens smell worse. I think my chickens have plenty of room.