Your Chicken House

[k0xxx]

Am I stupid to keep 25 in an 8 by 8 when they free range?

I agree, as other have said, you are fine with that number. Our 8x16 is meant to eventually hold quite a bit more, but we wanted to start out slowly. About the only time ours spend in the coops is for sleeping and laying.

We also have an unfinished 8x8 that we plan on using to free ranging 25 meat birds.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I have a 20x24 barn--half is for the horses, and the rest, the rabbits, chickens , ducks and quail share. Granted, the rabbits and quail are in cages for the winter. but I have anywhere from 10 to 50 chickens in the barn. and again, this is only for the night time. they are completely freerange, and come and go from the barn whenever they want. (which is nice cuz i don't have to let them out in the morning)but the chickens also have access tot he horses side of the barn and will roost in the rafters, if it is too crowded down below. I usually reduce my chicken numbers in the winter, to cut down on feeding freeloaders, and to make enough room fo rthem when it is too miserable for them to go outside.

 

[freemotion]

Last winter I had 29 in a 3x12 space. But I never closed the door except overnight in really bad weather, and when they got out they had 2 acres to play in.

This winter I might have a few more in that space....Depends on how many are roosters, those will move into the freezer.

 

[Blackbird]

You all would be slaughtered over on BYC! Wait, I would be too!

 

[freemotion]

You all would be slaughtered over on BYC! Wait, I would be too!

I think the term is "processed..."

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I used to have an 8x8 open 24/7 totally freerange. That one housed anywhere from 25 to 75 ( some bantams) and was fine once I put in 8 foot long roosting poles AT THE SAME HEIGHT. LOL!

It did NOT work when I had a few short rafter roosting poles. Everyone fought over them and they were too high for the heavies anywY.

Now I have an 8 x 12 that currently houses only 18 -- or maybe 17. One of my SLW hens didn't show up tonight. it seems very empty in there. Four are silkies and don't even roost. One third of it is roosting poles and it could hold a lot more. Mine don't stay locked yp at all except overnight. Not cold enough here for them to have to spend prolonged periods in there. I think outside weather is a big factor, and since mine are only sleeping places, the roosting area is important.

Btw, I put in a raised dirt floor. I planned to do deep litter as I did before, but have not yet put litter in. Chickens have been in there for months. There are usually a few droppings under the perch but the rest of yje coop is pretty clean. Late at night the floor CRAWLS with crickets and a few wood roaches. I won't collect eggs at night if I happen to be gone earlier LOL. But I wonder if the insects are keeping the floor clean too. I'm surprised the chickens don't eat them all.

But if it keeps up this way, I think I'll bypass the litter.

 

[VickiLynn]

We just built a 12x12 chicken house. We divided it: 12x8 for the 15 chickens (maybe a few more next year) and 12x4 for storage. They seem to have plenty of space.

 

[journey11]

I've got 39 chickens in a 8x14 barn/coop (the barn is even bigger than that, that's just what I have sectioned off for them). I think they have too much room, actually. It's hard to keep them snug in the winter. I'm going to plan to build a better coop next spring and put this space back to housing goats.

 

[Farmfresh]

I keep six laying hens currently in my City Biddy Hen House. It is roughly 3 x 3 x 4 feet tall.

Works GREAT in my tiny yard.

I also have 29 Cornish Rock broiler chicks in my City Biddy Double WIDE.

I sell the building plans for both on my website. (Although the Double WIDE plan is still in process)

 

[BarredBuff]

That makes me wonder if I have my measurements right. 80 birds are not even close to crowded in our barn, and they're only inside about 3 months of the year.

Farmboy, I was referring to 2011 as being a lot of birds

That was what I was too