Beki Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 We've got a chicken house which is 6ft by 2ft 2", with a 6ft by 1ft row of nestboxes attached on the back... so the whole thing is 6ft by 3ft. It's about 3ft tall at the front, dropping to 2ft. The nest boxes are 1ft tall rising to 18". There's one roosting bar which runs the length (so 6ft long), with scope to add another if needed. Just wondering, as we'll be making a much bigger run in the next few weeks, how many chooks could happily live in the house? We'd like to have as many as possible, so would build the run to accomodate however many we could house un the coop Thanks xxxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Well, it sounds to me about half as big again as a cube, so that would be 15 chickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Sounds huge Beki. They say 1 nest box per 4 hens...if that helps your calculations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beki Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 15! Wow! That's great news I've got 3 living in there at the moment... they must think they live in a mansion LOL And we've got 4 nest boxes, so that works out about right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beki Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 Ok... now we've got established that i can have 15 chooks (*rubs hands with glee*), how big does the run need to be? At the moment it's 7ft by 8ft by 5ft tall. The house is on the outside. I think we'll be knocking this one down and starting from scratch as we want the new run to be 6ft tall so we're not having to bend constantly! I know that chickens should have 'x' amount of space per chicken (don't know how much though), but does this incluse if we were to incorporate a 2nd level? Like a large shelf... or would this be counted as an extra? I now have to break it to OH that i have to have another 12 chooks.... *wonders if stamping feet and pouting will work" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraJ Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 | read each chicken needs a minimum of 2 sq feet. so that would be 30sq feet erm 15' x 2' or equivalent. Mines 12' x 3 1/2 ' for 3 hens , blimey so i could have 15 chickens or more way too many!!!i'd have 6 in mine so i'd say about 12' x 6' maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moomin Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Aren't you supposed to have less chickens with a bit more space though, as overcrowding can lead to bullying and feather pecking etc.? I've got no experience of Chicken keeping whatsoever though, it's just from all the stuff I've read on here!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 If it helps to see it, this is our run with 14 chickens, 11 full size hens and three bantams. They have the walk in run and then attatched on the outside is the cube with one bit of run (we took the extension off). They all snuggle up happily in the cube at night. Now all you have to do is choose your hens! Mrs Bertie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraJ Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Thats what i was trying to say, 2'sq is the minumum but noone would probabl want to do that. How long is a pieceof string.. a run as big as you like really! mine ave 36sq' i think lol so plenty of room, though it loks small compared to some on here but then the roof is low on some of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debbie26pet Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 | read each chicken needs a minimum of 2 sq feet. so that would be 30sq feet erm 15' x 2' or equivalent. Mines 12' x 3 1/2 ' for 3 hens , blimey so i could have 15 chickens or more way too many!!!i'd have 6 in mine so i'd say about 12' x 6' maybe? im just working out mine mine is min 12ft by 6 and have 6 in would liek 2 more but need a bigger coop, or im thinking of getting a ark the triangle coop style ones, and adding to outside of run but im a bit unsure as dotn want to over crowd them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moomin Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 wow!! Mrs Bertie's run is beautiful!! I would love to be a chicken living in there!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beki Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 Mrs Bertie - your run looks fantastic! It's exactly how we'd like ours to look in the end. How big is it? I was thinking about 12ft by 12ft... does this seem reasonable? Or maybe it should be 12ft by 15ft? I'm so clueless Glad you lot are here!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraJ Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I would have thought a 12x12 would be fine suppose the only dissadvantage to making it huge is how floor covering you would need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Does that mean that for an 8'x8' run you could put 16 chooks in there? That seems very dense. So if mine's 8'x11' how many chooks could I cram in there, according to the 2'sq rule? is it 22 or am I working it out wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beki Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 If sticking to the 2sq ft rule, if i build a 12ft by 12ft run, i should be able to put 36 in there.. is that right? (my maths is awful). However, i've just googled, and it seems that the rough guide is 1ft square INDOOR space (ie; coop) and 1m square per chicken OUTDOOR space... This sounds a bit more reasonable to me. For example.. my planned 12ft by 12ft run, is roughly 4m by 4m (give or take a few inches). That's 16 square metres. Which equals space for 16 chickens. Superjules - i *think* 22 is right.. but again, i have to say maths is NOT my strong point That does sound a bit crowded to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 To everyone who has built/going to build walk in runs-are you going to keep them in there all the time? Or let them out to free range too? If you are letting them free range how often do you do this? We have a 20ft x 12 ft run with 4 chickens in and are planning to keep them in all the time apaprt from letting them out once/twice a week for an hour or so. Will this be ok? Emma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 (edited) I can't imagine my run with 22 chooks in it, my 3 big girls and 3 bantams seem enough. 1m sq means I can fit, er.... 8.375(!) chooks which is far more reasonable and looks about right. Edited March 18, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beki Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 Oh my goodness! Yes, i'm sure they'll be fine!!! Four girls in all that space... lucky lucky girls Mine will be in all the time, aside from the odd time there's no dogs/foxes about (hardly ever) And they'll be getting roughly 1 square metre outside space per chook. Yours, with roughly 6 square meters per chook... are in pure luxury Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Sunshine, before long you will have enough chooks to fill that huge run! Haven't you heard? Chicken keeping is addictive. "Hi, my name's Jules, and I'm a chickenaholic!" (or should that be henaholic!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beki Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 Me tooooo maybe we should set up a support group Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...