Six chickens, coop is 3x3x3. What problems might arise?

Hello everyone! I posted in the welcome thread and one of the first responses was that our chicken coop was too small, so now that our girls are getting bigger it's starting to bug me.

Our chicken run is now 17'x 3.5' which should be more than enough for six hens using the 8 square feet rule. That said, they mostly chill out in one 3x3 section together... we let them out between 6-7am and put them to bed after dusk. I just go close the door. They put themselves to bed.

The coop is 3x3. Seemed big at the time. Here is a picture of the coop and run together in it's current state:




Now, inside the coop:




So, I really don't want to have to build a new coop if I can avoid that. I also don't want to add on much, if any (besides external nesting boxes but the wife and I are still debating the details of that). How much did I mess up making it 3x3? Should I rip out the shelf and ladder to open it up? I originally made these the weekend we cut their wings and they were very off balance and I didnt think they could make it to the top roost. They seem to like it, and go straight for the shelf. Hardly ever on the roost... at least when I check it on them anyway. We're considering changing the roosts so they take up less space, are easier to get on, and getting rid of the shelf and ladder completely.

Thoughts? Thanks so much to anyone who answers!

Well josh I'm new here still but been reading as much as I can. The general rule for inside is 4 square feet per bird inside the coop. As for the problems that could arise is pecking each other/ pulling out each others feathers. I guess it also depends if you have to lock them up in winter or not or during bad weather. So going by that rule 3x3 would be good for 2 birds. Sorry not much help.

Joshua

The minimum for adult chickens (depending on breed size) is 1.5 - 3 square feet of floor space inside the coop house
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Factsheets/Poultry_management_specifications.pdf
although it is obviously more comfortable for them if you can provide more than the minimum.

It is a bit small by the standards, but if your girls are like mine and they rarely go in the coop except to lay, usually only one or two at a time, and to sleep, they can probably get by. Mine also pack themselves very close together on one roost ignoring the rest of the roosting space. They do the same in the run. I recently bought the material to double the size of our run and my husband laughed and said they already have 10 feet each and only use about 3 feet of it total now because they stay so close together.

If you aren't able to expand right now keep the coop clean and well ventilated and make sure they have abundant fresh water and food. Pay attention to how they behave toward each other. Excessive pecking, feather pulling and squabbling over roosts are signs they are too crowed. I think they will be fine.

There is no magic number for how much space chickens need. We keep them in so many different conditions, with all kinds of flock make-ups, use different management techniques, have different climates, flocks have different dynamics, individuals have different personalities, in suburbia or rural, and all that, how could one magic number cover everybody?

Coop space by itself isn’t all that important either. It’s how much total space is available when they are awake. It does not matter if that is in the coop, coop and run, or if they roost in trees and totally free range. The key is that it has to be available every day of the year. Obviously climate or your management practices will have a big influence on that.

I understand that people with no experience need to know where to start. That’s why we have guidelines. Guidelines are not absolute laws of nature. Following them does not give you a guarantee that you will never have a problem. Violating them does not guarantee that you will have a total disaster. The guidelines will keep most people out of trouble most of the time. For some of us, they are overkill. We don’t need that much. For some people, they are not quite enough. We all have our own unique situations.

Commercial operations have proven that you can get by with only 2 square feet per bird. But they have to follow specific management techniques to make that work. For example, they automatically trim the beaks so they can’t eat each other. They have serious poop management issues. They tightly control food and lighting. Most of us are just not going to learn how to do that and work that hard, plus we don’t want to treat our chickens like that.

I’m a huge proponent of providing as much space as I can. I find the more space I give them the fewer behavioral problems I have, the less hard I have to work, and the more flexibility I have if something happens.

Your question is “What problems might arise?” Realize that these things “might” arise. There is a difference in what might possibly happen and what will absolutely without a shadow of a doubt each and every time happen.


As far as behavioral, if they are crowded, it could range anywhere from feather picking to fighting to cannibalism. Some chickens handle confinement much better than others. There are breed tendencies but there can be a lot of difference between individual chickens in the same breed.

Chickens have developed ways to live together peacefully in the flock. One of the ways they have developed is that in case of a conflict the weaker runs away from the stronger or just avoids them to start with. So they need room to run away or avoid. How important that is depends on the flock dynamics. Chickens in a flock will develop a pecking order. They start on that as soon as they hatch if they are raised together but the pecking order can change as they mature. How that normally gets sorted out is that when a chicken invades the private space of another and the pecking order is not sorted, one chicken pecks the other or somehow tries to intimidate it. If one runs away, the issue is sorted. If one does not run away, they fight. This may be a very brief skirmish that quickly evolves into running and chasing or it can get really serious. If there is not enough room for them to run away the odds of violence goes up.
For working hard, think poop management as an example. Chickens poop a lot. If poop gets wet or really builds up, it can stink. In a rural area well away from people that may not be as big a deal as with someone in suburbia. But a wet stinky run is also unhealthy so even in rural areas there are serious reasons to not let the poop build up too much. The more spread out they are, the less it builds up. They will poop a lot on the roost so even in big coops it’s often a good idea to make special arrangements to manage that poop.

If you feed and water in your coop, you need enough room so they don’t poop in the feed or water while on the roosts.

For flexibility, if you restrict your space so you have to follow specific management techniques, you have a lot of trouble responding to problems. Let’s assume you rely on them having access to the coop and run both when they are awake and a tree limb falls on the run so you have to fix it. Or say a predator finds a way to get in your run. If your coop is big enough you can leave them locked in the coop until you get home from work to fix it. Otherwise you have to take care of it then. If you ever want to add chickens to your flock, integration goes a lot easier if they have room to run away or avoid while they are sorting out the new pecking order. If you ever want a broody hen to raise chicks with the flock, that goes a whole lot easier if Mama has enough room to work with, plus the chicks need room after they are weaned so they can run away and avoid while they are growing enough to make their way in the pecking order.

When I am gone for a few days, I get a neighboring college student to take care of the chickens. She’s been doing this for several years. With my large coop, it doesn’t matter if she waits until fairly late in the morning to let them out of the coop. If my chickens were shoe-horned in a tiny space, that could be a real problem. When she graduates or moves out of her home, we’ll have to find someone else to take care of them. That’s going to be a lot easier if they are not tied to a real tight schedule.

I’ve tried to give some examples of what problems “might” arise. I can’t give you any guarantees that any of these will or won’t come up. As tight as you have them, your risks of having problems are a lot higher than mine, but that does not mean you will have any of these. I wish you luck!

I use a 6x8 metal shed with straw bales and a roost bar.Had 9 now 5.They hunker down at night on one end of the roost bar.The only issue I see is if you needed to keep them in a coop.Mine are able to stay in the shed for days with no issues.They have space to eat,dry,nest,and whatever else.

I say add a space on the other side of the coop for them to hang out in when being in the run isn't an option.Build something or get a cheap metal shed.

Ridgerunner said:

There is no magic number for how much space chickens need. We keep them in so many different conditions, with all kinds of flock make-ups, use different management techniques, have different climates, flocks have different dynamics, individuals have different personalities, in suburbia or rural, and all that, how could one magic number cover everybody?

Coop space by itself isn’t all that important either. It’s how much total space is available when they are awake. It does not matter if that is in the coop, coop and run, or if they roost in trees and totally free range. The key is that it has to be available every day of the year. Obviously climate or your management practices will have a big influence on that.

I understand that people with no experience need to know where to start. That’s why we have guidelines. Guidelines are not absolute laws of nature. Following them does not give you a guarantee that you will never have a problem. Violating them does not guarantee that you will have a total disaster. The guidelines will keep most people out of trouble most of the time. For some of us, they are overkill. We don’t need that much. For some people, they are not quite enough. We all have our own unique situations.

Commercial operations have proven that you can get by with only 2 square feet per bird. But they have to follow specific management techniques to make that work. For example, they automatically trim the beaks so they can’t eat each other. They have serious poop management issues. They tightly control food and lighting. Most of us are just not going to learn how to do that and work that hard, plus we don’t want to treat our chickens like that.

I’m a huge proponent of providing as much space as I can. I find the more space I give them the fewer behavioral problems I have, the less hard I have to work, and the more flexibility I have if something happens.

Your question is “What problems might arise?” Realize that these things “might” arise. There is a difference in what might possibly happen and what will absolutely without a shadow of a doubt each and every time happen.


As far as behavioral, if they are crowded, it could range anywhere from feather picking to fighting to cannibalism. Some chickens handle confinement much better than others. There are breed tendencies but there can be a lot of difference between individual chickens in the same breed.

Chickens have developed ways to live together peacefully in the flock. One of the ways they have developed is that in case of a conflict the weaker runs away from the stronger or just avoids them to start with. So they need room to run away or avoid. How important that is depends on the flock dynamics. Chickens in a flock will develop a pecking order. They start on that as soon as they hatch if they are raised together but the pecking order can change as they mature. How that normally gets sorted out is that when a chicken invades the private space of another and the pecking order is not sorted, one chicken pecks the other or somehow tries to intimidate it. If one runs away, the issue is sorted. If one does not run away, they fight. This may be a very brief skirmish that quickly evolves into running and chasing or it can get really serious. If there is not enough room for them to run away the odds of violence goes up.
For working hard, think poop management as an example. Chickens poop a lot. If poop gets wet or really builds up, it can stink. In a rural area well away from people that may not be as big a deal as with someone in suburbia. But a wet stinky run is also unhealthy so even in rural areas there are serious reasons to not let the poop build up too much. The more spread out they are, the less it builds up. They will poop a lot on the roost so even in big coops it’s often a good idea to make special arrangements to manage that poop.

If you feed and water in your coop, you need enough room so they don’t poop in the feed or water while on the roosts.

For flexibility, if you restrict your space so you have to follow specific management techniques, you have a lot of trouble responding to problems. Let’s assume you rely on them having access to the coop and run both when they are awake and a tree limb falls on the run so you have to fix it. Or say a predator finds a way to get in your run. If your coop is big enough you can leave them locked in the coop until you get home from work to fix it. Otherwise you have to take care of it then. If you ever want to add chickens to your flock, integration goes a lot easier if they have room to run away or avoid while they are sorting out the new pecking order. If you ever want a broody hen to raise chicks with the flock, that goes a whole lot easier if Mama has enough room to work with, plus the chicks need room after they are weaned so they can run away and avoid while they are growing enough to make their way in the pecking order.

When I am gone for a few days, I get a neighboring college student to take care of the chickens. She’s been doing this for several years. With my large coop, it doesn’t matter if she waits until fairly late in the morning to let them out of the coop. If my chickens were shoe-horned in a tiny space, that could be a real problem. When she graduates or moves out of her home, we’ll have to find someone else to take care of them. That’s going to be a lot easier if they are not tied to a real tight schedule.

I’ve tried to give some examples of what problems “might” arise. I can’t give you any guarantees that any of these will or won’t come up. As tight as you have them, your risks of having problems are a lot higher than mine, but that does not mean you will have any of these. I wish you luck!

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This is an excellent post.

I had 6 grown chickens now 5 in a 2 x 4 x2 coop zthey seem to like it and even go in in rain even though run is covered but i do let them out at 6:30 am and in at dark I wouldnt want them to have to spend waking time in therr unless by choice

Our coop is 5x7 (35 sq feet) has housed a maximum of six hens. we currently have four. Our chickens take up maybe 2 feet of the 7 foot roost and never go into the coop during the day except on their way to the next box. They a 70 sq foot covered run and free access to a fenced 100X25 area of our back yard so we are adding four or five additional hens and I do not anticipate any over crowding. However I agree that planning for a larger enough coop and enough outdoor space is essential, especially for those new to chicken raising.

Got my hooks into a hundred dollar 8x6 shed and just figuring out the logistics of picking it up. Should have it sometime this week. No immediate plans for this to be a chicken coop, but the potential is there. I'm going to keep the coop I built and list it on craigslist for $4-500 and if someone wants it then I'll convert half or all of the shed into a coop. Or, if we start having problems due to the size of the small coop, then I'll convert and sell the one I built. So at least we have a backup plan now. Or will, once the shed is here. Brings me a little piece of mind. =)