Space? They mailed us too many!!

[Flowerladies]

We are new to all of this. We had three babies and one passed. So we decided to order the minimum amount… three. We built a 10x12 netted coup area, with their little sleeping coup inside that. We ordered some chicks to add to our flock and the hatchery sent us two extra chicks!! I know they often pass (that happened the first time and the spare worked out) but now I’m going to have 7 chickens?! I want them to have more than they need. If going to be in a coup sometimes, I’m trying for as much as I can give them. But now we are thinking we have to re-home a few. What do you think of how many chickens can be very happy in a 10x12 netted area. It has a raised garden to peck in. In the afternoon when we feel it’s safe, we let them roam our yard. But assuming there will be times they all need to be in there…how many would work?

Thanks!

 

[LaurenRitz]

That's 120 feet of run space. You could technically fit 12 chickens, but I think 7 is perfectly reasonable.

 

[ShrekDawg]

That's 120 feet of run space. You could technically fit 12 chickens, but I think 7 is perfectly reasonable.

Agreed

 

[ChicNmom]

I wouldn't worry about it. At one point I had 23 in a coop/run we built to comfortably hold 12 with lots of extra space. A few were mini chickens.

No matter how much room they had they all bunched together anyway unless some were in the coop laying eggs.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The run is fine for the number of chickens but how large is the coop? How much roost space do you have? How much ventilation?

For 7 chickens the recommended minimum would be 28 sq ft in the coop w/ 7 ft of roost and 7 sq ft of ventilation.

 

[Ridgeback825]

You're fine. Most of these "standards" are dreamed up by people that keep chickens as pets. I get making them happy and healthy, but most of the minimums are way overstated. For instance, I have 2 roost bars that are 4 foot. 7 or 8 chickens will cram onto one bar and leave the other one with only 1 chicken. The only time space becomes an issue is when there are issues between birds. Look into commercial chicken farms and see how the rest of the world does it and you'll feel better. Lol

 

[21hens-incharge]

You're fine. Most of these "standards" are dreamed up by people that keep chickens as pets. I get making them happy and healthy, but most of the minimums are way overstated. For instance, I have 2 roost bars that are 4 foot. 7 or 8 chickens will cram onto one bar and leave the other one with only 1 chicken. The only time space becomes an issue is when there are issues between birds. Look into commercial chicken farms and see how the rest of the world does it and you'll feel better. Lol

Not really "dreamed up" but a starting point for new keepers to help avoid issues that come from to little space.

If they have to stay inside in inclement weather that "extra" space becomes priceless in preventing bullying, feather picking, stress related loss of egg production and cannibalism.

The more birds in the space the more ventilation is needed to prevent ammonia and moisture build up to keep their lungs healthy and prevent frostbite.
The tighter they are crammed the more maintenance is needed to keep the poop load in the coop down too.

Space per bird is actually pretty important in keeping healthy productive birds.

 

[Ridgeback825]

Not really "dreamed up" but a starting point for new keepers to help avoid issues that come from to little space.

If they have to stay inside in inclement weather that "extra" space becomes priceless in preventing bullying, feather picking, stress related loss of egg production and cannibalism.

The more birds in the space the more ventilation is needed to prevent ammonia and moisture build up to keep their lungs healthy and prevent frostbite.
The tighter they are crammed the more maintenance is needed to keep the poop load in the coop down too.

Space per bird is actually pretty important in keeping healthy productive birds.

I mentioned most of what you said. Yes, I understand. I also agree with ventilation being one of the biggest issues, especially for us in the swamps. Most of our issues come from not having a roo in the flock as we're not allowed by our city. This solves more squabbles than space with a boss on site. I'm simply stating that most of these numbers are from people that see these as a pet, not for production.

 

[Ridgeback825]

This is far less than 10 sq ft per bird. I agree that this is disgusting, and I can smell this pic through my phone, but these people produce as much as possible in their $400,000 chicken house. Is it "best"? For production it is but not for the food I want to eat. I'm just pointing out that there's other ways to make them "happy and healthy" with limited space.

 

[NatJ]

You're fine. Most of these "standards" are dreamed up by people that keep chickens as pets. I get making them happy and healthy, but most of the minimums are way overstated. For instance, I have 2 roost bars that are 4 foot. 7 or 8 chickens will cram onto one bar and leave the other one with only 1 chicken. The only time space becomes an issue is when there are issues between birds. Look into commercial chicken farms and see how the rest of the world does it and you'll feel better. Lol

Not really.

The current guidelines for space are actually based on the ones for commercial chicken farms within the past hundred years or so.

For example:
The book "Poultry Production," by William Adams Lippincott, published in 1914, is available on the internet: https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/chla3270300

The author quotes three authorities of the time, on the subject of how much space in the house is needed for chickens need to be healthy and productive:

"Dryden estimates that "Where there is little or no snow, or where chickens can be out of doors every day in the year, about two square feet of floor space will be sufficient. This would apply to flocks of twenty or more. For smaller flocks a more liberal allowance of space should be made. Where the climate is such that the fowls will seek shelter part of the year rather than go outdoors in the yards and fields, more space should be provided, say four to five square feet per fowl. Halpin says that a flock of fifty hens should usually be allowed about five square feet of floor space per hen. He further calls attention to the fact that "One hundred hens will thrive in a pen 20 x 20 feet, that is, four square feet of floor space per hen, but one hen will not thrive in a pen two by two feet. As the number of the flock becomes less the amount of floor space per hen must increase, and anyone keeping eight or ten hens should allow at least ten square feet of floor space per bird unless he is prepared to give special attention to cleaning and bedding the house. Rice and Rodgers add that "The lighter breeds, because they are more active and restless, require nearly as much room as larger breeds."

The citations given are to:
Oregon Extension Bulletin No. 2 ("Dryden")
Wisconsin Bulletin No. 215 ("Halpin")
Cornell Bulletin No. 274 ("Rice and Rodgers")

This is on page 250-251 of the book, which are pages 244 and 245 of the .pdf


(Please pardon any typos, I had to re-type it because I couldn't copy & paste from it.)

Notice that guideline, from more than a century ago, calls for flocks of 8-10 chickens to have at least 10 square feet of space PER HEN in the HOUSE. This is in addition to having an outdoor range area (various places in the chapter make it clear that the "house" is surrounded by a large area for the hens to range in suitable weather.)

Variations of those same guidelines have been published many times over the century in between. The modern commercial producers do pack them in much more tightly, but they also cut the beaks short (helps prevent them pecking each other to death) and use mechanical ventilation (helps avoid the problem of too much ammonia and humidity from the manure in a small space.)

Examples of two other books with similar guidelines:
https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/chla2803070
Practical poultry production
Lamon, Harry M., 1920
https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/chla2759339
Diseases of poultry, with specialist chapters on poultry husbandry
Blount, William Percy., 1947

View attachment 3871380
This is far less than 10 sq ft per bird.

Those are meat chickens, getting close to butchering age. The common backyard guidelines for raising them are 2 square feet per chicken, with no run mentioned at all. At a rough guess, I would say those bird probably do have about 2 square feet each. And then people say the Cornish Cross chickens make a filthy mess-- well yes, if they are that crowded! But that is not relevant to the raising of adult laying hens.