Are you looking for the right chicken coop size? Maybe you’ve seen that cute chicken coop in the catalog and you want it for your chickens. Or you may have even started building your own chicken coop and are having second thoughts and second guesses.
If you’re not sure what to do, here are some guidelines on how to choose the right size chicken coop for your flock.
What Are the Factors Affecting Coop Size
A chicken coop is a secure place that protects hens from predators and the elements. When building a chicken coop, most people have one goal in mind: to build the best chicken coop for their flock. The truth is, this is the wrong way to go about building your coop.
The right approach is to build a chicken coop to serve multiple purposes:
- protect your chickens from predators
- protect your chickens from the weather (heat and cold)
- keep your chickens comfortable
- make your chickens happy
Aside from these, here are some of the other factors you should consider.
1. Number of Hens
It will be impossible to know how big your chicken coop should be without knowing how many chickens it will hold. As you may know, the average chicken coop size is 8 to 10 square feet per chicken. This means that if you want to keep 10 chickens, then you need a 100 square feet chicken coop. This is without factoring in the size of the run area. As a rule of thumb, you need to have a minimum of 10 square feet of outdoor pen space per chicken.
2. Size of the Run Area
The size of the run area is important because the bigger the run area, the happier your chickens are. Chickens will be able to move around the coop more freely and they’ll get the exercise they need. And if you are raising broiler chickens, then this can be beneficial to the quality of their meat.
Using the above example of a 100-square feet chicken coop, if you want to keep 10 hens, then you need a 100-square feet run area. Also, keep in mind that you will also need space for:
- a nesting box for every two hens
- shelves for your nesting boxes
- feeding and watering stations
- a perch for every bird
3. The Breed of Chickens
When selecting a breed, get the biggest breed that will fit in the coop comfortably. The bigger the breed, the bigger the coop. If you want to keep rare poultry, then the coop size should be big enough to accommodate both the chicken and her eggs. For example, a Sebright chicken, a British Bantam breed, will lay 60 to 80 creamy normal-sized eggs per year so you need to make sure that the coop has enough space for laying eggs.
If you are breeding large chickens, such as Ancona, Brahma, or Cornish, then you need a coop that’s large enough to accommodate the hen and her brood.
4. Coop Location
What is the weather like at your place? This should be a major factor in determining the size of your chicken coop. If you live in a place that gets harsh weather, such as snow or heavy rain, then you need a large coop to accommodate the chickens. The same applies if you live in a very hot area.
5. Purpose of the Coop
If you’re raising chickens to sell eggs, then you obviously don’t need as big a coop as if you’re keeping chickens for personal use. If you are keeping rare poultry and breeding them, then you need a coop that is big enough for the chicken to move around and for her eggs to be safe.
Conclusion
It should be pretty clear by now that choosing the right size for a chicken coop isn’t as easy as a lot of people make it out to be. But as long as you keep these factors in mind and take the time to do your research, you should be able to build the perfect coop in no time.
Burnett Affordable Buildings can help you build the best chicken coops that meet your needs. Depending on what you need, we can provide you with customized economy or deluxe chicken coops at high quality and affordable prices! Let us make you a coop perfect for your flock. Contact us today to get started!