Size Does Matter

Coop size that is. Cause you don't want it too small or the little peepers will peck each other to death. Too big and they won't generate enough heat to keep themselves warm in the winter. It needs to be just right. But that, of course, depends on how many birds you have. I'm not sure how many birds I'll have. So I can't make any decisions based on that.

The only other logical variable is how much room we have to spare. To keep your birds happy you really need to figure on about 4 square feet minimum per bird inside the coop. So after dinner we wandered out and surveyed the situation. Based on the need to keep the hens safe from predators we decided a central location in the yard would be a good idea. We're hoping the "guard dogs" will help keep them safe. You know, the two hours per day the ferocious defenders are actually awake. Then we needed to factor in sunlight for the garden. Then there's the trees to work around. Oh, and the septic system. So out of 7 acres of land we ended up with a 30' x 34' spot where the coop, run, garden and compost pile could be. That leaves the coop at 10' x 16' with a part of that being used for garden storage, which brings us down to about 10' x 10'. And that, if my basic math skills are correct, means I can have up to 25 birds. Hello babies, come to Momma!

"Which way did she go?"