What size chicken coop will you need?

There is a very simple rule of thumb that says you need a house with 1 square foot per chicken and whilst that is a good dimension to use it’s not the only one you should use if you are planning or building you own chicken coop – or even if you are buying a ready made chicken coop as not all manufacturers are aware of the additional method to work out how much space for chickens inside the coop.

The method we use is based on DEFRA’s recommendations:

The crucial thing is to allow enough perching space for the hens. As they only really use the chicken coop for sleeping and laying eggs there isn’t anything else to allow for.

An average hen need 15cm of perch space – allow a little extra for fatter hens and propotioanly less for small birds and then allow space for another hen on the end. This allows them to either huddle together if it’s cold or have air all around them when it’s warm.

Next you need to ensure they aren’t too close to the walls. The walls will get damp from condensation and rain and, although that in itself is normal and not a problem as the wood will natural “breathe” you don’t want the chickens touching it as they will get damp and cold. 20cm from the perch to the wall is enough to prevent this problem

If you have more than 1 perch they should be more than 30cm apart.

If you use these dimension you’ll find you end up with a little over 1 square foot per chicken but they’ll also have enough space to perch happily.

If you apply these rules to some houses, especially the ones imported from China, you’ll find that a house advertised for 4 -6 hens might only be comfortable for 2.