Having room for new hens to escape the floor and evade aggressive pen mates will help ease the transition. Having plenty of roost space is particularly important when introducing new chickens to an existing flock. Be sure to supply six linear inches of roost space per bird in the flock. I’m fond of using a good old two by four for a perch because they’re cheap and sturdy. Roost SpaceĬhickens like to roost, and roosts add space to your existing barn or coop.
#Other chicken math how to
When you’re deciding how to build a chicken coop, knowing how many birds you want in a flock will help determine the size of your coop. The University of New Hampshire recommends two square feet per broiler bird if you’re growing meat birds. The Merck Veterinary Manual suggests a whopping three feet squared per hen, so somewhere between those two numbers is likely best. An adult hen should have at least one and a half square feet of space according to Penn State Extension Service. Floor Spaceįloor space per bird is a debated topic these days, and the answer is dependent on who you ask. It’s okay to run a hobby flock, but if you want your flock to at least pay for its self or turn a buck, then understanding some basic business chicken math will help and guide you along your journey. Then there is the financial side of a flock.
This is the math behind the basic operation of a happy flock. Things like square floor space, linear feeder space, birds per nest box and how many birds a single water nipple can serve all represent important physical chicken math. If you’re looking to start a flock that may even (gasp) turn a profit for a small farm or youth project, then this article should serve you well. For those of us who want to expand our home flock enough to feed more than just ourselves, there’s some vital chicken math to calculate. Chicken math is more than counting your eggs before they hatch.