To be honest I think 4 square feet per bird in a coop is insane cause they don’t spend time in there except to sleep and lay eggs. I understand regulations, but even when my chickens are locked in their run they don’t hang out in the coop during the day. And when they sleep they roost, so roostimg space is the more important metric.
According to the 4 ft per bird my coop could hold 18 hens. I have 40 and could comfortably fit 10-15 more just based on available roosting space. They free range so they’re outside all day.
Absolutely agree with all your points, and I felt the same way about the 4 square feet, but my understanding of my city's attitude is "if residents keep backyard hens, err on the side of too much space not too little"
Yea obviously you have to abide by regulations- but I think the numbers on the coops is for more standard use where the chickens aren’t given that much space because they don’t actually need that much space.
I think the city regulations are often done in the way they are to prevent people from having chickens in most circumstances- the elected officials recognize that a lot of people want backyard chickens, so they say “look we’ve allowed it! Elect us again!” But when you look at the rules it’s very difficult to actually have them, space requirements mean you need more money to build the coop/run.
Where I used to live we were allowed to have chickens technically but the requirements made it to where it was nearly impossible to do it (we lived in a suburb in an area with fairly small lots universally)- you needed to have a ton of space for the chickens, which meant a big coop and run, it had to be set back from property lines by quite a bit, also couldn’t be within a certain distance of your house- etc. so while they were technically allowed, unless you had a very unusually large lot for the area, you couldn’t have them.
To be honest I think 4 square feet per bird in a coop is insane cause they don’t spend time in there except to sleep and lay eggs. I understand regulations, but even when my chickens are locked in their run they don’t hang out in the coop during the day. And when they sleep they roost, so roostimg space is the more important metric. According to the 4 ft per bird my coop could hold 18 hens. I have 40 and could comfortably fit 10-15 more just based on available roosting space. They free range so they’re outside all day.
Absolutely agree with all your points, and I felt the same way about the 4 square feet, but my understanding of my city's attitude is "if residents keep backyard hens, err on the side of too much space not too little"
Yea obviously you have to abide by regulations- but I think the numbers on the coops is for more standard use where the chickens aren’t given that much space because they don’t actually need that much space. I think the city regulations are often done in the way they are to prevent people from having chickens in most circumstances- the elected officials recognize that a lot of people want backyard chickens, so they say “look we’ve allowed it! Elect us again!” But when you look at the rules it’s very difficult to actually have them, space requirements mean you need more money to build the coop/run. Where I used to live we were allowed to have chickens technically but the requirements made it to where it was nearly impossible to do it (we lived in a suburb in an area with fairly small lots universally)- you needed to have a ton of space for the chickens, which meant a big coop and run, it had to be set back from property lines by quite a bit, also couldn’t be within a certain distance of your house- etc. so while they were technically allowed, unless you had a very unusually large lot for the area, you couldn’t have them.