How much space per hen?

[Grockle]

I have had a new run built for my girls but am wondering how many I can fit in there. Is there a certain amount of space recommended per chicken? They sleep in an Eglu cube so, in theory, I could have 10 chooks but I think they'd be too squished to be happy.

you've been ignored!!

DEFRA states that in the coop itself, each hen should have 1sqft perching space .
and in the run, a minimum of 1sqm per hen, but better to have 2sqm per hen.

so if you have 10 hens, your coop wants to be 2x5ft or 3x 3.3ft or 2.5x4ft etc.
(i usually think of the length of the perch, so you'd be better having 2 5ft-long perches iyswim - with space either side for bums)

and it doesn't matter how big your coop is - if your run isn't big enoug hfor more hens, then forget it!

eg: if your run is 5sqm by 2sqm, then you can't have more than 10 hens, but 5 would be better.

5m x 2m even.

But my stupid hens can't read deffra regs and even though I have multiple coups all warm and dry they tend to all pile into just one at dusk and sleep snuggled together.

Mine have a large free range area, but I have used runs in the past. I'd second the larger the run the better. It means less moving it around. My run was about 4 times the house size and the proportions seamed about right.

i know, mine do too!

in fact, my old hens used to need to snuggle together so much ,that if there wasn't room on the perch, they would perch on the floor underneath the other hens!