thinking about chickens but how much space???

[nellie72]

Hi everyone!

We're desperate to go buy our chickens & henhouse, but our main concern is the amount of space needed for our lil chickadees. Some sites say 1 square foot, some say 1 square metre per hen, but does this mean all day every day, and will the standard runs (2.4m x 1.2m) be okay to leave 3 hens in all day while we're at work?
The garden will take some chicken-proofing, and in an ideal world we'd prefer to have a safe run to leave them in permanently, but I'm concerned that the 2.4 x 1.2 seems far too small & unfair - any ideas/suggestions folks??

Thanks in advance

[jessmorris]

I think they like as much room as you can give them. If you leave them in too small a space they'll just turn it into a mud bath and make a high parasite load. Mine are free range in the garden all day. I've fenced it to 6 feet and wing clipped them. I've 14 bantams (4 are chicks) in 190 square metres ie 19m x 10m, so they have 10+ square metres each. I've 8 Pekin bantam growers in a pen 2m by 3m and its not big enough, so I have to keep moving it. They're not free range because the garden backs onto a field and I'm worried about foxes taking them.....they will be eventually though!

[Nicos]

If you are talking of run size then thats just less than a square metre each.
I'd say go for it- but do try to give them a bit of a run in the garden when you are there....and stuff to do inside the run during the day
One foot per chook - I think that must relate to perch width per chook...if you can provide that..then go get 3 gals!!!!

[chris]

I've three hens in a run that's 2x1m. It's not very large, but I do let them out during the day - they're only in it two days of the week until I get home from work..

I do plan on making a larger run next year - but I didn't want to go all out incase we didn't get on with them for whatever reasons. They can't wait to get out though - always by the door waiting hehe

[RichmondHens]

I would say minimum 2 sq m per bird, at the very least. You have to think not only of your chickens but also the ground. Heavily used ground gets "chicken sick" very very quickly, with build up of parasites and disease. If you cannot realistically offer this to your chickens then you have think very carefully about whether you should really be keeping them.

If you can let them out each day to free range, it takes the load off the run, but just free ranging for an hour at the end of the day is not enough, certainly at this time of year when they are going in to roost by 6 or so anyway.

Overcrowding of chickens is very easy to do, and the people who seem to have most problems with their birds are those who keep rather a lot in a small space. The ones who have fewer birds in larger spaces, particularly those free ranging or in large enclosures, have far fewer health issues with their birds.

[chris]

RH - I was wondering this.. Would you recommend raking the ground (mines on soil at the moment) and changing the straw every week? I've had them for a couple of weeks now, do a daily removal of the poo from under the perch area in the morning - weekly clean out of the coop (replace all bedding) and am planning on a monthly wash out with ***** or similar. I was also planning on raking out and relaying straw in the run monthly too. As above, they're in it 8-4.30 odd two days of the week, else they're out around a couple of gardens.

The ground doesn't loook "tired" or worn yet, but I suspect that's because they've only been kept with me for a few weeks.

[RichmondHens]

Chris - I would go for woodchip in a permanent run. You won't then need to do anything to it as the hens will "rake" it over for you! Put in a layer of about 5 inches, this will give them plenty to dig in. You may find you need to dig out and replace after about a year (some people do it every 6 months but this is dependent on how much the chickens are in it, if they are free ranging a lot of the time the run will not be so heavily soiled). Straw is cheaper but is time consuming raking up and replacing, and you have to bear in mind how you dispose of it - large compost heap? Does your run have a top? Can you put a roof on it to keep the ground beneath dry? This will help reduce the mud. If they are only in there two days a week and let out the rest of the time then that's ok.
Re the hen house, don't make it wet, ie wash or spray it, unless it is really stinky. If you clean it out weekly it shouldn't get smelly anyway. Washing houses in the winter is always tricky because you rarely get the type of weather that will allow them to dry out properly - thus encouraging rot. Even if the wood is well treated the chickens will not like roosting in a damp house, and it's not very good for them. I would stick to shovelling up the muck only. Leave the washing out till summertime. If you feel the house is getting a bit smelly you can always chuck down some Stalosan powder (disinfectant powder) but really the hens won't mind, the most important thing is to keep the house as dry as possible. Hen houses shouldn't need a lot of bedding in them. If the hens are roosting on perches then you only really need a few handfuls of shavings underneath the perches and something in the nestboxes - shavings/straw/whatever is your personal choice.

[chris]

Thanks for the info - really appreciate it.

Currently (due to the creocote saga I had hehe ) I line the bottom of the coop with news paper (seems on the bottom layer of it it blots a small bit (0.5cm blob?) of creocote up every so often), then put some shavings on top (not much - more so underneath the perch) Then I've an "Inbox" type in tray (plastic) that I fill with straw (there's two of them - don't think they're both needed but just in case we get a queue forming or what not)

The run I have currently is small (as above) -and also only 90cm high (so it fitted the mesh without me having to make panels or anything - as above it's only really a temporary solution as I plan to make a "proper" walk in one ala Flummery style once we've sorted the garden a bit more.

I've got a couple of branches in the run too, to allow them to get up off the floor if they have to, but with the water feeder (ta for that suggestion) hung from the roof they often knock it and it spills out a bit. The run is under a tree, so doesn't really get that wet, but I will be covering the roof with something (thinking clear onduline type stuff).

I'd not thought of wetness in the winter, glad you said that.. Just paranoid about pests/diseases!

The run isn't really mucky - they mostly decide to cr@p on our decking grrr!!