Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: SaraW on August 06, 2013, 02:02
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Hi, new here so hello :) We are on the point of buying our first hens but not sure how many to get, so hoping some of you can give some advice. We have been busy coop building, and the girls will have permanent access (except at night obviously) to a run approx 17' x 9.5', with access to our whole garden whenever possible, the hen house we have constructed by butchering former rabbit hutches ;) has a floor area of 8.33 square feet and has two perches totalling 74 inches. My quandary is how many hens to get (looking at hybrid pols), I am thinking probably four, but possibly 5 - what do you think, is that too many? Thanks in advance, Sara
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allowing for 3 meters of clear run space per bird then you should have enough room for 5 birds in a run of that size. In a hen house you should allow 30cms perching space per large fowl and 20cms per bantam - although they will probably squash up into a smaller space. For 5 birds I would provide 2 nest boxes but they may all decide to use just 1.
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Sounds like I'm on the right lines thinking of 4 or 5 then, thanks x