[Kate and her Ducks]

I think it's unlikely that the RSPCA would have a different opinion to a government department, that wouldn't work.  

I'm surprised that they make such a fuss over battery farming then as that is something that is still (for the short term) legal and therefore supported by the government!

[Vecten]

Mooie, DEFRA only has the specifics for caged, barn and free range eggs.

Believe it or not, but barn hens can be stocked to 9 per m sq, which to me is not any better than battery cages!

But thats the floor area. They are probably working on the assumption that a third will be roosting and another third will be nesting. Even so, its tight.

[Vecten]

I think it's unlikely that the RSPCA would have a different opinion to a government department, that wouldn't work.  

I'm surprised that they make such a fuss over battery farming then as that is something that is still (for the short term) legal and therefore supported by the government!

Well, it's not really supported by the government as they are phasing it out before the EU want them to, but the RSPCA can never make a court case stick if the government has lower standards than them.

[mooie]

9 per square metre sounds cramped!! Obviously it all comes down to common sense and you have to hope that people keeping chickens have a little or at least come on sites like this and get some advice 

[ManicMum]

I suspect that the guidelines for farming chickens are always going to be very different from what 'pet' backyard keepers would apply.  Farmers are looking to maximise profit, we're mainly looking at happy birds.  The is probably an element of "economies of scale" - if you have 3 birds, they'll probably all be doing the same thing but if you have 300, as suggested in an earlier post, some will be on the ground, some on perches and some in nestboxes.

The coop/run manufacturers are also looking to maximise profit - and they have a huge market because we are very used to finding things cheaper on the internet & we tend to assume that because it's cheaper it must be a bargain.

If you can't look at a coop before you buy, look very carefully at the measurements and don't accept what the manufacturer says.  Measure out the dimensions of the coop and run on the ground in your garden and visualise chickens in there: would YOU be happy to keep YOUR birds in that space?

[Dominic]

Theres also an element of how long they spend in the run, and how often the run is moved.
If you work from home and your chickens are only in your run when you're (rarely) out of the house or in the morning/evening before you let them out / lock them up, you can get away with a much smaller run.

I'm looking at a run thats probably 3x1m and has 4 or 5 chickens in it.  But its moved to a new location every day.