[Bonniebean]

Hello form a newbie to the site, although I have been reading some of the forums for a while for some guidance to embarking on chicken keeping. This is the best forum I have found for up to date info - so thank you all, and I hope you will have patience while I learn the ropes.
A few years ago I converted the front garden to a vegetable patch ( much to the fascination of the village!) and having got that ticking along nicely I have decided to embark on keeping chickens for the interest, eggs and chicken poo! I have bought a giant doodlehouse which has a house size of 3' x 3' (nest boxes 4) attached, and am building my own walk in run of 9' x 6'.  I have read so many different things about numbers of chickens, can you give me some help please? I will probably choose hybrids but any other suggestions would be gratefully received, although I would like reasonably placid birds due to grandchildren and small dog!

[Casey76]

Hi, and welcome to the forum   You will find it quite addicting, as you will chicken keeping

If you are measuring in feet (I guess you are) then a run 9' by 6' (3m x 2m) will be grand for 3 large chickens, or 4 smaller types, based upon 2sqm (18 square feet) per bird - minimum space is 1 sq m (9 sq ft) per bird, but 2 (18) is much better, especially fif you are going to have a fixed/permanent run.

As for birds, orpingtons and chochins are reputed to be very placid (for the grandchildren), however being purebreeds they are not so prolific layers as the hybrids... however will still produce the same amount of poo!  They are also some of the largest chooks out there, so you would definitely be looking at only 3 birds in your run.

I'm not really up with the hybrids currently available in the UK (and all of mine are rather flighty), but no doubt you will have others pop in to give advice too

[Flowerpower136]

Well, if want poo, you certainly are not going to be disappointed.  I've had my 8 ex batts since August and am on the 3rd darlek compost bin dedicated entirely to chicken debris.  They poo for England......... and Wales, and Scotland and Ireland. 

Luckily I am a huge fan of compost, so not complaining at all.........just warning you

If you can, visit as many chicken setups as possible, then you can see what you like and what don't like, and a good way to make your decision re what chucks to get too.

[HMQG]

Hi,
    We have 4 different hybrids. The most docile is our amber, very placid and friendly [And greedy lol].
 Our heritage skyline is also very friendly but a little bit more flighty [still my favourite though] She is so interesting to watch, always doing something.
Our black rock type is a little bit more aloof, though still wouldn't call her unfriendly and she is quite a prolific layer too.
We also have a little rhode ranger, who again, is perfectly fine, but not overly friendly.

I think the hybrids have different names depending where you get them from.

Hope this helps a little

[Bonniebean]

 :)Thank you all, every bit of advice is gratefully received!