[SalJ1980]

CHICKENS!!!!

OH and I are going to be moving house in about 6 weeks, and our absolutely lovely new landlady has said that (as long as I check with the neighbours, who she says are very friendly) then I can have chooks!

I've never kept 'em before, though I've always wanted to, and I know there's a lot to consider before going ahead with it, but that's fine cos I'll want to wait a while until we've settled in to the new house, and then there's Christmas and New Year, so realistically it'll probably be early next year anyway.

As I intend to build the hen house and run myself, what I want to ask you folks (to start with, there'll be plenty more questions later!) is how much room each bird needs, both inside and out? I've googled and looked at all sorts of websites, but seem to get conflicting suggestions all over the place, and hoped someone here will be able to give me a better idea.

The garden is only small - there's a small paved yard area just outside the back door with a couple of outbuildings attached to the back of the house, and then a gateway through a wall to a grassy area (can't be called a lawn, it's too scruffy!) about 10ft by 10ft. Whilst I'd love for them to be properly free-range there is only a low fence between us and next door, so they might just have to be restricted to a large run, and just be let out when we're in the garden to keep an eye out for any escape attempts!

I've seen THIS type of design (eg raised house to maximise space inside run) but am not sure if it's ideal to keep birds enclosed in permanently (or most of the time) or whether it would be too small? I'm thinking of maybe 3 or 4 bantams to start with.

Anyway, sorry for the essay, it's turned out a lot longer than anticipated!

[WR1]

WOOOOHOOOOOOO :compress:  :cheers:

Congartulations hehe

[SalJ1980]

Thanks...it's only a small chance, but that's better than no chance!  

[poultrygeist]

Great news Sal !!

That henhouse looks ok but the run seems a bit small for more a couple IMO.
Coudl you make your own ? (run and/or coop) to suit the area available.

If you buy a load of welded mesh (19g min) you could just put up posts to suit and unroll the mesh as you go, fixing it to the posts to a height of about 5', with a skirt at the bottom to stop anything digging in and bob's your uncle  

The 10x10 area is big enough but they'll turn it into a non-grassy area soon enough. You could divide it and give them half at a time to let the rest recover, then swap them round.

COngrats on the move too btw.

Rob

[EggBound]

GO FOR IT!

I got my chickens 4 weeks ago, and bought the coop you have been looking at.  It fits well in my small garden, but it doesn't seem very big with three chickens in it (the house and nest boxes are fine, but the run is quite narrow once you have feeders and drinkers in there.  My chooks are rattling at the door an hour after I open the pop hole.  I feel guilty leaving them in when I go to work and let them free range round the garden whenever I am home.  Don't worry about your grass being scruffy - you won't have much left soon!     I'm worried about the winter cos it'll be almost dark by the time I get home from work.  Going to get OH to build an extra run to attach to coop to give them a bit more room.

[SalJ1980]

Thanks PG, am definitely intending to build my own as I don't have the money to buy one!

With a moveable house and run how often do you need to move them? Was thinking I could use half the space for the chooks and the other half for veg, but obviously that wouldn't work if the chooks would need moving frequently... :?

[nnbreeder]

Congrats!! Now to confuse you even more. I have found that the amount of space required will actually depend on the personality of the birds themselves. Some will be like siamese twins, eating, drinking, roosting and be close if not side by side at all times while others it seems need to be on opposite ends of the earth from each other. Most of the space requirements that you will find are for single caged birds like in a battery operation or the requirements for a big shed like they raise broilers in.
As a keeper it is your chore to watch the birds carefully to look for any trouble, even with birds that get along well there will be squabbles from time to time but they are usually nothing serious.
The coop/run you listed I would try for no more then four full sized hens and maybe six bantams as the bantams are just as hard on the grass as a large hen. It is small enough to move on occasion to give fresh grazing along with a good feed and they should be quite content.

[EggBound]

If you want to see some coop designs try www.backyardchickens.com - there are some really mad ones on there!  

[poultrygeist]

We have a fixed run which is approx 4m square with a 1.5x2m extension housing the coop and feeder,etc.

It is completely devoid of grass so we give them greens as a treat and it will need digging over very soon.

The ideal is to have a couple of square metres (for bantams) each and move it round every week I would have thought, but even then, they can strip the grass pretty quickly. I'd have said for a small garden, accept that the grass will go and put bark chippings down for them in a slightly bigger run. Someone else will be able to advise the complete opposite I'm sure but that's the joy of it. You find a system that suits your situation and follow the few basics and all will be well.

Rob

[nnbreeder]

Here is another good link for coop design. It takes a bit to load up. http://www.thecozynest.com/hen_house.htm

[SalJ1980]

Thanks Eggbound and nnbreeder!

Will have to wait until I move in really to get a better idea of the size of the garden and how I can use it best for the chooks, but I'll be dreaming about them before then I reckon!

Love the link you posted eggbound, you're right there are some crazy hen houses around!  

[happy chick]

Hi Sal, We've been out building our chicken run in the garden today because due to get chooks in a fortnight (Sat 18th).

Ohh the mud.....   did i mention the mud; and then there was more


MUD!!  AAaaaaarrrrrggghhhh.  :!:   That's b4 the chickens!!! Why oh why are we getting chickens in October; all this work and probably no eggs til the spring.  

Think you're infinitely sensible getting chickens in spring.  I know it's tough waiting but just think about the longer days with summer just around the corner to break you in nice and gently.  In the meantime, happy dreaming.  They say 99% of the fun is in the anticipation