[poultrypeople]

hi, i need help i am quite new to chicken keeping.
i have a large aviary and am planing on keeping 4-5 bantam hens in it.i have lot of lawn an was wondering would 4-5 bantams do a lot of damage to it.

[evie2]

Hi poultrypeople and welcome to the forum

What breed do you have?  Ours are Sablepoots and Dutch Bantams, they do no damage but they do have free range of an 80ft garden

[joyfull]

my Sabelpoots, Belgian barb d'anvers and silkie crosses don't damage our ground but our bantam araucanas do, so it depends on the breed and the individual birds 

[poultrypeople]

i havent brought the birds yet , but planing on buying silkies and pekin bantams. do you know any good small bantam breeds which are good for keeping in a large aviary about (9ft high 25ft long and 15ft wide.

[joyfull]

all true bantam breeds will be happy in that so long as you don't get too many. True bantams are bantams that don't have a large fowl version such as Dutch, Belgians, Sabelpoots, etc. However nobody can say if your birds will dig up the grass as they all like to scratch the ground - this is what birds do I'm afraid. As mentioned before my sabelpoots don't damage the ground but they do free range. Also being pure breeds they do not lay that many eggs maybe 4 a week in their first year but they will ease up over winter.