How much space do you need for chickens?
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- How much room do you need to keep chickens?
I think the usual answer of 4 square feet in the chicken house (usually called a coop) and 10 square feet in the run is both too much and too little.
Unless your chickens are confined inside their chicken house, your chicken house size should depend on the width of perch space - at least 30 cm (1 foot) per chicken.
The size of the chicken run is more important. I suggest at least 3 square metres (that's 25 to 30 square feet) per chicken. And strangely enough, the fewer chickens you have, the more generous you should be.
If your chicken run is too small for the number of chickens you have, the ground will get sour, the chickens will be unhappy, bored, aggressive and prone to fights and disease, and it's all much more work for you.
So make your chicken run big enough for the number of chickens you want, or set the number of chickens to match the size of run you can manage. (But no less than three chickens, in 10 square metres (that's about 80 square feet).
For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
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Thank you. We have 5 Orpington chicks into their 2nd week under a brooder in our bathroom claw foot tub. Originally I built a coop for I figured about 3 or 4 and ended up getting 5. Wife and I (and 2 adult children)…(young men rather) are always early risers and someone is always at home at some point. We have plenty of yard space for the 5 we have with a fenced vegetable garden in the middleand looking forward to enjoying our birds this summer! We are planning for winter here in Pennsyvania as well.🌈😃🤙
That sounds wonderful. I'm sure you will enjoy your chickens 🙂
Just love this explanation! Useful chicken math for realistic chicken and chicken keeper happiness ❣️
Thank you. I hope people find it helpful
You have such lovely videos. Thank you so much for all of the work that you put into them!
Thank you for commenting. It's great to know that people like them
THIS! So much better than the 10 square feet per chicken ratio. I just felt like it was way too cramped for my hens. You are the first chicken keeper I have watched that recommends so much more room.
I agree. 10 square feet seems way too cramped for my chickens too, and I'm sure the chickens think so 🙂
I guess it's all about keeping livestock producing versus giving a happy life to those we share our lives with. I'm glad you are obviously someone who cares about chicken happiness. I'm sure they bring you lots of joy in return. 🐥🙂🐥
This was some very good advice about the space needed for chickens. I see people in the FB groups get these tiny coops with small, low attached runs to them and they want to house 6 or more chickens in something barely big enough for one. I appreciate this because we're in a different state and type of neighborhood than we were before, so the needs of our new larger flock will be different than what we had set up before when we lived in the suburbs and only had 3 chickens.
I am going the other way - moving from a big property with a dozen or so chickens to a much smaller garden so I had to work out how many chickens I could fit.
Your channel just came up on my feed, your cute music & your voice caught my attention. I've only had chickens for 4 months & still learning your presentations are so detailed & really informative. So im a new sub & im enjoying binge watching. Thank you for taking the time to help we newbies with our chickies so appreciated. Great vid👍
Thanks! And welcome! I hope you find lots of interesting and useful videos. But the most interesting of all will be your very own chickens!
Thank you for adding meter measurement. Its very good explained subject of space.
Thank you. I do try to include both measurements if I can, even though it sometimes makes the words clumsy.
Very, very informative! Just what I was looking for - thank you so much.
Glad to help 🙂
Hi
I have just discovered your videos, this one was very informative and interesting , I would though, like to say that you can keep 2 hens very successfully without a great deal of effort , though every pet requires and deserves effort and care.
I have two Buff Orpington hens, they live content and happy lives , both raised from day old chicks and are now 8 years old and they also bring me a great deal of happiness ! LOL
I live in London, must people don't have gardens , I am very lucky to have a small garden and my pet hens live full time in their run, each bird, has 19 square feet each, total 38 feet, about 3.5 meters in total for both birds, I use a combination of bark chips and cut grass when available as you are correct the natural grass soon disappears.
I really don't understand though, your comment:
' So make your chicken run big enough for the number of chickens you want, or set the number of chickens to match the size of run you can manage. (But no less than three chickens, in 10 square metres (that's about 80 square feet)'.
I appreciate its your opinion but, it not so clear cut or definitive, as long as the birds are well cared for and have at least 10 square feet per individual bird they will be happy, not everyone can accommodate your prescribed suggestions , before I started to keep hens I researched the space ( Mine is nearly double the requirement size ) with both my local vet and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) 'UK', also, there is no recommendations that you should not keep less than 3 hens , hens of course are birds that like to live in flocks, however they will not suffer any determent from there being only two.
Saying that, I very much enjoyed your videos and I have subscribed to your channel , as I really think it is one of the best !
Thank you
Greetings From England
You are right, there are really no absolute rules except consideration for the welfare of the chickens. The amount of space needed to keep chickens happy certainly depends many variables such as on the breed and their temperament (Orpingtons are certainly placid), as well as factors like what kind of ground cover you want (I agree that bark chips area great option for inside the run), how much other entertainment there is (my chickens love their day-time perches) and what other enrichment you give them (sprinkling mealworms into the bark keeps that occupied for hours). I've recently moved into a suburban garden and have far fewer chickens because I have less space - do check out some of those videos - I can see you are watching lots :-). I really do want my chickens to have access to growing green things (as well as fresh leaves from my garden spinach etc) and I'm still working out how to achieve that on a smaller property - my latest plan is a 6-metre long pecking garden (see my video about a smaller version to understand what I mean). And yes I guess two chickens could be happy together (although I'd be worried something might happen to one of them) and you have demonstrated well well that it's true - I'm sure Marie Antoinette and Empress Eugénie are totally spoilt :-) Above all, I'm glad you do keep chickens in a small London garden - I know they must bring you as much joy as you bring them.
Excellent and very well done!
Thank you I appreciate that 🙂
I really enjoyed all your videos and I appreciate your in-depth knowledge.As an Africa am considering breeding chickens and my goals are to improve egg production and meat in our local chickens.Am also a fun of seeing beautiful chickens (the wow factor).Am considering trying to breed some rare and color patterns as my third goal.Can you advice me or recommend a special beautiful breeds to try?
Well I guess a lot will depend on what you can get to start from. Are there different breeds available? Or are you allowed to import fertile eggs?
Fertile eggs are allowed.how safe will the eggs arrive to the country is the headache
Do U recommend importing some breeds.
If you can get fertile eggs there are a couple of heritage breeds that might suit your purposes - good for eggs and meat, and pretty to look at.
- probably my top pick would be Plymouth Barred Rock
- Light Sussex and Wyandotte are inclined to go broody but you might find that an advantage if you want hens to hatch chicks
- Rhode Island Red are very attractive although not patterned
- I like the Welsummer and Barnevelder.
@@chickensinmygarden thanks a lot.will consider such.
Thank you for another video filled with useful information and cute chickens! I love the set up of your chicken coop and run.
It has kind of evolved over the years. Everyone has slightly different challenges and needs so everyone's set up will be different. But hopefully this can help give people ideas that might work for them
A local landscape gardener brings me his turf offcuts for the girls so they get new grass in their run every now and then
I bet they love that! And that's a very handy landscape gardener to know 🙂
If you haven't already seen it, you might be interested in my video about a little garden of greens right in the run for the chickens
ruclips.net/video/5JrR2_x0-DI/видео.html
My coup is a 10×8 with a 10×12 run and I have 13 chickens in it at night. Plus I have 6 eight week old pullets that will eventually sleep in the coup with the 13. They are turned out in the morning and have the whole backyard as a run. When it's raining I open their door and leave it up to them to decide if they want to come out. We have the backyard fenced in so they can't leave the property and hopefully no dogs can get in. Hawks could get to them, but there's so many tree branches that it would be hard for them to dive down and take one away. I am a bit of a worry wart and check on them many times during the day.
It sounds similar to my setup and things are going great.
Excellent! Happy chickens make for a happy chicken keeper 🙂
I don't dare free range my girls. But I do give them plenty of offal from my gardens and plenty of bugs. I'm working on starting a composting corner in the run, to farm bugs and worms for them to eat. It will also be a boredom buster. Plenty of perches at different heights and a couple toys hanging will keep them busy and happy.
That sounds wonderful 🙂
Great to see another video! Thank you.
Thank you for watching and subscribing. It's great to know that people enjoy my videos
I love your effective images
Thank you. I try to make the ideas understandable. It does take me a long time to make each video but I have quite a few of them now. No chance of running out of ideas yet though! 🙂
I like your videos. they are very educational. I have Barred Rocks and Wyandotts
Thank you 🙂
I like both Barred Rocks and Wyandottes. But I have found that the Rocks can be a bit bossy. Have you found that?
This was great information, thank you!!
Thank you. I appreciate your compliment 🙂
Thank you for making a wonderful video! :)
Thank you! And thanks for watching 🙂
Well done. Thank you.
Thank you for watching and commenting 🙂
Excellent video, thank you!
Thank you. I hope you find it useful 🙂
That was informative!
Great to hear! 🙂
Great video!!!
Thank you 🙂
All they do is sleep in coop
If you free range should be ok
8x8 foot and about 9 foot high is my coop
Can I put 30 chickens in
Like
Jersey giants
Bielefelder
Americanus
Buff Orpington
That’s my plan
My run is 80 feet by 80 feet
How often should one clean a run? Would we just dig it up and turn it into the ground? Or replace the flooring material?
Well, I can only say It depends. On how many chickens you have in what size area, how well drained it is, what the ground cover is, whether you have had a problem with parasites, etc etc.
As a guide, for 10 years I had on average 10 chickens in an area of about 3000 square metres covered in grass, and I never did anything with the grass.
Here in town my run is just 12 square metres covered in bark mulch and other vegetation, and I have 6 chickens. On average once a year I dig out the composted soil below the top layer, but that's mostly because I want that amazing composted soil for my garden. I top it up with bark or tree clippings etc as they come to hand throughout the year or if the ground looks too wet but it's now very well drained so once a year is plenty.
I hope that helps.
@@chickensinmygarden thanks for the quick reply. It helps a lot!
we have 6 Sussex and they are still around 10 weeks so how much space would they need when they are hens?
Sussex are large chickens but fairly placid. The calculations for the average chicken as shown in this video apply.
great~!!!
Thanks 🙂🐥
We don't have any bedding for our run except crush rock. Will that work good for them???
Something soft would be much better. Can you give them a bale of straw to scratch around? Or a pile of Fall leaves?
I'll try and find some fall leaves it's just we r getting chicks for the first time!!!!!!
How exciting! Do try to learn as much as you can and get set up for them before they arrive.
Good luck. I'm sure you will enjoy them so much 🙂
Please help. Need advice on sick hen. Treated for gapeworm. Vet thinks there might be something else going on eternally with her reproduction. Hen is stand with eyes closed. Not eating or drinking. What would you do to nurse her back to health? Or until i can get her xrays on Monday..
Oh dear. Definitely in big trouble. Have you considered egg bound?
I assume she is adult and laying
@@chickensinmygarden she laid a soft shelled egg on Friday. But she hadn't laid for a week prior. Warm bath do you think?
To be honest I have never managed to cure an egg- bound hen so I'm no expert. I have heard that a warm bath can help and if she's calm, it can't do any harm
@@chickensinmygarden okay ill try that. It will make her feel better im sure. Thank you 🕊💞🕊
Fingers crossed for both of you
Shouldn't the perch be flat?
It needs to be wide enough for the chickens' feet to rest comfortably on (about 3 inches) but with smooth rounded edges because they are easier on the feet than sharp edges 🙂
I like eegs
Me too🙂
What is that in sq feet
One square metre is 10 square feet.
10 square metres is 100 square feet.
To go from square metres to square feet, just add a zero onto the number.