dogmaddebbie Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hi I would love to keep some chickens in my garden, however a few queries. They would be kept in a closed run approx 8ft square and let out at the weekends and evenings in the summer for a supervised garden ranging. Their run would have to be on concrete. Firstly how many could I keep in that size (for a decent standard of life for them). If I was to get ex battery hens, how old are they when I would get them, how much longer would they live for and how much of that time would they lay eggs for? Would love to keep them but still need to convince other half! Many Thanks Debbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Hello and welcome to the forum. 8ft square is quite big.....I reckon 3 or 4 would be quite happy in a run that size......with the opportunity to free range at the w/e. Ex batts are around a year and a bit old when rescued. There is no guarrantee of life expectancy with them as they have had a very hard life. With lashings of TLC they should recover in a few months and live for a few years. They should lay for as long as any other hen........they all lay a bit more sporadically as they get older. There is heaps of information on all the above on the excellent Battery Hens Welfare Trust website. **Look here** Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Welcome to the forum. I would also say 3/4 would be fine in that size run. You could make it interesting with perches and stuff. good luck with persuading OH. Chickens are fab - you wont regret it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iChicken Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 If the Eglu run is 6x2ft and suitable for 2 medium sized chickens to live in an 8x8ft run should be able to accomodate 6-8 chickens especially if they are let out to free range for a little while each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little chickadee Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 welcome to the forum - such a lot of new faces at the moment I don't know much about ex batts but I'm sure there will be plenty of words of wisdom from others soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
