zircon Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 My OH is picking up an Eglu today ready for some more girls. We have 4 gingers at the moment and are considering maybe another 2 or 4. We were at the domestic fowl trust in Evesham at the weekend and fancy some black rocks. Our run is 6' by 12', the girls get a couple of hours a day outside and occasionally a full day without coming out at all. Your opinions needed: Should we have 2 or 4 and would black rocks mix with my 4 Gingers (eventually). I think we have plenty of room (as the current Eglu is on a table, therefore providing extra floor space and we are going to construct something similar for the new eglu) but I would like your opinions. I dont want to get 4 and have them too stressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 It's a good idea to introduce as many new ones as existing because it makes integrating them easier. I've got 8 chooks, (although 3 are bantams) in a 8'x11' run and they are quite happy in that space. You need to allow a minimum of 1mx1m for each chook (80cmx80cm for bantams), so you can probably *just* squeeze 4 more in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanbb Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 You can NEVER have too many chickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubereglu Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I think it would be better to go for three black rocks, as currently you have 6.69 square metres of run space and with 8 chickens they'd only have 0.8 metres square of floorspace each and really you need the amount of space they have to be as high as possible, so with 7 chickens they'd have 0.96 metres squared of space, which is a lot closer to the metre squared they'd like! Hopefully that's of some help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I've just done the calculations into metres and 1.8x3.6m = 6.48 chooks. Sorry, I keep thinking that 6' is 2m, but it's really 1.8m. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 Thankyou everybody for your replies. I think 3 will do it then, I knew you would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 That sounds like a good compromise. Lucky number seven! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moomin Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 It's good to have an odd number. Like when you buy plants, always looks better with 3 - or 5 - or 7 - or 9!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Well we measured the run last night just to make sure and its 2m by 4.5m....I never was good at guessing games !!! My basic maths mean 2x4.5 = 9. So 8 would be OK...I think we will see whats available on Saturday!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Woohoo! 8 is great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
