Wanted Please - Harrogate / York / Leeds area

[Roobaloo]

Sorry if this has already been discussed before, I tried searching but got a lot of unrelated results!!

 

How many chickens should you have as a minimum?

 

One is an obvious no-no...it's not fair to keep any flock/herd animal alone as their basic instinct is that isolation is a death sentence.

 

I have two....but someone said to me you should only ever have a minimum of three hens. The reason being that because one hen is dominant, it helps protect the under-dog as a) there is another bird so the dominant one won't focus solely on one and b) it gives the under-dog company, rather than isolation.

 

I can see that to a degree but there are so many "but what if..." (what if the 3rd hen is also aggressive to the under-dog, what if the dominant bird only has issue with the under-dog...etc)

 

How many is your 'minimum' and why?

[Busybird]

I would say 2 as an absolute minimum. The problem with that is when 1 dies you then have a lone hen and may, subsequently, have to deal with a more tricky introduction.

 

I would advise starting with 3. Then, when 1 dies, introduce another 2. The 2 on 2 introduction should be easier.

 

However, the number of hens you keep depends on your housing and, more importantly, your run size (assuming they are confined to the run for significant periods of time). If you only have room for 2 hens in your run then that would need to be addressed before the 'flock' could be expanded. Hens in a cramped run are more likely to cause problems.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I'd say 3 too, for the "just in case you lose one" reason

 

I started with 3..have been up to 24 & back down to 16 now (happily rehomed rather than sadly departed most of them )..........I'm not suggesting you will become as addicted as many of us are on here ...just be warned it can happen

 

Sha x