Chicken bald back

[janedent]

I have 3 ex battery chickens in an Eglu classic. Since I only get one egg per pay, I'm thinking of getting 2 more ex batteries. I know the Eglu classic says it can accommodate up to 4 chickens, but does anyone have experience of keeping 5 large hens in one? The run is big enough for 5. I don't want to overcrowd them, but they all huddle into one corner of the Eglu at night anyway.

Jane

[Egluntyne]

The usual information is that you should provide one nesting box per 4 hens, and an absolute minimum of 1 sqm run space per hen.

 

Have you wormed your hens and given them a health check to see if there is anything obvious interfering with their laying?

[Olly]

Four is the recommended maximum, however I and others on this forum have had five sleeping in one quite happily. As Egluntyne says, the nest box might be an issue. You can buy or make a second nesting box.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I have had 6 with one eglu but only 3 were laying (and they didn't sleep in it). An extra nestbox (pet carrier or box of some sort) should do the trick if all 5 were laying.

[sandyhas3chucks]

5 is lovely and snuggly in the winter. I find 3 in the heat is ok. Put my Eglus are situated in a spot where the heat does not escape really easily in the summer. (just my experience)

You will need somewhere else for the initially maybe a decent sized Cat carrier, also maks another nest box during day but I find mine ALL want the same nest box and the favourite nest box changeing from time to time, they form a complaining queue and sometimes sit 2 at a time very funny...

just been given some Avi Tonic (by a specialist Av Vet )a new formulation apparently by another Avian vet esp for old bats and broilers.

Might be worth a go.

Day one today so cannot comment.

[percy049]

We have 5 hybrids in the , and theres still room to spare! We do have a bit of a problem regarding nest boxes - omly 4 lay, but the rescued hen who doesnt lay eggs sits in there and lays imaginary eggs!

[janedent]

Thanks for your advice everyone. I'll sort out another nesting box as you suggest. Yes, I worm them every month. I think maybe it's just because they are old (4 years old).

Someone told me recently that if you give your chickens too much space, they lay less as they use their energy roaming around instead of producing eggs. Is there any truth in this do you think?

Jane

[izzys-hens]

Hi, im not sure about chickens but we had an eglu and a coop for 8 bantams as they used to fight and stuff but now all 8 of them cram into the eglu, in actual fact when the door is closed there is still quite a bit of room. They dont seem to mind and they did (at the moment they dont as we have chicks ) have the choice of going into two coops at night. But they prefer to go together.

 

I dont no about chickens but we have 8 bantams in our eglu and they recomend 4.

 

And if you are talking about battery hens, im sure they are quite used to it.

In the winter our 6 chickens like to cram into the two nestboxes we have in their coop.

 

so i dont see 5 being a problem however if you have a 2m run i wouldnt say it really would be big enough for 5 unless they get let out for at least part of the day

[Goosey Lucy]

If you're worming them every month, are you using a herbal wormer such as Verm-X? I started off using this but switched to Flubenvet and haven't had any problems with worms. I now use the premedicated feed but I originally used the loose powder and mixed it in myself.

 

Also 4 years of age is a good age for an ex-bat, it could well be that they have reached the end of their laying days.

[percy049]

My ex-free range hens stopped laying about 4 months after we got them. Ive only got one left now, who is just over 3 years old

[The Dogmother]

As the others have said, they will happily snuggle up at night or double up in the nest box, but you're restricted by the run size. You need to allow and minimum of 1 sqm per bird... that's 'AT LEAST'.

[Patricia W]

I have four ex-bats, they free range all day and always lay an egg each every day so I don't think there is a correlation between space available and number of eggs.

 

I agree you can get up to 4 in an classic, but I wouldn't like to keep that many in a standard classic run, you'd need at least one extension.