Is your dog's unusual barking a secret code for something mysterious?

[Hayleybug]

hello everyone, I have had a good search through the forum as i'm sure this must have been asked before but i couldnt find a reply! I am planning on getting bantams, having an eglu and having a WIR. I have seen that some people have quite a few chickens in the eglu if they have a WIR as the chickens have enough room in the combination. my question is this- if i had an eglu and wanted to put 6 bantams in it would this be ok for sleeping/laying and if so what size WIR should i have? they would be able to free range when supervised by me and OH work full time so this would be restricted.

thanks!

[pips_pekins]

I am planning on getting bantams, having an eglu and having a WIR..... my question is this- if i had an eglu and wanted to put 6 bantams in it would this be ok for sleeping/laying and if so what size WIR should i have? they would be able to free range when supervised by me and OH work full time so this would be restricted.

thanks!

 

I have 4 bantams in an Eglu Classic and I can't see a problem in fitting in a couple more. They all sleep on top of each other anyway I hope I have got this right but I believe a minimum of 1 sq metre per bird is a guideline and for bantams perhaps a bit less. A lot depends on how much free ranging time they will get although I would go for as much space as possible for when they are in the run. Also, I would suggest you get the biggest WIR you can as you will probably get morehens disease at some point and need extra space .

[Redwing]

You could get six standard bantams on an eglu but bantam orps are very big so you'd possibly be looking at 4or 5

 

Ideally there should be one nestbox per 4 birds so if you get bickering you'd maybe have to provide an extra one in the form of something like a seed tray placed in the eglu in the morning or a cat carrier in the run.

 

A 6x9 WIR would be a perfect size, you could go a little smaller if you can raise the eglu off the ground. If you end up with just 4 bantams then 6x6 would be fine

[Hayleybug]

that's brilliant advice thanks very much to both of you! I will be measuring up the area in the new garden as soon as we get the keys so will have a better idea of what space I can use. I was definitely planning on raising the eglu as lots of others have done so that the hens can use the space underneath (and to save lots of bending to clean etc!). oh and thanks Redwing for the advice re orp banties, i hadnt realised they would be bigger than other banties so would have to look at probably a max of 5 if i did add them to the flock.

I have been reading this forum for over 2 years planning for chickens myself- we have been renting for that time so havent had a chance and we have only just found a house we really like to buy (first time buyer at 32, mad!). i cant wait to get in there and get my own girls!

thanks to everyone on this website for so much excellent advice