Solitary chicken - need advice

[jameslcfc]

Hi, I am wanting to naturally incubate eggs in the spring and am going to be altering my run etc. I wondered how much room I will need? I have a outdoor plastic box I have altered as a nest box but wondered how much of a run I will require? I will be looking at half a dozen eggs to start. I assume I will need a good size run as the chickens will be in the run until they are old enough to be moved or introduced to the others? There is not much info on the internet about setups. Im basically going to split my run in 2 and have half for my hens and half breeding. The run is probably 10ft x 4ft and 6ft high. I only have 3 silkies 1 polish frizzle and a gold top

[Beantree]

You need to be able to move the run and coop James, to get them onto fresh clean ground. The mother hen will do some massive stinky poos out there during incubation and you need to be able to move the chicks off it. Our units are 80cm x 60cm coop with an attached secure run (rats are the enemy) of about 160cm x 80cm. The whole thing can be lifted as a unit. The run must have solid sides to stop wind and a covered top to stop rain.

 

You may find a rabbit hutch with run ideal? May need to add some covering at the sides.

[sjp]

my broody pen is 4ft x 2ft which I find is ok for a broody and up to 6 six chicks for about 4 - 5 weeks then they get moved to a long narrow run 10ft x 2ft(which is going to be altered this year) the growers stay in there until the get put in with the big girls and the boys are big enough for the pot

I free range my broodies and chicks from about 3-5 days old and the spare boys right up to they become a pest or are old enough for the pot all my run are non moveable

[miller30]

Hi don't want to sound negative but the first thing to ask yourself is can you deal with the boys you will hatch purebreed you may rehome the odd one or two crossbreed not a chance .I have culled about a 100 purebreed boys this year and sold a few not meaning this towards you but it irritates the hell out of me on Facebook pages when people say I will worry about the boys when it happens and then are begging people to take the boys sorry I sound like right grump leanne

[Redwing]

What you want to do is hatching with a broody not breeding. Breeding needs a lot more room.

 

I use broodies to hatch in rabbit hutches, this means I can keep the bedding clean and when the chicks hatch there is less risk of them wandering away from the broody

 

I'd suggest hatching more than six eggs. If you hatch six say one will be a dud, one or two may not make it full term and of the remaining three chicks one or more will be males. Even a bantam can cope with about 8 eggs and a large fowl up to a dozen or more

 

when the chicks are a few days old they can have more room, 6 x 3ft space is sufficient for a broody and six chicks up to 6 weeks old (or perhaps 4 x 4 if your run is only 4ft wide)

 

Once the broody gets fed up with the chicks (when they are around 6 weeks) she will need to be removed and placed back with the flock. The youngsters will need to stay separate till they are about 16 weeks old then can go in with the others. The space needed to grow 6 chicks to this age would be more than half your run though

 

I echo Miller30's points on cockerels, people always say they have plans for them but then find they have quite a character and cannot bear to cull them when the time comes resulting it lots and lots of 'free to good home' appeals. Unless a cockerel is a great example of a pure breed the chances of a long term happy home are very slim (not impossible but very slim) My personal advice would be get them culled as soon as you realise they are male - that may not sit well with others though!

[jameslcfc]

Ok, I have purchased a rabbit hutch and was wondering whether it should be kept in the run with the others or whether to put it out of site of the others? I also wondered how long I can keep the chicks in the hutch before I need to move to a run?