Chicken bald back

[JCress19]

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm just wondering how much room chickens should have. We have 3 hens who live in our garden in an eglu classic

This works well for us, however our neighbour (who is a vet) has just asked if we could take in a stray hen. I haven't seen a picture of it yet, apparently its quite small, but I'd just like some advice on how much space chickens need so I can judge whether its a good idea to take this little one on!

 

Many many thanks!

[AndyRoo]

When we were looking in to get our girls, we read that 1 square meter per hen was about right, but obviously more is better.

[mullethunter]

Adding a lone hen to a group of 3 is not impossible but likely to be very difficult. Especially as 4 full size hens is capacity for a Classic.

 

It's likely that the new hen will be badly bullied unless you can keep her separate but very close for some time and take introductions very slowly. I'm sure others will have different opinions, but personally I wouldn't do it.

[sjp]

more important is how small if it's a true bantam then it might not be advisable to put it in with large fowl hybrids. hens can be merciless bullies if they want to be

room wise it depends on whether they free range and how long for and how big the run is and has said about 1sqm per bird minimum

[JCress19]

Our hens definitely have more than 1 m square each right now so that should be fine. I have introduced lone hens to others before so am aware it can be difficult, but have done it successfully so I don't think I'm too worried about that, but obviously it will depend on the size.

 

Thank you all so much!

[The Dogmother]

Adding a lone hen to a group of 3 is not impossible but likely to be very difficult. Especially as 4 full size hens is capacity for a Classic.

 

It's likely that the new hen will be badly bullied unless you can keep her separate but very close for some time and take introductions very slowly. I'm sure others will have different opinions, but personally I wouldn't do it.

 

Ditto the excellent advice above

 

I wouldn't do it either - you have to work on the assumption that there will be days when the birds are in the run all day, so the DEFRA recommended minimum (this is for barn birds - there are no recommendations for backyard fowl) of 1 sq metre per bird in the run is far too little, and pecking will ensue.