Poo help please!

[Milesofsmileszzzz]

Hi, from experience how many ex battery birds would be comfortable In a cube? I have plenty of space in the run, and they will be FR once they've settled .. TIA

[AndyRoo]

2 hours ago, Milesofsmileszzzz said:

Hi, from experience how many ex battery birds would be comfortable In a cube? I have plenty of space in the run, and they will be FR once they've settled .. TIA

Hello,

Do you have any hens already? If so, you might want to keep them separated for a little while before introducing them; my understanding is that battery hens can be a little sickly to begin with, but perhaps someone can correct me on that. In the Mark 1 Cube, I think the recommendation was no more than 10 (?) normal sized hens (I have 9 in mine, but I do a mini-clean out in the week and then a full clean at the weekend); in the Mark 2, I think it's suited to between 6 - 8 hens.

With hens, I think most people would agree that the more space you can give them, the better - but it's more to do with their outdoor space than in the henhouse. I think the recommendation is, ideally, about 1 square metre per hen. I give mine 2 square metres per hen, more if you include their outdoor paddock.

I hope that helps,

Andy

[Milesofsmileszzzz]

Thank you for your reply, I haven't had hens for a long while and certainly not in a cube.  I was given a Mk1 (lucky me) .. I have 10 girls coming on Saturday but also have a traditional wooden coop, ideally I wanted them to roost together and prefer the cube for ease of cleaning etc ... I'm getting a excited now as Sat gets closer. 

[Ursula123]

I have 7 hybrids and 3 Bantam's in my cube, there is a 4 meter omlet run attached, they have a large enclosed area if I want to fence them in however they usually free range in 3 acres. They need the outside run/ free range space and if I didn't have that then I would limit my numbers. 

 

[Patricia W]

How big is your run and how much free ranging will they do?  These will determine how many you can comfortably have.  I know they’ve come from a situation where they might not have much space, but they blossom if you can gIve them as much as possible.   The actual cube will house as many as 10 in a Mk 1, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should have that many.   Think quality not quantity

[mullethunter]

Just for housing the Cube will be OK for 10 as long as they all get on OK. Nice space they’ve got 😁

[Milesofsmileszzzz]

The run is 200sq ft (learned how to fathom that today👍) and they will FR every day ..