Help me decide on chickens

[scyllarus]

I can't seem to find any information on how you intend to keep these hypothetical chickens. How you intend to keep them is arguably the most important factor in making a breed choice.

At the moment, "free range." The back yard is fenced on all sides and I'm willing to put up a net to deter aerial predators. But the back yard is also a fairly suburban set up and about 1/4 acre, I believe. There's an area within the back yard that's already fenced in that could be secured as a run if necessary, and we'll be building a coop long before we get chicks.

I guess I didn't clarify entirely since...there's not really much forage in the yard, so I'm not expecting them to supplement much, and the yard is going to be fairly contained/protected. I can't let them truly free-range as that's all neighbor's properties.

 

[Shadrach]

At the moment, "free range." The back yard is fenced on all sides and I'm willing to put up a net to deter aerial predators. But the back yard is also a fairly suburban set up and about 1/4 acre, I believe. There's an area within the back yard that's already fenced in that could be secured as a run if necessary, and we'll be building a coop long before we get chicks.

I guess I didn't clarify entirely since...there's not really much forage in the yard, so I'm not expecting them to supplement much, and the yard is going to be fairly contained/protected. I can't let them truly free-range as that's all neighbor's properties.

It reads like a prison yard.
If you were in the UK I would suggest you looked into homing some Ex Battery hens but then again some of the large commercial concerns provide a lot more than a quarter of an acre of ranging ground so it may not be improving their lives that much.

 

[Shadrach]

What chickens like. Still not enough cover spots within easy reach. That's an acre field. They use most of it.

What they don't like. That's a 6m x 6m run. This is what a quarter acre, minus house and outbuildings backyard will probably look like with half a dozen chickens ranging on it all day unless one is prepared to do some fairly intensive ground management.

 

[scyllarus]

It reads like a prison yard.
If you were in the UK I would suggest you looked into homing some Ex Battery hens but then again some of the large commercial concerns provide a lot more than a quarter of an acre of ranging ground so it may not be improving their lives that much.

I suppose I'm a little frustrated because I figured that, if chickens are recommended a minimum of 10 sqft of run space, the back yard is far more than 60 sqft - looking it up, 1/4 acre is 10890 sqft. I appreciate the advice, though.

 

[123RedBeard]

Yes, but the 10 sq ft is a minimum, and it will look like a moonscape in a few months ...

Those giant games won't lay very much ... probably less than 30 eggs a year, unless ... It's a stag/cock!

 

[Shadrach]

I suppose I'm a little frustrated because I figured that, if chickens are recommended a minimum of 10 sqft of run space, the back yard is far more than 60 sqft - looking it up, 1/4 acre is 10890 sqft. I appreciate the advice, though.

I have absolutely no idea how this ten square feet per chicken in a run came about. I do know it wasn't from asking chickens. It seems to me that if one wanted to know how much room a chicken would use given the choice then one would put some chickens on a large area of land and see what they made use of. Funnily enough people have done this and what they report is each group of chickens claimed about an acre per group, much like their ancestors the jungle fowl. I cannot think of a single creature that would be happy confined to that kind of ground to size ratio. This isn't to say one can't keep five or six chickens on a quarter acre plot, a lot depends on what the plot contains. Most building plots of the kind of size tend to be pretty bare of much other than some grass and perhaps a few flower beds and hard standing. This is okayish for people but chickens have a completely different idea of garden aesthetics and what should grow there. I don't usually comment on what breed of chicken should I get threads. What made me comment on this thread is you haven't got chickens yet and you have an opportunity to develope a chicken heaven rather than a prison camp with some patience and work which you will probably enjoy as much as they would. I can read that you've considered their security and hopefully researched their housing. Some time and effort making a garden diverse in vegetation with established bushes and other places of interest in the chickens view will reap huge dividends in the ong run.

 

[scyllarus]

What made me comment on this thread is you haven't got chickens yet and you have an opportunity to develope a chicken heaven rather than a prison camp with some patience and work which you will probably enjoy as much as they would. I can read that you've considered their security and hopefully researched their housing. Some time and effort making a garden diverse in vegetation with established bushes and other places of interest in the chickens view will reap huge dividends in the ong run.

Oh, no, that's fair. There's some trees and scrub, but it's definitely not as natural as I would prefer. My quail already get as much enrichment as I can stuff into their enclosure and I personally don't see a point in lawns, so any chickens I get are getting enrichment.

That being said, thank you for reminding me about this. We'll have time to plan and put in some greenery before we get chicks next year.

 

[123RedBeard]

I had 25 chickens in a 25'X50' run out at daybreak, locked in the coop by sunset ... It was nothing but dirt around the few bushes and trees in a year ...

I too don't understand how this 4 sq ft in a coop, and 10 sq ft in a run came up as a "standard" ... It's way to small in my opinion ... Double the coop, multiple by 20 for a run, at a minimum ...

 

[scyllarus]

I had 25 chickens in a 25'X50' run out at daybreak, locked in the coop by sunset ... It was nothing but dirt around the few bushes and trees in a year ...

I too don't understand how this 4 sq ft in a coop, and 10 sq ft in a run came up as a "standard" ... It's way to small in my opinion ... Double the coop, multiple by 20 for a run, at a minimum ...

It's good to hear other peoples' experiences. I've been talking with the Husband and deciding on how we're going to renovate the back yard in preparation. I'm not sure we have a full 1/4 acre (basing it on my memories of the lot, I think the back yard is at least a full 1/8 acre, not including the house and front yard) so we're going off that estimate for now - about 6000 sq ft for the chooks to explore. I'm hoping that having 1000 sq ft per chicken is enough once we put in more plants and landscaping, but I'm also happy to cut down on the number of chickens - maybe just 3-4 if it's going to be an issue.

Currently doing research on plants. I wanted to try my hand at a permaculture food thing anyway, so this is as good a time as any.

 

[123RedBeard]

Another thing to keep in mind ... Placement of the coop ... If your able to have it in a shady spot in Georgia, all the better, but ... Chickens tend to stick around home ... As in the 25'-50' around the coop will most likely get the most wear and tear ... If you had shade in the middle of the back yard, the chickens would spread out and use more of the yard, compared to the coop in a corner.

Some chickens will tend to roam farther than others, some will scratch more than others ...

If you're planting this fall, by spring chick season you will want some type of protection for the new plants, or the little dinosaurs will dig them up and eat them, give the plants a chance to get established for a year or more ...