hen keeping advice pls

[shamie]

hi,new here, just wondering,how many hens cud i put into a shed dats 3.5 foot by 7.5ft and 7ft high. its my first venture into hen keeping, so any advice is welcome, thanks in advance, also have area 60 ft sq fenced for it .

[dave45]

I'm new to hen keeping, but for reference we have 5 hens in a shed approx 6 foot square, 5 feet high, inside an approx 16 foot square compound. We usually let them out once a day into a wider garden coz they have indeed stripped their compound of all vegetation. They seem quite happy with this at the moment, but I haven't been through a winter with them yet. We shut the pop-hole when the nights get cold, as in the last few weeks (is this going to be enough for them in mid-winter? How will they tell us if it isn't?)

just out of interest, a sample of commercial density minima is here - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc ... 054098.pdf

[Ron and Jean]

I hadn't thought of a shed being too big for chickens to keep warm in winter. We have 6 girls in a 6'x6'shed. I thought so long as there home was wind and water tight their feathers did the rest. We are new to hen keeping too and this will be the first winter with hens. Should we be making the roosting space enclosed within the shed for warmth?
Thanks

[contadino]

I may be wrong, but I think so long as they're out of the wind and rain, if they're cold they'll all perch together to keep warm.

[Annpan]

We keep our girls in a house made on a pallet base (so 1m x 1m) with a raised shelf and a perch We did only have 2 girls in there and I figured they would be too cold when the weather takes a turn. Now we have 5 in the house and the are quite happy in there. They get the run of the whole garden during the day, unless we are out when they get penned up in a movable run. We are going to build a large static run for them soon though because they will need to be kept safe from Mr Fox in the dark days.

[Thomzo]

Bear in mind that I'm in the South of the Uk so we don't usually get very cold winters here, but my two ex batts were quite happy in a simple wooden box, with no insulation and a door permanently open during the two weeks of snow we had last winter.

Remember that chickens have lots of lovely feathers to keep them warm. A bit like their own, natural duvet.

Cheers
Zoe