Topic: I need to bring in my Hens!!!!

[aob9]

Last year I built a permanent 30ft by 12ft run divided in two for three hens. The plan was to alternate them in one half of the run for a period of time while the other half recovered.They skinned the run during the Winter so I left them out during the day into a piece of adjacent ground. They loved this as you can imagine but I need to bring them back into the run permanently. This is because I cannot stop them from finding holes in the hedgerow and finding their way to the back door of the house. This may be cute but the place is destroyed from their droppings, it is also a health hazard to my small children......we also have a lot of foxes in our area.

I want to keep the hens as I am quite fond of them and the eggs are delicious.

However, I want to do right by them. Is this a sufficiently spacious run for three hens? Do I need to provide a permanent supply of grit and sand for dust baths? Most importantly, there will be a lot of hen poo in an area of this size, will this be a hazard to them? and finally, would it be wise to feed them with a feeder or will they just gorge and get too fat.

I am a beginner with hens as you can see but the need to answer all these questions wasn't so urgent when they had loads of space to roam in.

Thanks for reading.

[teresa]

I read somewhere hens need enough room to streach their wings about 3ft. Take into account of the run and hen house width and lenght.  so your space is more than enough.
As for health issuse make sure the hens are wormed twice a year and watch out for lice and red mites, some use frountline for this.
I dig my run over to turn up worms for the hens this when dry they use as a dust bath, but some do use sand, peat ( not cemicals) I use woodshavings in hen house with a scatter of louse powder which they love to have a dust bath in so the choice is yours.
Do make sure you have a dish of grit, helps them digest food and for making shells. Hens will only eat what they need as for pellets or mash ( layers) but when it comes to greens thats another matter mine go mad.

[OliveOil]

I have 10 birds in an 8ft x 8ft run and they are fine - admittedly most of them are small - pekins and silkies but they really are fine. I let them out most nights for 15min-1hr down the allotment and they go scratching about and having fun then.  I have noticed that the more you let them out the more they want to be out. They will soon adapt to being confined again though.

[aob9]

Thanks for the replies......Olive Oil is correct about them wanting be out because they are used to it. I have them confined to the run for most of the day now ( except for an hour in the evenings). They are demented to get out, almost charging the gate at times. They will have to get used to being inside because all the info I can gather indicates that they should be happy in they space they have.......... once they get used to it. :-\