Allotments 4 All

Hi all,
        If i have to put the new chickens in a pen the area available would be 26ft long,6ft wide,4ft tall.
         The hen house is 4ft tall,x 3ft,x 3ft,and has an external nest box 13ins deep,19ins tall,to 13ins at the smallest ,34ins wide,- can the nest box be divided into three,or two please,also i could easily add a further nest box to the other side of the house to simmilar dimensions.
          The floor to the pen would be at least a 6ins deep mulch of wood chippings.

                    Thankyou for any advice ,
                                      Mark.

It is the size of the henhouse that would cause restrictions on the number of hens.  I would not have more than 4 possible 5 hens in a henhouse of sizes you mention.  This could be further restricted depending upon the breed of hen due to various sizes of different breeds.  The run is more than ample for at least a dozen hens if not 2 dozen. I have 11 hens in a shed 10x8ft, though I have had 20 hens in it at one stage.  It all depends on how cramped you want them to be when they are all inside..........

Thanks kt
          Back to the drawing board then  ::),at least the pen size will suffice.
          Please be patient with me guys as i`m brand new to this,but learn quickly.

                        Regards,
                               Mark.

You guys are very lucky we would like to keep poultry as well but our council in Dundee does not allow us to do so.

I'd allow 2square ft per bird inside the house. When the weather is bad/gets dark earlier they may spend more time inside the house and that means more poo in there, so more room to do their business the better.

With the nestbox you could divide it into two but I find that they all have a favourite box and all queue to use the same one. Chicken logic I guess!

Good luck with the chooks!

Ok - halfway through my second attempt at building a henhouse now.
       It`s 5ft wide,54 inches deep,5ft tall. On the width there is an additional external/internal nestbox 54 inches in length,14 inches wide,20inches high going to 14/15 inches at its lowest.(Four nests i reckon)?
       The run will be approx` 20ft x 8ftx5ft tall.

                Any advice please.(thankyou)

                                Regards,
                                      Mark.

Sounds much better!  I reckon 10-12 hens would be happy in there.  Mine tend not to perch, although they have three perches they could use.  They all huddle together on the nest box roofs in the back of the shed - for warmth at this time of year I think.  My hen house is built into the side of my small barn, so that the entrance is under cover and they can be in the barn in the day if the weather's too awful and I can access it from cover.  Then beside the house is their low door to the outside.

Just been up to feed them and let them out and the water must be frozen to a 4 inch depth.  Had to fill all the containers with fresh water and then do the containers for the sheep and goats too!  Absolutely frozen and thawing out in front of the woodburner.   Roll on spring, warm weather and lots of eggs.