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Chickens for Small Spaces

By Emily Peagram
09th June 2023

Taking care of chickens is a very rewarding venture, allowing you to enjoy fresh eggs and the companionship of feathered friends. Maintaining a beautiful garden and keeping poultry is not particularly easy, as pecking beaks will damage any seedlings, and the hens will delight in dust-bathing, scattering dry soil and mud amongst your plants. In restricted spaces, you can keep damage to a minimum by choosing smaller breeds of chickens, known as bantams. Have a read of our advice for caring for these types of bird and the requirements of hens, with a few extra tricks for maximising any limited space for these birds.

ABOUT BANTAM BREEDS
Bantam chickens are smaller varieties of standard birds, growing to about a quarter of their size. There are quarter-sized versions of most pure breeds, and these normally display a number of the same characteristics. However, there are also some birds that only exist in bantam sizes – perfect for limited gardens. As these types have shorter, feathered legs, they find digging and scratching about in the garden quite exhausting, so they create less destruction than regular-sized birds. As bantams are smaller, they also have less of an appetite for garden plants and create less mess. However, they produce smaller-sized eggs as a result – most are half to a third of the size of a standard hen’s egg, so when cooking you will need three bantam eggs to two hen’s eggs. Unlike more
active types, you won’t have to worry about these breeds escaping from your garden. Bantams are also great pets – they are ideal, calm birds to keep near children. They are the most economical type to look after, as they eat half as much as standard chickens – only about 500 grams of commercial poultry food in a week, excluding table scraps. Bantam breeds to consider include Pekins which are docile and make great pets, shy Sebrights, and Nankins which suit small spaces and lay plenty of eggs.

SMALL SPACE REQUIREMENTS
No matter the size of your patch, you should focus on the needs of your chickens. A good way of assessing this is to use the Five Freedoms framework drawn up by the Farm Animal Welfare Council. These include freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury or disease, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear and distress. In order to satisfy this criteria, chickens should be given fresh water and a decent diet, in addition to an appropriate shelter and resting area.

A roosting perch will benefit your birds – they feel safer up higher, but will also sleep on the floor. Nesting boxes are also a good idea – an average of one for every three hens is sufficient. Chickens can lay their eggs anywhere, but if they use a nest box, it will save you from searching the entire coop and run. To maximise space, consider enclosing a run underneath a coop of around 1.2m x 1.8m. Try using a wall-mounted or corner feeder, and remember that water should be kept outside of the coop to maintain a low humidity level inside.