how many ?

[Falkirk Bairn]

Hi,

CHICKEN COOP HEN HOUSE POULTRY ARK HOME NEST RUN COUP X | eBay

I've bought this coop and run (not using the run as we have built one 3m x 4m and the girls will get out for supervised free range of garden for a few hours each day).

It says that the coop can accomodate 9 large hens but I'm thinking more like 6, could anybody please advise as I've finally got everything ready and all I need to do is phone round the local breeders to order my girls so i would like to know how many the coop will take.

thanks. x

[RichmondHens]

That kind of ad makes me really angry. It's so misleading. If you put 9 birds in that run it would be little more than a battery cage for them.

You are right in thinking the house is probably not big enough for more than 6. It really depends on what breeds you are looking at. If you were going for Orpingtons for instance which are really large I would put no more than 4 in. With bantams or hybrid LF (which tend to be on the small side) you could get 6 in. They do tend to squish up at night so the housing is really less of an issue than the daytime space. I would recommend starting with 4 hens and see how they use the space and behave within it. If they all seem fairly content and are not turning the ground into a mud patch then you might be able to add a couple more.

[Falkirk Bairn]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I had hoped to get a mix of orpington, maran, wellsummer, vorwerk but having bother getting them just now so I will most likely go for some hybrids as i can't wait any longer, lol.
Will be looking to build my own coop in a couple of years so will wait till then to get the breeds I would like (and hopefully a larger flock).

thanks once again