Cage sizes for Jap Bantams Help please

[meepitqueenie]

I am new into chickens and ordered some Jap Bantams for my daughter who is just
13. Ordered from Cackle hatchery.

Any ways I just got a 8x8 shed the one that looks like a barn. one of my friends
was getting rid of it really cheap so I bought it from him and now I want to
convert that over to the bantam barn.

I need to know how much space does one bird require?

How big does the cage need to be and do they require a run outside and how big
should that be.

Right now this is what We have - 2 btw cockerels, 2 btw pullets. 2 mottled
cockerels, 3 mottled pullets. we also have 5 btb (buff) chicks that i don't
know what they are - but the color is bad on there tail so we may keep one male
and some females, it looks to be maybe 3 males and im not sure on the other two.

so right now maybe plan on 12 chickens. we hope to add show quality ones next
year, when we can find a breeder to get some good quality ones.

I was thinking on making one large pen maybe 3x8 or 4x8 with a divider down the
middle so we can separate birds if we need to into 4x4 or 3x4 if we need to.
maybe keep all the girls in one large pen together?

Then on the top of that pen (i need to know how tall i should make each pen too,
i was thinking on making some individual pens for the roosters. so if i had the
bottom cage 4ft deep or 3 ft deep how wide do the pens need to be 2ft? wide.

I want to make sure they are all happy chickens in there new place.

Thanks for any suggestions. or can you email me photos of your cages?

Also I could use some showing tips as we will be showing our chickens in the
open show at the fair. how to bath, do they need ring bands, etc.

Caroline

 

[Zahboo]

Bantams need 2sq floor space inside, 5 outside MINIMUM. This isn't space for feeders, nestboxes and such, just the birds.

If you have 4x4 pens, that's 16 sq feet, say 14 for subtracting nest boxes and stuff, that's space for 6-7 birds. I'd do something like

(click to make larger)

2 4x4 pens, leaving space for a small 2x2 pen for a broody, sick, or chick pen. If it's a barn type, does it have the weird roof? If so I'd stop the pens where the walls start to slope, and have a loft storage. Just for extra nest boxes, feeders, waterers and bulky stuff like that. With the extra space in the front, since you have half the barn left, you can have feed storage, and a place to sit and watch the birds without getting soiled. For the runs I would do 4' off the back of the coop, 4 foot off the side. This gives you 48 sq foot in each run. This is if you wanted to keep your show and pet quality birds seperate (you can see breeder quality/show potential eggs and chicks if you do that) Or you could just have a 4x8 coop and a 96 sq foot run.



That's just my opinion

 

[columbiacritter]

You have way to many roos for you hens. You need to plan on keeping the boys separate from them. My Jap roos that have been raised together have never seriously fought each each. They sparred with little contact and never blood shed so I didn't have them in separate pens.

Remeber your roos will have tall tails if they are show quality so plan on pens that seem tall for such small birds.

As to size of pen, that depends on how happy you want you birds. The more crowded they are without access to outside the more stressed and less productive they will be. My flock of 2 roos and 6 hens has a 15 x 8 run with a small 4x4 coop. Make sure any pop door for a coop is tall enough to accomadate the roos tails.

I also have a small 3 x 8 side run made out of an old dog pen and some shade cloth that lets them periodically access the lawn through a side gate on their run. Their laying more than doubles with access to greens.


Yes you have to band all show birds and if you expect to win anything you have to bathe them. You also need to get them used to be handled since judges don't spend much time on a bird that's freaking out at being touched.

Hatchery quality birds are very rarely worth taking to shows. Get used to having Japa and decide if you like them before investing in show quality birds.