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Susan Fleming said:
My thought was to make it a sort of small garden-like space, so grow chicken friendly plants in part of it and leave part of it as dirt. Apologies for my ignorance- what do you mean by “refresh the soil”? What is needed?
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You would have to have the chicken friendly plants outside the run. Anything you attempt to grow in the run will be destroyed within a day.
The soil will eventually build up with too much poop load and will need to be changed as it will not be in contact with the earth.
Susan Fleming said:
Also I was thinking of 3 bantams, would that be ok?
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It depends on the bantams.
 
Susan Fleming said:
Also I was thinking of 3 bantams, would that be ok?
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Hi! It's nice to have you here! I'm cheering for you and also think with some good planning and possibly infrastructure that you can make this work.

I think 3 bantams would be great for the size constraint. You won't be getting very big eggs, but they are still very fun to keep. My only concern about bantams is that most of them (maybe besides Silkies) can fly better than standard size chickens, so you would really need a good way to contain them.

I am excited to hear how things go, and we are definitely here (lots of us) if you need it!

Thanks for joining and welcome to BackYard Chickens!
 
DobieLover said:
You would have to have the chicken friendly plants outside the run. Anything you attempt to grow in the run will be destroyed within a day.
The soil will eventually build up with too much poop load and will need to be changed as it will not be in contact with the earth.


It depends on the bantams.
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Ah ok! What material do you recommend for the run? Is dirt the best?

I was thinking of a mille fluer d’uccle, a porcelain d’uccle and a silkie. Would those bantams work?
 
Chickens like to scratch through dirt to search for bugs. One of the intentions with a run is to make it fun for the chickens and less work for the owners. Given this situation, dirt may not work especially if you are not on the ground floor, dirt may be falling through below to other verandas. It might be better to go with a larger medium such as pine shavings or larger mulch. You will still need to clean the poop out regularly without having earth as the base source for composition.
Is discarding animal feces legal in your city ordinances or will you have a way to compost it? No need to answer but something to think about. Each chicken poops about 16x a day. It's amazing the amount of waste these birds produce. Whatever you decide, wishing you luck. We would all love to see pictures once you get it up and running.
 
Susan Fleming said:
Ah ok! What material do you recommend for the run? Is dirt the best?

I was thinking of a mille fluer d’uccle, a porcelain d’uccle and a silkie. Would those bantams work?
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Those breeds would be fine.
I prefer soil and the birds will as well. They will scratch it all over the place so you will need to take measures to keep it on your balcony. And you will likely need to clean around the run daily.
 
Bawkbok said:
Chickens like to scratch through dirt to search for bugs. One of the intentions with a run is to make it fun for the chickens and less work for the owners. Given this situation, dirt may not work especially if you are not on the ground floor, dirt may be falling through below to other verandas. It might be better to go with a larger medium such as pine shavings or larger mulch. You will still need to clean the poop out regularly without having earth as the base source for composition.
Is discarding animal feces legal in your city ordinances or will you have a way to compost it? No need to answer but something to think about. Each chicken poops about 16x a day. It's amazing the amount of waste these birds produce. Whatever you decide, wishing you luck. We would all love to see pictures once you get it up and running.
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Ah thanks so much! It might work then. Our terrace is actually quite large- about 900 square feet, and is the roof of the apartment below us. We garden quite a bit up there with these giant containers we built. I know it all sounds crazy! And we have a giant compost bin out there too. We’re as farmers as Brooklyn can be. 😆 so maybe it will work! Thanks for all of your help and advice! I’m in the planning stages now.
 
Jener8or said:
Hi! It's nice to have you here! I'm cheering for you and also think with some good planning and possibly infrastructure that you can make this work.

I think 3 bantams would be great for the size constraint. You won't be getting very big eggs, but they are still very fun to keep. My only concern about bantams is that most of them (maybe besides Silkies) can fly better than standard size chickens, so you would really need a good way to contain them.

I am excited to hear how things go, and we are definitely here (lots of us) if you need it!

Thanks for joining and welcome to BackYard Chickens!
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Jen makes a very good point here. Silkies may be a good idea as long as you get quality ones and not crosses as then they can't see half the time, can't fly for squat, and are scared to jump more than a few inches. They have slightly smaller eggs and aren't as proficient at laying as most, but pretty close at 5 out of 7 days. If a recipe calls for three eggs, we use four.
 

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