New Chicken Owner Seeks Sound Advice

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jed moorhouse

jed moorhouse

Hatching
6 Years
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
3
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1
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9
Location
Big Spring, Texas
My wife and I, both raised in the country but now living in town, had been talking abt getting laying hens for quite some time. Recently we we kind of rushed into traveling to my dads home to pick up ten young layers and a rooster. I built a very sturdy 6 ft wide, 4 ft deep by 4 ft tall hen house with good ventilation, along with a 6x8 ft chain link run. They have one large feeder and two 3gallon waterers.
Unfortunately it seems i hurried before i completed my homework. Reading more on BYC, i found the typical requirements for Space Per Chicken. Apparently i have half the coop space as well as half the run room needed. I currently dont have a lot of money to expand space or build another coop. The chickens have been spending the cool mornings and evenings outside but stay inside during most of the day. They dont seem to be unhappy with their new home. With the above information ive given, what are my best options/course of action. Thank you in advance.
 
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I think it would be best to rehome 5or 6 of the pullets, unless you have a large, fairly safe area for them to free range for a few hours a day. Now now it would work but, if you have inclement weather for weeks on end during the winter, they will go bonkers being in such a small area for most of the day. That means feather picking, fights, etc. etc.
 
Greetings from Kansas, jed moorhouse, and
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! Great to have you aboard! For what it's worth, my run and coop are 1/2 the size recommended but my birds have unlimited free range everyday and spend little time in the coop except for laying and bedtime and in the run only for food and water. That's how I get by. Good luck to you!
 
Like previously mentioned, as long as they have lots of room In their run and if you let them out, it could be done IF you don't have to deal with winter. Being locked up in a small space will really just frustrate your girls and cause them to pick at each other.
 
It would be best to double the run space based on the number of chickens you have and the size of the run you have for them now. However, you may not need to double the run, you may only want to make it a little bigger. They will pick at each other though if confined to a small space and area, and that will cause bigger problems in the long run if you don't expand it.
 
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