Raising chicken in confiment

[jk47]

I would like to know the best method and practice to raise hen in totally in confiment given they I had room to walk around and hade plenty of air and big windows.now I know that this forum members tend to like their chickens to free rang a bit.so I don't want respondes saying that its wrong or anything like that please only helpfully advise

 

[donrae]

You'd need to be more specific on the type of confinement. Are you talking in the house? In a large poultry barn? A shed? One bird or 20 or 100? And I gotta ask, why would you do this?

 

[ChickensRDinos]

It may help to clarify exactly what you are looking to do and what your end goals are? Number of birds? meat birds? laying hens? What sort of advise are you looking for? It is fairly common to keep backyard hens in a coop with an attached, completely enclosed run so that the birds are safe from predators or kept in a certain part of the yard. This keep them confined but gives them an indoor and outdoor space. Is this what you mean by confinement or are you wanting to keep your birds indoors in some other arrangement? (if so, why?)

Keep in mind that just about all living things need sunlight to thrive and if you are considering a completely indoor situation ventilation and dust will be issues that have to be addressed very seriously. Also, chickens scratch and dig and bathe in dirt as instinct behaviors. They will need an outlet for these sorts of things. An average sized chicken needs about 4 sqft of coop space and 10 sqft of run space if confined to a run (ground space, per bird). Overcrowded chickens quickly become aggressive and can turn into cannibals. (seriously)

 

[jk47]

You'd need to be more specific on the type of confinement. Are you talking in the house? In a large poultry barn? A shed? One bird or 20 or 100? And I gotta ask, why would you do this?

What I mean is that they would be in their hen house permently and the house well be the right size for the number of birds there and their is 2 large windows and 4vents and a dirt/shaving floor so they well get sunlight and good ventilation and they well get a small small amount of scratch to keep them busy they just won't go outside and they are layers also the coop has a dirt area so they can dust bath and the house is large enough that the lower order hens can avode the higher order hens and I have been raising them like this for 3batches of hens and haven't had any more feather pulling then chicken normally do and I only ever had one wound to treat
And their in batches of 20

 

[bobbi-j]

What I mean is that they would be in their hen house permently and the house well be the right size for the number of birds there and their is 2 large windows and 4vents and a dirt/shaving floor so they well get sunlight and good ventilation and they well get a small small amount of scratch to keep them busy they just won't go outside and they are layers also the coop has a dirt area so they can dust bath and the house is large enough that the lower order hens can avode the higher order hens and I have been raising them like this for 3batches of hens and haven't had any more feather pulling then chicken normally do and I only ever had one wound to treat
And their in batches of 20

A couple of questions - maybe more than a couple - just because I'm curious. What is the "right size for the number of birds"? Are you going by the "so many square feet per bird rule", or do you have some other way of figuring that out? Do the windows open? How large are the windows? How big are the vents? How much is "normal feather pulling"? I have to ask this one because I have not seen any feather pulling in my mostly free range chickens (they are confined to their coop right now - by choice due to the weather). Do you raise them and sell them? How often do you raise a batch? How long do you keep each batch? How big is your building? It sounds like you've already been raising them this way - why are you asking for advice now? Please realize I'm not trying to be judgmental - I'm just trying to figure out your operation. The more information you can give, the more help and advice people are able to offer. I'm also wondering why they can't go outside at all?

 

[jk47]

I raise egg layers for 2 and half years for each batch. The windows are made of chain link
The building itself now I'm not sure the exact
Size of the building but its around the size of 3good size horse trailers lined up next to each other And I do sell the eggs small scale
And to answer why I raise them this way it's
kinda you know that guy before you raised
Them that way and is bird were healthy and happy and I helped raise them. So when I went out on raising chicken own my own I naturally used the same method and same everything because I know it would work
And what advice I want is what do others do
To keep up production and what feeds they use and what pest control and meds if any