Space required for raising chickens in pens

[Ray987]

So you have a 300 square foot barn and you want to sub-divide with smaller wire pens inside this enclosure?


Each bird needs 10 square foot of space and 1 foot of roosting space, *minimum*

You get less and less problems between birds the more space they have.

So just do the math for your pens.

Thanks for the info, so that's like 1 square meter per bird lot more than I expected thought 3 per square meter would be more like it, i guess it depends on the breed? Fayoumis are a small breed
As for roosting I'm not sure how they can roost, it's gonna be stacked pens 2 story I forgot to mention that part (probably 70 to 100cm high for each story, something like this but all metal and wire

 

[thistlewick]

Thanks for the info, so that's like 1 square meter per bird lot more than I expected thought 3 per square meter would be more like it, i guess it depends on the breed? Fayoumis are a small breed
As for roosting I'm not sure how they can roost, it's gonna be stacked pens 2 story I forgot to mention that part (probably 70 to 100cm high for each story, something like this but all metal and wire

Ahh I see you're doing this much more like a typical american industrial chicken way instead of a backyard chicken way.


How *clean* are your pens?

The ammonia build up from chicken droppings is *deadly* to chickens and will cause respiratory problems. If you don't want to clean the poop up often, a poorly ventilated housing will cause these issues and death.

So you have a concrete housing, with 4 windows and a door? Where are they oriented in the building? Do you leave them open 24/7?

 

[Ray987]

Ahh I see you're doing this much more like a typical american industrial chicken way instead of a backyard chicken way.


How *clean* are your pens?

The ammonia build up from chicken droppings is *deadly* to chickens and will cause respiratory problems. If you don't want to clean the poop up often, a poorly ventilated housing will cause these issues and death.

So you have a concrete housing, with 4 windows and a door? Where are they oriented in the building? Do you leave them open 24/7?

I haven't built the pens yet I plan to make them similar to quail pens with a removable droppings shelf, I could clean them daily or few times a week

4 windows and 2 doors, I keep the windows open during the day unless there's heavy wind or rain while during the night i close everything except for one henge (50cm x 100cm) I don't mind installing some exhaust fans if required but I don't think it's needed currently until I have more populatio in there

Doors facing south and north, windows facing east and west

 

[FrostRanger]

If it's possible, I would ask a vet to preform a necropsy so you know exactly what disease you're dealing with. Home necropsies are good but there's only so much you can find on your own. I am not familiar with what is available in your area but it may be possible to vaccinate your birds against whatever is going around but you'd need to know for sure what you're dealing with. Barring that, an alternative albeit more time consuming solution would be to breed for resistance to whatever is going around. The idea being if you breed the most resistant birds their chicks will be more resistant too but it depends on if you're willing and able to do so. In any case I wish you luck!

 

[thistlewick]

I haven't built the pens yet I plan to make them similar to quail pens with a removable droppings shelf, I could clean them daily or few times a week

4 windows and 2 doors, I keep the windows open during the day unless there's heavy wind or rain while during the night i close everything except for one henge (50cm x 100cm) I don't mind installing some exhaust fans if required but I don't think it's needed currently until I have more populatio in there

Doors facing south and north, windows facing east and west

Well, I'd clean them daily if you don't have the ideal ventilation set up - ammonia builds up fast and especially if you close everything off every night. This is a recipe for disaster.

So if you want to wait and do it just a couple times a week you need to sort out the ventilation issue -- and at night -- they cannot be all closed in at night with no ventilation; no wonder you're having problems!

Here are two different takes on the same idea of ventilation; industrial versus backyard:

 

[Ray987]

If it's possible, I would ask a vet to preform a necropsy so you know exactly what disease you're dealing with. Home necropsies are good but there's only so much you can find on your own. I am not familiar with what is available in your area but it may be possible to vaccinate your birds against whatever is going around but you'd need to know for sure what you're dealing with. Barring that, an alternative albeit more time consuming solution would be to breed for resistance to whatever is going around. The idea being if you breed the most resistant birds their chicks will be more resistant too but it depends on if you're willing and able to do so. In any case I wish you luck!

Sadly we don't have any vet to preform a professional necropsy I've contacted 4-5 vets and they all have different diagnoses and described meds over the phone that did absolutely no good, don't know if any good vets are available in other cities but it's mission impossible
I do wanna figure what this is and vaccinate against it but if it's simply due to humidity causing poor welfare I don't think vaccination can fix it?

 

[Ray987]

I spent a lot to build this room yet it turns out it's not good enough for chickens they're so needy! Considering switching to cattle and get myself a calf instead Lol

Thanks everyone for your help appreciate all the info