Sq/ft per bantam in the coop and run?

[Puresilk]

What is the recommended sq/ft per bantam in the coop, and in the run? And how many roosters per hen is average? I am wanting to have two roosters, what would be the least amount of hens per rooster without causing trouble? Would 5 hens per rooster work ok? I have several books on chickens, and none of them agree with each other. 1 of them says 4-6 hens per bantam is fine, one says 10, and the other book says 15-25. If it matters they are silkies.

 

[patandchickens]

You are likely to run into problems having two roosters *together* in a confined flock. Occasionally it works, more often it does not (especially as they get older and more mature). I would suggest either free ranging them and hoping for the best w.r.t predators and fighting, or (perhaps better) separating the coop and run so they each have their own harem and their own pen.

You'd probably want at least 4-6 hens per rooster, more is better but even with more you may still have a few "favorites" get bare-backed, depending on the particular roo.

I am not certain what space people consider the "minimum" for bantams II only have large fowl breeds myself) but if you give them 3-4 sq ft apiece indoors and 6-10 sq ft outdoors that should be adequate though not spacious.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[BlooRooster]

I have seramas and I can run several roosters at one time in a pen. They aren't overly aggressive. If I introduce a new rooster they might fight, or more like spar, until one shows its dominance and then everything is fine. They will even do this if I remove one from the pen for a little while and then return it to the pen. There was only one time I had to seperate 2 of them because I thought they were going to hurt each other. I have had silkies but not in a large number so I don't know if they would act the same or not but I suspect they will because the silkies I had wasn't aggressive either and I did even run them with the seramas at times with no problem. The more confined your space is the bigger risk you stand with the roosters fighting.

As far as square feet per bird. There isn't a right answer to that. I asked the same question in the pheasant section and it basically started a fight. Opinions vary greatly on how much space is needed for birds.

You ratio of 5 hens per rooster sounds like a good place to start. It all depends on your roosters and how aggressive they are with the hens.

 

[elmo]

With some of the bantam breeds you can even keep breeding pairs (one hen to one rooster). I had one Serama/OEGB roo with four hens, and that worked fine. But we had to rehome him (neighbors complained) and he's doing fine in his new home with only a single hen (or perhaps I should say the hen is doing fine).

I stick with the space minimums for standard breeds for my bantams. You never really can have too much space, only too little.

 

[Puresilk]

thanks for the replies folks, I have just enough run room for 12 birds. The coop will hold more but im not gonna push it.