Total newbie

[sam1980]

Hi all. Im hoping to own a few bantam chickens as pets. We have a small garden and are not worried about having lots of eggs.

I've been offered cornish game bantams that are point of lay.

I was thinking 3 or 4. So what size run would they need? And is there anything I need to know about the breed?

I have found info about bantams and coop size but these seem smaller than some bantams.


Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Off to keep looking through the posts

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! For bantams the general rule of thumb seems to be about half the space you what you want for a standard bird, 2 sq feet inside the coop and 4-5 outside, but it is always a good idea to go bigger if you can, especially if you have bad winters and the birds will have to stay inside a lot... chickens tend to be happier with more space and take chicken math into account... you will probably want more.
There are some cornish threads if you want to talk to people who have them, a lot of short threads if you want to do a search, and the main longer one seem to be a bantam & standard one https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/398955/cornish-thread and the bantam one https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/289805/bantam-cornish-anyone/70 and a couple years ago they had a picture show on them, some pretty birds https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/532927/cornish-bantams

 

[Alaskan]

Larger is always better, so I would suggest getting the largest coop and run you can fit into your yard,

But I am not familiar with that breed in particular.

 

[sam1980]

Great links thanks.

How can I work out the coop/run size by the sq ft. Im hoping for four hens.

 

[gander007]

Alright

great to have ya here

I try to get at least 5 sq feet per bird but that is a minimum

And plenty of my own space

Have extra cages for the unexpected

And keep aware of predators

Do not for get about chicken math if you have a rooster

gander007

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi there,

and welcome to BYC!

Great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!

 

[sam1980]

Thanks all. Such friendly replies. Im in the UK. So only have foxes to worry about.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Check out the BYC Learning Center for info and the Coops forum for ideas.
This is a manf of chicken waterers, they have some basic calculators on their site for chicken things, feed, water, space etc (most are for standard so divide in half) http://www.chickenwaterer.com/Chicken-Caluclators-s/1842.htm
For the coop/run figure on 2 square feet of usable space per bantam inside and 4/5 outside at least... remember that the nesting boxes, feeders/waterers etc will take up space... you need about 6" of roosting space per bantam also... most of the little coops that you see for sale aren't big enough for the number of birds they say so don't necessarily go by their claims.
By square foot they usually just mean the floor/ground space... So a coop that is 4x4 with a 4x8 run will have 16 sq/f of space inside and 32 sq/f outside... but some of the inside space will be taken up by the feeders/waterers and nesting boxes, so lets say you are left with 12 sq/f, that would be enough for about 6 bantams maximum.... the run at 4x8 would give you 32 sq/f so just over 5 per bird.

 

[sam1980]

Thanks. Generally we hang the feeders and water feeders so im assuming then they won't come into to floor space.