| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Erikht |
How much landHow much land would I need for 15 chickens to be able to romp and stomp without laying the area waste? |
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| Treacodactyl |
Simple answer, it depends! If you can have a moveable run or a fixed house with more than one pen, and you alternate between them, then the ground will have a chance to recover. I also think it will depend on the breed of hen to a certain extent. A rough guide could be the definition of free range in the UK which I think works out at 4m² per bird (2,500 birds are allowed in one hectare). | ||
| frewen |
can you elaborate on which breeds are more frugal on space please? | ||
| tahir |
The smaller breeds I'd imagine Frewen | ||
| Lorrainelovesplants |
We have light sussex freeranging. They have a house with run which is open for them to wander within a fenced area of about 50 sq metres, but its lots of room for them. They dont try to fly either. Lorraine |
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| Treacodactyl |
I don't know of any breeds and it was just an idea. My pure breed hens seem to behave in a more traditional 'chicken' like way than hybrids I've seen. Ours tend to roam and hunt for things, dust bathe more, go broody and don't seem to want to eat their layers ration much. In contrast my parents had hybrids that gulped down their layer ration and laid eggs and didn't behave like ours. This could all or mostly be down to how we treat our hens or could be down to their breeding. I'd be interested to hear from people who have a mix of breeds to see if any cause less damage than others. |
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| VSS |
We have 18 laying hens and a non movable house. They are enclosed in the area inside a 50m electric poultry net. It gets abit shabby round the house in the winter, but it seems to be big enough to stay fresh without getting away from them. Ideally we will split the run in two and rotate the hens between patches -haven't got around to it yet though.
www.viableselfsufficiency.co.uk |
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| Erikht |
Thanks, people. We will give them some more room on a fresh patch, and see what happens. | ||
| Penny Outskirts |
We have an identical set up, except 10 hens. It's nice to know we can expand a bit without the grass going too scruffy 
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| wellington womble |
Somebody better at numbers than could do something with pi (not chicken!) and work out a sq M per bird. That could be very useful (she says, eyeing up the orchard again........) | ||
| gil |
I make it about 8.5m2. Someone will be along shortly to confirm this, or take the p*** out of my maths. | ||
| wellington womble |
Oh good. That works out quite nicely at 2 and a half chickens in the orchard. Anyone know where I can get half a chicken? 
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| Nick |
You'll want 84 portions of Prime Breast from KFC, I think.
(And get me a zinger tower burger while you're there...) |
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| James |
Right. Pay attention, class.
If the 50 m fence is used as a big loop, coming back on itself to make a circle with 18 chickens held within it… Pi=3.14 Circumference of circle = pi x diameter 50 = pi d d = 50 / pi d = 16 m (roughly..) Area inside the circle = pi x r^2 Radius, r, = half diameter = 8 Pi.r^2 = 200m^2 So 200 square metres can sustain 18 hens without to much damage 200 / 18 = 11 square metres per bird (or just under 3m x 4m) So when the kids ask you what the hell’s the point of all this stupid maths, you can tell the little ankle biters that it helps you work out how many chooks you can keep in a given space without them bumping into each other. |
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| Treacodactyl |
And when the hens want a dust bath or try to lay you'll get all 18 trying to use a single square foot. 
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| wellington womble |
Bugger. Need another orchard! |