Moving house next month and the place is a great house but lacks in outdoor space. Anyone got experience of keeping hens in a small back yard? Don’t want them to hav to go. I have 4 chickens and an eglu…….what do you reckon? Build a troff and fill with mud and chippings or get rid of the hens? 4 year old son will be gutted!

easier to muck out if its flagged, just build them a little enclosure and give them some soil for dust baths!

we did exactly this.

i built a house and run for them, which they lived in all the time… we let them out sometimes at weekends, but it was impossible to leave them out when we weren’t out in the garden because we couldn’t stop them getting out of the yard.

to be honest… it wasn’t great. Because they were in such a small run (approx 3x1m with bark chippings on the floor) their poo overwhelmed it… the run stank and needed cleaning out every day. When it rained, they got covered in bark and crap and looked miserable.

They started getting quite bald, and appeared to be stressed and pecking each other. Our neighbours told us that foxes and cats were tormenting them when we were out – apparently a fox would sit outside their enclosed run and stare at them, with them going mental inside.

One weekend we forgot to bolt the little hatch that we used to get the eggs out – when we got back we found a scene from a horror film, with 3 dead hens and blood everywhere – the fox had squeezed itself in and killed them, but didn’t even have the decency to get a meal out of it.

We decided not to replace them, as it just felt like it was cruel keeping them.

Sorry if this isn’t what you wanted to hear.

Dave

thanks for that. I reckon they will be ok. If I get a 3m run for them to chill in when we arent there i think they will be fine. I have stopped locking them away to see if a fox gets them before we move as that is “natural” but wouldnt mind taking them. Have you got any pics to help convince the mrs?

i’ll see if i can dig out some pics tomorrow

don’t try to tempt a fox in… the fox made a right mess of ours, and it looked like they had died in terror and pain.. I’m a bit of a hardened emotionless git most of the time, but I was quite traumatised by the way they died.

if you decide you want rid of them, do the decent thing and ring their necks.

Dave

if you decide you want rid of them, do the decent thing and ring their necks give them to someone who can care for them.

FIFY

give them to someone who can care for them.

good point, that is the best option 🙂

death is the last resort……..the eggs taste great and the look on my lads face when he helps clean them out and collects the eggs each day is cracking!

look forward to the pics. cheers