What size chicken run do I need?
This really depends on how you feel about your chickens.
We’ll assume that as you’re most likely keeping chickens at home in the garden rather than on a farm trying to extract the maximum return from your hens. Stock density for a farmed chicken can be up to 12 birds per square meter!
In an ideal world you’d be able to give them unlimited space and whilst the idea of some hens free rangeing in the garden is lovely in practise there are several issues that will mean both you and them will be better with a permanent area dedicated to the chickens.
- chickens will eat your favourite flowers
- chickens will pooh on the paths
- chickens will dig holes in your garden
We always suggest 3 square meters / chicken in an open top run. In a covered chicken run this can be reduced to 1 meter as the roof keeps everything dry so makes managing the chickens so much easier.
We like the deep litter method of poultry keeping as it requires a minimal amount of work and this works really well in covered chicken run. You need to allow a little extra space per chicken, maybe 2 m/hen. The chicken run needs to be able to accommodate a thick layer of litter, our chicken runs can be supplied with a 12″ deep base plinth for this or you can build you own raised base.
Start with a layer of litter – chopped straw, wood shavings, wood chips of coarse sawdust – about 3-4″. If you have the stock density right the pooh on the surface should disappear into the litter within 1-2 days, sawdust and wood shavings will quickly neutralise any smells and the roof on the run keeps everything drier also reducing any odours.
The litter will slowly turn to a rich, dark brown colour just like shop bought compost. all you need to do is gradually add more litter occasionally to maintain this. I just empty a sack of wood waste in the middle of the run and the chickens soon spread it around. Continue this until until the base is full with litter then dig it out and use it as you would any other compost – some may be a little raw but if turned over it will quickly mix with the more well rotten material. I empty the base of my run every 1-2 years.
