Chook Me!

Would this be ok to keep 2 or 3 chickens in?

it's a rabbit hutch, here's the description: "easy to assemble. Includes 24x"x24"x16" hutch, dropping pan, frame kit, 5x" sifter feeder with lid, cage clips and cage pillers." i'm going to put cardboard on the sides and back for winter, and I'm going to put a perch for them to sleep on, and nesting boxes. I keep my chickens in the garadge at night so nothing gets them. I might be keepng a rooster and either one or 2 hens in it. I could always put one of the hens in my other coop with my other 2 girls if it's not big enough. Think it would be alright? Thanks!

Public Comments

1. probably a few at the most.
2. Not really, that's not big enough for the chickens. The optimum space for chickens is 3 to 4 square feet per bird. Chickens like to move around so the more space you provide the happier the hens. If you keep too many in a small enclosure they will pick at each other and fight. You will have birds missing feathers and often wounds that may lead to the birds death which is natures way of making room.
3. I agree with the last writer about each chicken needing a good 3 square feet/bird. My chickens are free range, and I sit and notice their behavior. They perch at night, and very early in the morning, they are down and eating whatever they find, eat their feed, drinking water. They don't sit idle. After our morning visit, and replenishing of refreshments, with salad and feed,etc. then they lay eggs and rest in the sunshine. In any confinement is stressful for them. They peck at eachother over food, etc. It is good for them to be able to run away from a peck or warning cluck.
4. No I don't think a rabbit hutch will be big enough-sorry. Chickens love to run around and should have 3 feet of space per individual- but even this isn't really enough. The best thing is for them to be free range, but a chicken run should be fine for 2 or 3, as long as it has a big enough area. About getting a cockerel. When they reach maturity , they really do harass the poor hens nonstop- so having a cockerel and 2 hens in a confined space would be really unfair on the hens as they wouldn't be able to escape- then they would lose all the feathers around their neck due to the cockerel grabbing on with his beak. It is quite easy to build a chicken house and run-or you can just buy one. If you build a house, you will need 1 or 2 nest boxes and a perch to roost at night. The run should just be a wooden frame( an A-frame or square frame) with chicken wire in between. If you have a garden, the run can go on the lawn , but should be moved to a new patch of lawn every 1-2 weeks, depending on how much scratching your chickens do! Hope this helps!
5. In a word...no. The measurements you have given are too small to keep chickens in, for any length of time. An average size laying hen needs at least 1.5square feet of space inside and at least 8 square feet outside so for 3 hens you would really need to have a run that was 6'x4' for them to be in all the time (and even that would be a bit small). As has already been said having a rooster in with the hens would add top the problems. Are you planning on them breeding by having a rooster in with them? If so you would need much more room as you would need to seperate off the hen and chicks or they could be killed by the others. Raising chicks is not easy and there are a high percentage of those chicks born would be males....what would you do with them? Males are hard to rehome and you can't keep them together when they mature as they will fight and they can kill each other or be so badly injured they would need to be put down. The only other thing would be they would end up in the pot. If you don't plan on breeding them then you don't need a rooster. I don't know if you live in a town or rurally so I thought I would just say if you live in town you would need to check if you are allowed to keep a rooster anyway. A lot of councils don't allow roosters in towns. You should really keep 3 chickens together as a minimum in case one dies...they are flock birds they need to have company. That being said if you wanted to put another one with the hens you already have you would need to watch them carefully as 2 against one to sort out the pecking order could get nasty. Is there enough room in your other coop to put another 2 hens in? Good on you for checking it out but please don't put them in a rabbit hutch.