Another undesirable event that begins to occur when chickens are caged too long is they get bored and begin pecking at their own eggs. As soon as a chicken gets the taste for eggs it becomes extremely hard to break her of the habit. Bored chickens will start pecking at eggs and develop a taste for them Just how much room is enough space? General recommendations are 2 to 4 square feet of coop floor area per chicken.
ft.), not including the nesting boxes, which currently houses 4 chickens is plenty huge enough to avoid too much bickering in between the ladies if they remain in there all the time. We've had as many as 8 complete grown hens at one time which puts the ratio at only 3 sq.
per bird. That begins to get pretty cramped although there are two roosting branches at different levels to allow an irritated chicken discover a little safe zone for some alone time. For numerous total strategies for an attractive and inexpensive chicken coop, click here. Enable a lot of room in the cage to assist keep the peace I feel it truly does boil down the quantity of chickens per square foot.
As long as they had plenty of food and fresh water they would be fine for three days. I made an automated heated chicken waterer from PVC pipeline to guarantee they always have sufficient water. Here's Read More Here to that video. Having water readily available is needed if stuck inside the cage A Couple More Things to Consider Remember that the more time they spend in the cage the more they poop in the cage.
The ammonia and hydrogen sulfide from their decomposing manure can make it extremely unpleasant and even hazardous for the chickens if there isn't good airflow through the coop. We have air vents near the bottom and at the top of the coop that stay open all year. Another crucial security factor is not leaving them cooped up in the hot summertime with the sun beating down on their coop.