How much space does a chicken actually need?

Chickens are dumb, there is just no way around it. We have talked about it, but like you we just have to many predators. I did see a traveling cage arrangement that was like a hamster run but on the ground with heavy wire so that the chickens could free range, That way they get to eat better. But I just don't see myself running out there every half hour to change the location for them. All for a few eggs. I'm not ready yet, if things get much worse I may reconsider this.

i don't know and i don't get it why they should keep roving around even after you feed them. before they just stayed at our backyard and now they invade our garden on the side. they even invade the dogs' area and the place where we hang wet clothes. they're not even our chickens! ugh..i used to enjoy it when they're around because they seem fun and odd haha but they're poop starts to be also all around and it stinks like a cat's poo because they're a different breed of chicken..sigh..........

Both my grandad and my dad had chicken runs. Obviously, they need to be higher than a rabbit hutch and they both built wooden hen-houses at the end of the run, with a ramp up, where the hens could go to lay their eggs. I guess these chicken runs were about ten feet by four to four and a half feet, and probably about two feet high. That was for around six chicken, so I would imagine that you'd have to adjust according to the number of birds you had. Brightest Blessings.

If you bury chicken wire under the coop or shed the bad critters cant get in. Have is on the side of the wall, go down a bit underground and turn it inward for a foot or two. It will keep them nice and safe.

A rule of thumb is 4 square feet inside the coop per chicken (2 square feet per bantam) and 10 square feet of outdoor space (8 square feet per bantam). http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Chickens-in-a-City The above also gives suggestions on predator control. You might want to get hubby to urinate in a urinal and splash it around. When I was a kid we lived on a farm and predators was not a problem. We did let the chickens out during the day and locked them up at night. We also had a dog as I remember, maybe that is what kept the predators away. I also think we had a less of a predator problem because people killed vermin in those days. A .22 vermin rifle was standard equipment on a farm. You might be the recipient of all those city vermin that are trapped there and let out in the country. The only problem with the city wimps largess is that the country folk have to deal with a steady stream of city raccoons and other animals.

I also raise chickens, but I'm in the city, so we don't really have much to worry about. My mom puts them in a corner and then keeps them fenced in, with wooden boards to cover them so that no one can see them. She also added a door that you can slide, in order to get in.

you can rid yourself of the worry from the racoons and whatnot by lining your coop fence or even outdoor fence with tin , the best thing you can do is to make sure that your chicken coop even tho it may have a fence around it put a roof of chicken wire on top to make sure the chicken haws cant have an easy meal, and you can also get tent pegs to make sure the chicken wire dont roll up on the bottom and that they cat try to crawl under it and end up hurting themselves or worse, but even if your outside your not gonna be fast enough for a chicken hawk thats why ours stay in a coop and with the tin lining the bottom they are safe from snakes too wich makes me happy since my kids go to get the eggs ;) hope this helps ! ~M~

Depends on how many chickens you have! Be generous, but thorough. Also, have a fenced/caged in "run" so that they can get out among bugs, dirt, and grass, but put a lockable door on their house and reinforce the bottom of it with metal or wire mesh, if you can. And make sure you really secure it! Raccoons, the little thieves they are, are quite smart...and they actually have hands. We don't have quite those worries out here, even though we're not quite ready for chickens yet. The neighbor frequently lets his young chocolate labs run around, and that would be our biggest concern. They're stronger than raccoons, hawks, foxes, and wolverines. I haven't quite figured out what we'll be able to do to keep them out, yet.

I always go to our free gov't factsheets to look anything up, then also ask other producers that have had the same livestock for any ideas they have successfully used, too. Here is a link to ours, as I do not know where yours is. But chickens are chickens everywhere. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/poultry/smallflock.html To ensure that predators cannot dig up under a fence, when there is an existing predator problem, you can either bury chain link fence under the ground a couple of feet deep or pour a cement pad. Sounds to me that you need a good coondog to chase and fend off the predators. I am also a firm believer in using urine around spaces that you want to deter predators as well. It is the strongest human scent, and that is what animals do. But raccoons are notorious for having no fear of humans and there are not many deterrents that stop them, short of a 22 calibre bullet. As once they have found a food source that they enjoy, they are almost impossible to deter. Personally, I've just killed them. One thing, when I had laying chickens, was that I did not give them run of the yard 24/7 as they have the habit of trying to hide a nest of eggs. So your supervised freedom is the best way to go to prevent attracting the predators. Otherwise, there will be caches of rotten eggs all over the place that will attract predators, and when they are done cleaning up those, they will eat the chickens as well. Yes, I have heard of raccoons pulling the chickens right through cages, literally ripping them apart, while alive to eat them. Disgusting! Most people in my area that have reccurrent raccoon problems, will buy a live trap, and catch them. It is completely pointless to relocate them (as these blasted humanitarians regularly do), as you are only moving the problem animal into someone else's backyard, no matter how remote you think you have taken them, they are determined, smart and will travel great distances for a free meal, rather than hunt on their own. So, they will just find the nearest human population to begin again. Killing them is the ONLY reliable option. So, personally, unless you are willing to do that, I wouldn't bother getting any more chickens to put them through the sufferance of being attacked, terrorized and eventually tortured and eaten by the raccoons.

I'm not sure how much space they really need, but I wouldn't think they would need all that much. The size of a rabbit cage would probably be find for them.

My friend has a forty foot garden and she has two chicken and they seem very happy,they do have a fortified cage for evenings,we only have foxes to worry about this must be a real problem for you.

Well, I saw a video called Meet Your Meat and they showed the cages that held the chickens they use to give us eggs. Turns out, they don't need much room at all. They were stuffed into these little cages very tightly to be sure and they didn't look too unhappy...of course, how can you tell when a chicken is sad? They sort of have the same look no matter what's happening to them or around them, then don't they?