***for all who own chickens! ***

would this enclosure be good for 1 chicken?

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...n=Product+Type

the dimensions are 53 1/2"L x 24 1/2"W x 21"D.

i personally would say no. if you have the backyard for it let them free roam. You dont want chickens in their own feces as thats where the diseases begin to happen.

I would say it depends

Depends on the breed I can see it for Bantam but not regular size, and it would depend on whether or not the chicken will mostly be free range or not.

I would not use this for a chicken that is meant to remain in it 24/7 but I could kind of see it for a night time shelter, but even then the design is not really ideal as you want your chicken to have a roosting spot off the ground.

Also chickens are a lot "happier" in group ;), I would not get one I would get at least 2.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I would say it depends

Depends on the breed I can see it for Bantam but not regular size, and it would depend on whether or not the chicken will mostly be free range or not.

I would not use this for a chicken that is meant to remain in it 24/7 but I could kind of see it for a night time shelter, but even then the design is not really ideal as you want your chicken to have a roosting spot off the ground.

Also chickens are a lot "happier" in group ;), I would not get one I would get at least 2.

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Exactly i have 15 of them free roaming at my fathers house sice he has a big yard. And at night they go into the coup laid with straw. On very cold nights i turn on heat for them.

You would be better off going to a feed store rather than Petsmart. Personally, I wouldn't go to Petsmart for any kind of farm animals.

That type of housing is perfect for chickens! you move the whole cage so that they get to graze on a new area every so often. Bantams are better anyways on food, they produce pritty big eggs for thier size too. You can go online and see how other people build a chicken tractor wich is the same idea, might even cost less.

Really chickens are a very social animal so unless you plan on spending quite a bit of time with it I would go with a larger pin and at least 2 chickens. Just my two cents. If you need more help you could check out the backyard chicken forums everyone there is super knowledgeable and very helpful. Sorry if were not supposed to advertise other forums just thought it might be helpful to some of the chicken folks.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php

I would be leary about using a cage. Predators such as ermine can get into a cage, and make easy prey out of the trapped birds. Although, it depends on your yard/fencing in general, whether or not they are a concern.
I used to let my birds free-roam. I kept several of my hens in a horse stall, and what happened was, a fox got in, and made mincemeat of them. The free-roamers were never harmed.

Ahh see.. my free roamers got nabbed, while my penned chickens generally did well. That pen looks small unless you got a couple bantam chickens for it. If you move it every day around the yard so it's contiually on fresh ground, it should be okay.

I prefered to let my chickens have a huge securely fenced yard. The larger pen held a lot of chickens.. but I also had some that were kept in smaller pens that I simply moved around to give them fresh ground and grass and such to scratch on. They all did fairly well, although the guinea hens that ran free did better than anything else ever. Those buggers are tough as heck once they get grown. I don't believe I ever lost a guinea hen to ANYTHING, including dogs. I did have a few lose tail feathers to raccoons. They just ran around with short butts for a while until the feathers grew back. Tough tough buggers.

I am sorry that some of yours got nabbed, Wolfy. :( I think that it is hard to say, actually, what is best when housing chickens. Alot of it depends on the location itself, and the wildlife traffic. I did have two roosters when I had my hens, and they were very protective; I saw one of them fight off a dog~!

Yeah I agree with what others have been saying; best have more than one, and give them lots of room if you want maximum chicken happiness. My birds (10) have a huge fenced-in area with a coop. Lost one of my older birds (7-8yrs old) to a hawk the other day, and it was actually the first hawk problem I've ever had. Raccoons were the biggest problem in the past.