Re: free range regulations and interpretation

From: nuele (fowls_at_nuele-online.de)
Date: 07/28/04 

Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 22:59:40 +0200

Jill <news@REMOVETHISkintaline.co.uk> wrote:

> > I wondered if any one had any comments :~))))))))))
>
> anyone?
>
> --
> regards
> Jill Bowis

Hm. I must admit I don't understand this discussion completely. It seems
to me you are talking of very small houses / huts / boxes. Is that
right?

You see, here in Germany, chicken breeders have been taught since the
1930s or so how to build and furnish a henhouse. The German poultry
breeders association has published posters at that time to be displayed
in the clubs, thus teaching all the members about some vital aspects of
chicken keeping (not only housing, but also feeding, raising chicks
etc). These old posters have been reprinted in one of the poultry
magazines once for nostalgic reasons - if you are interested, I could
try to find them and scan them and put them up on my website, although
of course strictly speaking I don't have the copyright, but as they were
always meant for educational purposes, and I would only offer them as
such for this group, I guess I could risk it ;-)

What I want to say is: here in Germany you will, I think, hardly find a
coop today that is not large and high enough for a person to walk into.
Perches go without saying, although I have often seen perches that were
too high, causing bumblefoot in the hens. The perches are close to one
wall (ideally with a droppings board underneath that makes daily
cleaning very easy), and the nest boxes are underneath the droppings
board or alongside another wall.

> In Scotland free range producers have been instructed to include 15cm of
> aerial perches for their units or they cannot call them Free range.

15 cm. I guess that is per bird ;-)
Personally, I don't think that is enough. Not even for bantams. When I
go into my coop to count the birds and say goodnight, I can see how the
hens high in rank peck at the neighbours until there is a hen's lenght
of space between them (or even more). Some will huddle up together, but
some of the old ladies definitely want to sit on their own.

As to the question whether chickens like perches or not, I believe that
hens that have never had opportunity or space to use any, will probably
have to learn to use them if they are already older. But chickens that
grow up with the opportunity to climb and flutter up and down a branch
of a tree will no doubt do that, and once they are old enough to care
for themselves they will always prefer a place above the ground at
bedtime. In my little broody huts, I offer the little families a dead
branch as a toy, and the chicks already use it when they are only a few
days old. If they don't have such a toy, they try to fly onto Mum's back
and sit there.

I have seen that desire to climb into a higher place to roost in several
breeds I raised now, not only in my "wild" Crowers. But they, of course,
are notorious for it <sigh> I have to persuade my teenager girls to get
out of the elder tree every evening now (as usual - same procedure as
every year...) I have never kept commercial hybrids, but everybody else
around does, and everyone here, as I said, offers perches and I have
never heard about hens not using them.

Nuele (D)

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Can u help
    ... >> Yes when I wrote that I did think they were chickens as I had only ... > These are some sort of hybrids so should only be hens ... > Jill Bowis ... I am a bit confuzzeled about your comment quote "but these birds ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: perches height?
    ... Mary Fisher wrote: ... and I've seen people use branches from trees as perches. ... Pure bred utility chickens and ducks ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: perches height?
    ... I suspect that they were mongrels anyway, there have been hens there for a ... Only the ones which roost in the tree survive. ... there's one who perches but she thinks she's a hen - brought up by one ... he's a Muscovy and sleeps in the greenhouse with the ducks ... ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: free range regulations and interpretation
    ... >> whether the birds will use it as they do not use a rail in front of the ... At present birds huddle on the floor in groups at night ... >> Other objections to perches which are not required in England and Wales ... > Our hens are huddled together at night on the perches. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: How many hens?
    ... Once done and before the hens arrive I'll post again to let you know how ... Hen house by the way is not 2.5ft tall, that was my error, it ... Thanks again, Lee. ... Perches will need to be 2" x 2" with rounded edges as not to damage their ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)