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from martin contains these words:


If he only has two chickens, I think 4 acres would be o.k. without the
runs. Another problem would be to find their eggs.

Not at all. Mine laid almost all their eggs in the nest boxes in the
shed where they slept at night; either early in the morning before they
were let out, or returning later to do so.(Happy free range hens also
return to roost in the shed at dusk, entirely of their own accord).

A hen can obviously feel an egg coming down and will start to make the
"egg coming" noise and look for a suitable spot (dim, safe, dry). Well
brought up free range hens will normally return up to a hundred yards
from ranging to the shed, deposit the egg in the nest, and make the
noise for "I have just done an egg". Then she enjoys a snack of pellets
or corn and returns to her outdoor life. Very occasionally a hen gets
taken short and drops the egg en route; but the sound commentary tells
all. (Even my dogs learned this and would race off to find the stray
egg. Shamefully, they would then scoff it. My grandfather's dog would
very carefully pick it up and take it, undamaged, to a human.)

Bantams and broody breeds usually lay out deliberately (in one spot)
when the urg to be a mother overcomes them. Battery breeds don't do that
because the brooding instinct has been completely bred out of them.

How many chickens in a handful? I'd have thought approximately one.

Er, technically, yes :-). When I used a commercial battery hybrid
breed, one hen could produce well over 200 eggs per year. We kept
varying numbers according to how many people were living at home.

Janet