# More Room = Bigger Bird?



## Tiff (May 12, 2020)

I was wondering if giving chickens more space encourages more growth somehow? 
I briefly glazed over an article where people let go of goldfish in this one pond for a while; they’d grow up to four pounds in there. A few people have said that more room means a bigger animal. But then wouldn’t free range birds be Huge? I imagine the fish got bigger from more food resources, and I don’t really notice a difference with free range birds. The most I notice is that birds in small coops have more body fat: while free range birds, and larger cooped birds to an extent, are more lean from moving around often.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

I took those studies to mean the growth was stunted by too little space (build up in the water of growth inhibiting substances). So cramming chickens (or fish) into small of space inhibits growth, but allowing them more space than needed does not increase the maximum capacity for growth more than they are genetically predisposed for. But it would be really cool to have some massive free range chickens, though!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Tiff, wishes they'd be like goldfish. I'm sitting here thinking about someone who has an active brain that questions how things work or why they work. Then I realize I know someone like that but she will remain unnamed.

Like Sarah said, it's a genetic thing. The fish have adapted to growing to the size of their habitat probably more out of self preservation than for any other reason.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

I was telling my husband how much fun it would be to have giant chickens. “Ostriches Sarah. Those are ostriches.” So we have on record that my husband said I should get ostriches.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Laughing. Make sure you get good pics of your new flock. When do you expect them to arrive?


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

I’ll have to wait till my husband is out of town, in case he forgets that this was his idea....


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Shhh, don't let the world know how we operate.


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## TomC (Apr 9, 2020)

OSTRICHES??? WOW!!! Chicken Math on steroids!

How do you explain that when he gets back home? "I don't know, Honey? They just wandered into the yard."


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

It’s possible? Back when I was a kid someone had peacocks that would just show up and hang out for a while before going back home.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was just thinking the same thing. "Me know nothing about any Ostriches."


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Chickens will be the size that they are going to be, habitat doesn't affect birds like it does fish. If you have too many chickens in a coop, they will attempt to kill the overage so that they have enough space. Fish...not so much, they just don't get as big as they would if they had more space.


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