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Five Questions to Ask Before Keeping Chickens at Home

By Roy Preece

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 05Feb2010
Word count: 980
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Before keeping chickens in your garden or backyard, you should consider these five questions:

1. WHICH BREED TO BUY?

Ask yourself the following 6 questions. When you have the answer, you can google "Chicken Breeds" and match your criteria to a breed of your choice.

1. Do you care if the breeds are rare/unusual?
2. Do you want birds that will rear chicks?
3. Do you want eggs of a certain colour?
4. Do you require especially docile birds?
5. How important is the rate of egg laying?
6. Do you need a breed that's hardy in winter?

2. WHAT HOUSING AND SPACE DO I NEED FOR THEM?

It's generally agreed that the minimum sizes for a hen coop should be 4 square feet per bird on the outside and 1 square feet for each bird .

We use an old dog kennel to keep our 6 chickens in. Having a 'proper' hen house or coop allows you more space and options for perches and nest boxes. You might consider using part of your garage as a hen house.

We know someone who made a run alongside their garage, and a hole in the garage wall. They housed the chickens inside a hutch in the garage, and let their chickens out into the run each day.

The only problem is with static housing is that the ground it sits on will get destroyed quite quickly and quite completely. The grass and greenery will be scratched away, and the remaining earth will be a mud bath in the wet, and a dust bowl in the dry. Because there is no greenery, more food is required for the hens.

Moveable housing usually means an 'ark'. (type in 'arc' to google to see pictures of what an arc looks like.) The joy of the ark is that you can move it around the garden and give your chickens fresh grass to eat and scratch every day or so.

The downside is that no matter where you put your ark on your lawn, the chickens will scratch up and soil that area. This will take a few days, to recover (or weeks depending on how often you move the ark).

3. HOW WILL I FEED THEM?

A fully grown chicken will eat about 120grams of layers pellets a day. You can vary the meal with scraps from the kitchen. Things that chickens eat include pasta, cake, rice, sweetcorn and lettuce.

In the UK, DEFRA (the government department for agriculture) has now issued laws to ban feeding table scraps to chickens. For large flocks, where the scraps come from restaurants or commercial premises, this makes sense. For a few hens you're your garden being fed with your own scraps, it is nonsense. But they've made it illegal anyway. Most people just carry on as before ....

Another important factor in your bird's diet is grit. Chickens hold a certain amount of grit in their gizzards, (an organ that grinds up any feed they've eaten making it easier for digestion.)

If your chickens range about your garden they should find the grit they need from their surroundings. The layers mash also contains some grit but if you find the shells are thin or soft, then you can buy grit from some pet shops or country stores.

4. HAVE I GOT ENOUGH SPACE FOR THEM? WILL THEY BE ATTACKED BY PREDATORS?

Most chickens which are raised in a garden or back yard are allowed to free range, or have a run that is frequently moved so that they get fresh ground to scratch.

Your choice is to let your hens have the complete run of your garden, or construct a 'run', covered in chicken wire to restrict them to about 12 yards by 3 yards at a time.

We used to let our 12 hens run free in the garden, and would lose one every 2 months or so to a passing fox. It seemed like a fair trade-off. Complete freedom, with a 1/24 chance of being eaten. The hens seemed happy and unworried by this.

But then the fox began to come more and more frequently. Now they live behind an electric netting fence. Their movements are much more restricted, but we haven't lost one in the 18 months that we've had the netting.

You will have to make your own decision on safety versus complete freedom.

5. DO I NEED A COCKEREL?

No. (The short answer)

If you have a flock of 5 or more hens it helps to have a cockerel to boss the pecking order, keep the hens happy, and strut about the place like he owns it.

However, cockerels can be noisy and aggressive. They crow (very) early in the morning, which upsets the neighbours, and some (not all) can become aggressive and attack you. They attack by running at you, leaping in the air with a great flapping of wings, and hitting you with their feet. The attacks can be noisy and frightening, but are harmless to adults. Small children can be hurt.

Hens will lay the same number of eggs each month, whether you have a cockerel in the flock or not. If you are keen to have a cockerel, we recommend getting 3 to 5 hens without a cockerel at first - then when you have had them for about six months, add one to your flock.

Try him for a month. If he doesn't fit in, sell him on .... Or kill him and eat him!

So there are five questions to ask before getting your first hens. Keeping chickens at home can be one of the most enjoyable things you can do this year. Just take it SLOWLY. Buy two or three at first. If you don't like having them after six weeks or so, sell them on or give them to a new home.

In all likelihood you WILL enjoy having them around. They are fun, friendly, and pleased to see you. Once you are happy with a few .... Get some more!

Roy Preece of 'easyhens' has kept hens in his back garden for 5 years. For more information on the quickest and easiest way to keep hens and chickens in your garden or back yard go to: http://www.easyhens.com/

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