How to keep chickens
Keeping chickens can be easy, inexpensive and extremely rewarding. If you're thinking about getting your own chickens, here's a few tips and advice to get you started...
Read the latest government advice on Avian influenza (bird flu)
What do I need to keep chickens?
Chicken house/coop (ideally with a run or within an enclosure)
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Feeder and drinker
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Feed such as layers pellets or layers mash
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Dust-free bedding (avoid products such as sawdust which can cause breathing difficulties)
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Cleaning products
Is it expensive to keep chickens?
Owning and looking after poultry should be no more expensive than the running costs of having a dog!
They require a constant supply of food and water, cleaning products for the coop and if you choose, additional husbandry and dietary products. Hens eat approximately 1kg a week each of feed - so a 20kg bag to feed four hens, will last five weeks!
Choosing the right breed
It is a common misconception that all hens will lay an egg for you every day; only some breeds or types will do this for you. Hens start to lay at around 16-20 weeks (at this time they classified as POL - Point of Lay) and will be most productive up until about a year old. Thereafter they drop the level of eggs per day but they are still very happy to give you about 3-4 eggs a week.
The best pure breeds for high egg yields are Australorp, Rhode Island Red, Sussex, Maran and Barnevelder; some laying up to 300 eggs a year. The egg colour varioes within the breeds as well, with the beautiful blue eggs fo the Cream Legbars being highly sort after.
The most common variety of chicken is the hybrid - these are bred for egg laying and if it's a regular, reliable supply of eggs you are looking for these are your birds.
Housing
The general rule of thumb is to allow 4ft square per chicken for inside space and 10ft square for out side space. When it comes to chickens ‘more is more’! The more space they have the happier they are, the happier they are the more eggs you get! The standard space of a coop can be supplemented by adding a poultry electric fence to ensure that your chooks are able to free range but only where you want, so you can protect your lawn and flowerbeds!
Make sure you use a dust free material for the base of your coop which will stay in place if they have a good flap and a wing stretch. Chickens like a flat roost to be able to get up off the coop floor to snooze, a round roost is fine but a flat roost means they can relax their feet and get a good night’s kip.
A nesting box is a great addition, but these girls can and will be a bit choosey where they lay, especially if they are going broody. It’s not unheard of for a hen to take herself off to a quiet patch in your garden and settle in for the 21-day incubation period getting off to feed and returning swiftly to her clutch. This can make her vulnerable to predators so you may wish to pop her in a broody coop to protect both her and her chicks when they hatch. The hen can go broody without there being a cockerel present but the eggs will not be fertilised and therefore never hatch.
Diet
It is important to select the right food based on the growth stage of your birds. The basis of their diet should be a compound feed (e.g. layers pellets) as this contains all the nutrition they need to stay happy and healthy. Providing a supply of mixed grit helps the hens digest their feed and provides calcium for strong egg shells.
Treats, such as mixed corn, should only be fed in small amounts later in the afternoon when they have eaten most of their normal food. If you feed your hens too many treats they may stop eating their normal food, become rather overweight and stop laying.
Make sure you keep all your feed in secure rodent proof containers, and whilst buying bigger bags may be cheaper by the kilo, in the warm summer months it may be advisable to switch to small bags bought more regularly, as feed left in a container for a long time in humid conditions can start to go mouldy, even if it is within the expiry date.
Enrichment
These intelligent avians require a good amount of scratching and pecking, dust baths and sun bathing to feel at their best and therefore give you the most amount of eggs.
Try giving your girls a small bale of straw (with the string still on) to jump up and scratch at.
An old roasting tin is a handy dust bath with some sand and hanging peckable treats are great to keep your ladies in tip-top mental and physical health. Have you considered making them a swing? Chickens love a swing!
Incubators
Incubators take the guess work out of hatching and are a fantastic learning tool for children.
Incubator starter kits are ideal as they contain all you need to get going including the incubator, candling lamp (so you can check the life stage of your chick), brooder (to keep your chicks warm like a hen would), drinkers and feeders designed for little chicks and disinfectant so that you can keep all the equipment in tip-top condition.
Fun facts
Chickens can recognise up to 100 human faces – so all the hard work you put in doesn’t go to waste! Every time you visit, they know you’re the nice person who feeds them!
They have great memories and can recognise individuals, both human and fowl. Chickens also create excellent fertiliser.
Chicken manure contains a good deal of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium – the primary ingredients in lawn and garden fertiliser.