1.
Keeping chickens is rewarding but not cheap.
They will produce the most expensive eggs you can eat, but also the tastiest.
As with most animals, it is not the birds themselves that will set you back most
when you purchase them, but equipment
and upkeep. You will need a good chicken coop – not worth stinting on – and
some form of run or netting. Then you need bedding materials, probably some
wood chippings for the run - preferably hardwood; drinkers, feeders, food and
medication. Chickens need regular worming and mite control. You may also need
rat-poison, as unfortunately rats will never be far from free food.
2.
Chicken-keeping takes time. My daily routine of
feeding, cleaning, letting the birds out and shutting them up at night takes around
30 minutes a day. If you miss shutting the birds in one night and the foxes
slaughter your chickens, you are not unlucky. It was not the one night that
foxes happened to come past. They will include the run on their nightly
circuit, and take advantage of any lapses. I have lost birds to foxes during the
day when the dogs have been away. Contrary to reputation foxes don’t just kill
for fun. They aim to kill all the birds in one go, take what they can carry and
return later to remove the rest. I try to remove droppings from the run and coops
every day so as to avoid a weekly clean and to keep the ground fresh. This
reduces the risk of coccidiosis,
a parasitic disease of the intestinal tract that thrives in chicken faeces and dirty conditions. About once
a month the houses get a more thorough clean and a couple of times a year a
deep clean, along with a change of chippings on the ground. My hens free range
during the day, which also reduces the risk of disease and problems caused by
boredom. The more varied their diet, the tastier the eggs.
3.
If
you want to keep chickens primarily for their eggs you need to select a breed
that has a high year-round pattern of laying. Ex-battery hens, the common brown
hybrid, are excellent, but there are many other good layers out there from the
fancy breeds. Ex-battery hybrids also make friendly garden birds, being docile,
curious, and easy to handle. The British Hen
Welfare Trust gives advice on how to go about re-homing battery hens. You
will have the satisfaction of giving a new lease of life to an abused bird.
4.
Chicken breeds all have their individual
strengths and weaknesses, and each chicken its own character. No two breeds and
no two birds are the same. It pays to do some research and to get birds that
suit your needs. I always keep some Silkies as all-round multi-purpose birds.
They are pretty to look at, being quite small and fluffy, and come in a wide
range of colours. They are reasonably docile, hardy, excellent broodies (i.e.
good at sitting and hatching eggs), good mothers and all-year-round layers.
They can’t fly so don’t need to be clipped or pinioned, and obediently put
themselves to bed inside their houses, rather than on the roofs or in the
trees, at night.
5.
If you are after a child-friendly pet that seems
to enjoy being handled and will take an interest in your activities there are
many breeds to choose from. Hybrids, White and Light Sussex are the most curious
birds I have had. If you want something smaller, Polands and Barbu d’Anvers are
delightful, friendly little birds. Some of the heavier, fluffy breeds such as
Buff Orpingtons and Cochins can be very tolerant of handling, especially if
handled frequently when young.
6.
Some chickens are very good flyers, and prefer
to roost in trees at night, but whether they are wanderers or not, and whether
this matters to you, depends on where you live and the individual bird’s
characteristics. Some of the smaller lighter breeds are more flighty. One of
the first breeds I tried to keep were Ancona. They flew off into the woods
within hours of being released into their run, never to be seen again. It is
quick and painless to cut the flight feathers on one side (clipping) if you want
to keep your birds on the ground. This does, however, make it harder for them
to escape from predators. Training your birds to sleep in their house or run at
night when young can take patience, plucking them from wherever they have
roosted and putting them where you want them. Chickens are generally creatures
of habit and most eventually get the idea. It is never worth chasing a chicken
as they will outrun and outsmart you. If you can get your chickens tame enough
to come to you and allow themselves to be picked up that is very helpful. If you
have a bird that doesn’t like being handled wait until it has settled at night
before attempting to lift it. Even the most nervous bird will allow itself to
be plucked off a roost to be powdered or moved. I keep a fishing landing net
for emergency captures.
7.
There is nothing quite like hatching your own
chicks, but beware of inbreeding if you have a closed flock. Swapping cockerels
is a good idea or they will breed with their mothers, sisters and daughters.
Hatching eggs can be purchased on EBay. These are generally newly fertilised
eggs, and will take around three weeks to hatch in an incubator or under a
broody hen. The hatch rate for bought eggs is nothing like as good as for those
from my own birds. With eggs laid in situ
I generally get close to 100% hatch rate. For EBay eggs it varies between Zero
and 50% at best. Only clean, regular shaped eggs should be set (chosen for
hatching). Using a broody hen is far preferable to an incubator. She will do
all the work of keeping the eggs at the right temperature and humidity, turning
them regularly. Just make sure you lift the broody off the nest once or twice a
day to eat and drink. Left too long she may soil the eggs. Many chickens make
excellent, attentive mothers and will teach the chicks were to go and what to
eat, and keep them safe and warm.
8.
It is a good idea to separate a hen and chicks
from the rest of the flock just before or immediately after the eggs hatch.
Having her own broody coop and run will reduce stress and give the chicks
protection from other birds, who might peck at them. Chicks vary greatly in how
good they are in following mum and keeping out of trouble. Gradually increasing
the size of their territory so that they get used to roaming safely is a good
idea. By about three months of age most chicks will be reasonably independent,
and their mother will become less attentive as she gets ready to start laying
again. Many breeds will go broody without any eggs to sit on, Silkies
notoriously so. I have used Silkies to hatch other small birds, such as guinea
fowl, and larger broodies such as Cochin and Orpingtons to hatch ducks, geese
and peafowl. A devoted mother hen
can even learn to imitate the call of her foster chicks when rearing them. I
had a Silkie hatch a brood of guinea keats (chicks). When they became too
flighty and were in danger of disappearing into the neighbouring woods, I
returned them to the farmer who had given me the eggs. The hen spent the next
couple of days calling for them in guinea fowl.
9.
You will probably hatch more cockerels than
hens, that’s just the way it is. As surplus cockerels can be a nuisance, not
just to the neighbours but also to the hens, you will need some means of
disposing of unwanted birds. One well-behaved cockerel to about half a dozen
hens is ample. You don’t need to keep cockerels at all unless you want to
breed, but they can make a lovely and interesting addition to your flock. Some
are perfect gentlemen, looking out for their hens and calling them excitedly
when they discover a new food source. Others are bullies and can be aggressive,
and are always trying to pick a fight.
10. The
famous pecking-order is really more of a network. The status of a mother hen
will affect that of the chicks she raises. The chicks of a high-ranking mother
will benefit from her position. The chicks of a timid mother will have to fight
their way up from the bottom of the pecking order. A sick bird will quickly
lose its place in the flock. Chickens try to disguise the fact that they are
ill, so you need to be attentive for signs and react quickly, and be prepared
to isolate a sick bird. There are friendships and enmities in a flock, and some
of the smaller breeds such as Pekins, can be quite feisty. Part of the pleasure
of keeping chickens is getting to know them as individuals, and watching their
domestic dramas unfold. Talk to your birds as they will get used to your voice.
I also carry a small tub of dried meal-worms that the chickens follow – very
useful if you have to shut them in early for some reason. Chickens will reward
you not just with eggs and perhaps meat, but also with companionship and hours
of entertainment.
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| Young Golden Silkies |
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| Light Sussex |
Further information
It is worth
buying or subscribing to a poultry keeper’s magazine, such as Practical Poultry. You can find this and other similar
publications in the county stores that sell equine equipment, lawnmowers,
chicken and dog food by the sack, and overpriced wellington boots. The
magazines are full of useful adverts for housing, fencing, feeding, medicating
and everything else you might need to use or know about keeping chickens.
Two of my favourite UK retailers for chicken equipment:
Omlet, particularly good for high quality, innovative
plastic housing, runs, and general equipment. Their houses are expensive but very
durable and easy to clean and move.
Flyte so fancy, good quality housing and runs in more
traditional wood. I have several of their raised, covered platforms for feeding
and reversed as a dust bath. They also supply hemp bedding and hardwood
chippings, and disinfectant and dusting powders. All cheaper in bulk if you have
somewhere to store them.
If you want
to know more about the therapeutic benefits of keeping chickens, check out Hen Power, sponsored by Equal Arts. This is a
scheme to promote wellbeing and combat loneliness among older people, particularly
men, who often have more limited social networks. According to a study carried out by the University of Northumbria in
September 2014 (Practical Poultry,
Jan.2015, p.5), male participants of
HenPower all reported improved wellbeing, and reduced depression and
loneliness. In one dementia care home it found that, since the hens had
arrived, violent incidents by residents were down 50%, and the use of
antipsychotic drugs was so reduced that they were no longer used routinely.
It is not
just older men who can benefit from the companionship of hens, and the ways in
which they can bring people together. Children often benefit from having
chickens and generally love to watch and handle chicks, and there are many
people living alone who value their company. My chickens are a source of
meditation and relaxation in an otherwise overcrowded life.
