Keeping chickens is quite straightforward and they are entertaining creatures. They are rewarding to keep as they’ll entertain you with their clucking around, re-arranging the flooring material in their run and taking dustbaths. In the middle of winter there is less light, so you will get few eggs, otherwise you should get eggs every day. Chickens will generally lay about 6 eggs a week each, so for two dozen, you would need 4.

Chickens prefer somewhere dry to sleep and nestboxes mean you will generally find the eggs, as they can lay in out of the way corners if you’re ot careful. Simple hen houses or portable chicken arks are straightforward to build yourself. Chickens will eat grubs and worms, clear tiny insects and bugs and will eat grass and weeds too, if you leave them to roam. You’ll get lovely deep yellow yolks from chickens that feed naturally too.

For laying hens you will needs layers pellets, and possibly some extra grit so the egg shells form properly and they also like a little corn as a treat. They’ll eat kitchen scraps as well.

You’ll enjoy watching your chickens take a dust bath; first creating a shallow pit in dry soil or sand, then wriggling around and flapping their wings to stir up the dust and clean themselves. Sunbathing is a popular activity - they’ll lie on their sides in the warm with their wings out, soaking up the sun.

Three chickens may be a crowd, four can be better, so there’s less chance on two ganging up on the third as they establish a pecking order.

You will need some sort of housing - you could use a large rabbit hutch raised off the ground for example, if you only have one or two birds. Making a chicken ark to move around your backyard or garden is quite straightforward. Try this excellent book which has chicken ark plans and instructions plus information on keeping chickens. It also has plans for a larger hen house and run - and if you’re really serious a large chicken coop for around 15 birds.

Although chickens can live till they’re 15, they will only lay when they’re younger, up to the age of about 4 years. You can train chickens to recognize a routine like feeding times, and when you put them in their coop for the night, you may find they are there before you.

For at least part of the day, keeping your chickens in a run will minimise any damage to your garden. The chicken ark is a triangular shaped chicken coop (sometimes known as a chicken tractor), which you move around, giving the hens fresh ground.

Chickens need daylight to produce eggs, so you will need to make sure they are let out into their run early in the morning.

Mary Marshall

New! We've just starting a message board and discussion forum over on the Toxic Byte Pets Forum. It's a bit lonely over there at the moment, but feel free to join in and participate!

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