Benefits of keeping chickens
- Fresh eggs everyday - you'll never go back to supermarket eggs
 after experiencing your own fresh free range eggs with a deep dark yellow yolk
- Great pets - chickens can be fairly social animals and bring your garden to life as they peck around and inquisitively investigate everything and generally just cluck around. The sound of a cockerel crowing is one of the classic country sounds that makes rural life so special
- An organic way to deal with pests - chickens will root around and devour a number of the bugs and grubs that can play havoc in your garden
- Supply of garden manure - chicken manure is a very rich nutritional manure which has a number of uses around the garden
- Educational fun - learning where produce comes from and how to look after animals and with egg hatching's discovering the wonder of creating a new life
- Showing and pedigree breeding - for those who wish to there are lots of specialised chicken breeds and a very active programme of competitive chicken showing
- Fresh food - we don't consume our own chickens here but of course many people do keep chickens for this purpose and have the benefit of quality well cared for chicken meat
I couldn't keep chickens, could I?
The answer, you will be glad to hear, is almost certainly yes! Almost anyone can keep chickens, as there is no legal restriction on keeping a small domestic flock. The only thing to look out for is that in many urban areas housing deeds or tenant contracts will preclude the keeping of domestic fowl.
Cockerels are sometimes made a special exclusion as they do produce considerably more noise than hens. Even if there isn't an exclusion clause applicable where you live, you may wish to consider the impact on your neighbours, as not everyone loves to be awakened by the sound of a cockerel crowing as much as we do. It is therefore always worth consulting with your neighbours early on to get them on side with the whole idea of liveing next door to chickens.
Keeping less than 250 birds is administratively straightforward with no legal requirements to obey. If you plan to keep more than 250 chickens then you must register your flock with DEFRA and test them regularly for salmonella.
So, providing you only want to keep a small number of chickens and there is no restriction on you doing so, then you are ready to go!
If you want to ask any questions about keeping chickens and get a response from experienced chicken keepers, usually within minutes:
Why not visit our Chickens Discussion Forum where you can post your comments or questions about chickens.
So what do I need if I want to keep chickens?
 The first thing you are going to need is housing for the chickens. These can range from relatively small purpose made runs to using an old garden shed. Smaller runs can be purchased from local agricultural retailers in most areas and larger runs are more commonly purchased by mail order.
Whatever chicken housing you choose it should have some basic standards and functions. Firstly it should provide secure housing safe from predators, it should be warm but well ventilated. It should be spacious enough for the number of chickens that you keep and have a nesting area and be accessible enough to make it easy to clean. Chickens also need somewhere to perch and it should have a sound roof to keep it dry.
As long as the housing is suitable that could be all that you need providing you want to have totally free range chickens. Most people do prefer to restrict the movement of their chickens to some extent by providing an outdoor area with some kind of perimeter security to  keep the birds in and to keep the foxes out.
We have a combination of a fenced spacious run and a chicken house for our chickens. For much of the time we allow them free access to roam anywhere they choose around the farm.
Feeding chickens
Feeding pet chickens is not too difficult. Chickens need a good balanced diet composed of a combination of proteins,  grains, grit and calcium as well as vitamins and minerals. These are most conveniently provided in the form of compound feeds in pellet form which contain all of the essential ingredients in one feed.
Free range chickens will supplement this with a whole variety of garden insects, plants, seeds and fruits. So be prepared if you are very garden proud to either relax and let them enjoy it or to spend a bit more on securing your chickens in a run.
Garden scraps and household waste can be used for chickens but feeding meat is illegal if you are using your birds for commercial purposes. We find that  our chickens love tomatoes and broccoli and many breakfast cereals, but we restrict these to occasional treats and to help tame newer birds.
Chickens also need a constant supply of fresh clean water at all times. A whole range of feeders and drinkers are available see our chicken articles section for some more detailed information about feeding your chickens.
Where can you get chickens from?
Chickens can be obtained by buying fertilised eggs, day old chicks, growers (6 weeks or older), point of lay pullets (16-18) weeks or older birds or by taking rescue or ex-battery hens.
The easiest for the beginner is the point of lay pullet. These are coming to the age where they begin to lay and will be very adaptable to fit in with your set up.
Day old chicks are obviously very appealing, but do have additional requirements in looking after compared to the older birds.They need to be kept warm and have different  feeding needs to older birds. So chicks may not be the best option for a beginner, but having and ideally even HATCHING your own chicks is definitely something that any chicken keeper should not miss out on!
Chickens at any of these stages can be obtained from local breeding agents or farms or can be ordered for delivery. They are pretty inexpensive to buy and if you get a cockerel then you are set up to be self sufficient for the future to boost your own flock.
Special Breeds
Our chickens are all hybrids but there are a whole variety of special, rare and fancy breed chickens that can be kept. These often appeal particularly to people who want to exhibit their chickens in competitive shows.
Some of the commoner breeds of chicken are listed below:
 Rhode Island Red - is probably the most famous chicken breed and is a very good layer and is widely bred for the table it is a good dual purpose breed and is often used as a basis for hybrids.
Maran - is of french origin and is a good general purpose chicken.
Sussex - a British breed which is a very popular breed for the table but is also a good layer.
Bantams - are smaller or miniature versions of the breed although there are some true bantams breeds which have no larger counterpart. Bantams have certain advantages for the domestic chicken keeper. As they are smaller they require less room and are popular with children.
Keeping a cockerel
 There is certainly no definite need to keep a cockerel unless you are planning on breeding your own chicks. Chickens do not need a cockerel to lay eggs. Of course, for them to be fertilised and grow into a chick then a cockerel is required.
The cockerel is an impressive creature though and we certainly enjoy having ours around. He adds a touch of drama and grandeur to the hen house and very audibly likes to make his presence known, which we think is a wonderful sound.
Keeping a cockerel though can present specific problems and has implications if producing eggs for commercial reasons. As for consumption purposes fertilised eggs are not desirable. Keeping more than one cockerel is not recommended as they will fight, usually to the death.
In a totally free range environment we have had no trouble with Tiger our cockerel and in fact he is a calming influence when the hens are getting out of line and with an authoritative peck he quickly restores order to the hen house. |
Breeding your own chicks can be done for the purpose of regenerating your flock as, inevitably even with the best care, losses do occur. It can also be done just for the educational value or sheer joy of it.
l incubator that holds only 3 eggs and having a cockerel we find that most of our eggs are fertilised and have a success ratio in hatchings of over 80%.
made brooder which is some form of secure housing with heat source as newborn chicks need to be kept fairly warm. They spend the first several weeks in this and the temperature is gradually lowered to normal.
Rather than go the route of artificial egg incubation you could, of course, always take the natural route to chick hatching. Most hens will, on a cyclical basis become broody. During this time they will sit almost permanently in the nest incubating the eggs. They are very intense and undergo a complete personality transformation at this time.
A normally sociable hen will become touchy and defensive and sometimes even dish out a sharp peck when tried to be moved for hygiene reasons to give the nest a quick clean.
