A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens (2 page)
Read A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens Online
Authors: Anne Perdeaux
15. A Year in the Life: Appreciating the Changing Seasons
Chickens are extremely addictive and, as with many addictions, it’s a gentle yet slippery slope.
‘Only a couple, just for fun,’ you think to yourself. ‘What harm can it do?’ Then before you can say ‘cock-a-doodle-do’, you are clucking to them, gossiping about them and waking up in a cold sweat worrying about foxes. Soon you will want more and more, realizing too late that you are now one of the millions of chicken addicts – there is no cure.
Well, you have been warned but if you are still determined then this book will help you to start keeping chickens. We will explore their strange and wonderful world, finding out what they need to make them happy – and happy hens lay eggs (sometimes).
Why Keep Chickens?
It’s not surprising that so many people keep chickens. These versatile creatures can be at home on a farm or in a small back garden. They make excellent family pets, requiring less attention than a dog, while being entertaining, productive and educational. For those seeking the ‘good life’, they are the obvious first step into keeping livestock.
For hundreds of years chickens have been valued all over the world – for their eggs, meat, fighting skills or simply their beauty. The chicken is now
enjoying a renaissance and is also considered a desirable pet, competing with dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs.
For those who have never kept chickens, this can be surprising. Chickens are often regarded as dull, brown egg-producing birds, or viewed neatly wrapped in the chiller cabinet. Useful, yes, but not necessarily what you would look for in a companion.
Yet chicken keepers quickly discover that there is more going on under all those feathers than you’d think. Chickens have complex social structures, are surprisingly intelligent and quickly demonstrate individual characters.
Although chickens have many endearing traits, most people start keeping them for their eggs. It’s very satisfying to be even a little self-sufficient; to stride past the egg shelves in the supermarket, knowing you have better and fresher ones at home.
If you grow vegetables, the addition of eggs from your hens can turn a simple meal into a feast – how about a salad from the garden to accompany a golden omelette, flecked with fresh herbs?
Coming down to earth, chicken manure is great on the vegetable garden, chickens can turn over the soil when a patch needs to be cleared, and you can feed the chickens some of your surplus vegetables. It’s a satisfying circle.
Maybe you are now itching to buy your first chickens, but before racing off to ‘Chickens-R-Us’, please read on a little further. Some careful planning will make the whole experience more enjoyable – for you and, most importantly, your new chickens.
Before Your Chickens Come Home To Roost
It’s easy to buy a coop and chickens – and it’s also easy to make costly mistakes. Don’t hurry the process of acquiring your first chickens. Use this book as a guide and take some time to investigate all that will be required.
Can You Keep Chickens?Rules and regulationsCheck there are no restrictions on keeping chickens, either in your house deeds, rental agreement or local by-laws. Even rural areas sometimes have regulations of these kinds. Chickens are usually considered as livestock, including those kept as pets. If in doubt, contact your local authority.
At present you only need to register with DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) if you keep more than fifty birds, including chickens, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowl, etc.
You might wish to speak to your neighbours about your intention to keep chickens. Some people love the idea – and some don’t. It’s better to calm any concerns they have at this stage rather than wait for a complaint.
Ten Chicken Myths
1. Hens won’t lay eggs without a cockerel
Unlike many birds, hens will lay eggs without a male being present.
2. Chickens attract mice and rats
Mice and rats are attracted by chicken feed – this should be cleared away at night and stored securely. Chickens will kill (and eat) mice!
3. Chickens smell
Given the correct conditions chickens produce little odour. If droppings are allowed to build up, they will smell very unpleasant and also affect the chickens’ health.
4. Chickens are noisy
Hens aren’t silent but usually confine themselves to gentle clucking unless startled. Some can make a racket when laying an egg, causing the other hens to start a chorus of encouragement, but unless kept in large numbers hens should cause little disturbance. Cockerels can be very noisy.
5. Chickens can be used to clear up household scraps
Feeding kitchen waste to chickens is now illegal in the UK.
6. Chickens spread disease
While there are a number of chicken diseases, very few of these are likely to be transmitted to humans. It’s always sensible to wash your hands after being in contact with any animal and to change clothing if necessary.
7. Chickens must be let out at dawn every morning
Chickens need to be let out but not necessarily at first light – at dawn the night-time predators will still be about. However, too much restriction of daylight can reduce egg production.
8. Chickens are vegetarians
Chickens are omnivores and enjoy eating meat (insects, slugs and snails) as well as vegetable matter.
9. Eggs are either brown or white
Eggs vary from pure white to dark chocolate, even blue or green – it depends on the breed of hen. The shell colour makes no difference to their nutritional value.
10. Eggs contain baby chickens
Infertile eggs will never hatch and even fertile eggs won’t develop unless incubated.
