Keeping Chickens a Few Questions and Answers
1.
Where do I get my chickens from? There are several sources; you can look in your local free or paid newspaper for adverts.
Try Yellow Pages or keep an eye out when driving around to see if any farms near you are selling 'Point of Lay' hens.
Look for places that are already keeping chickens and that sell eggs by the road side, stop and ask where they have got their chickens from; if eggs are being sold from a farm they may be happy to sell you some chickens.
If you live in town you will need to look on the internet, search for 'Point of lay', there are quite a few suppliers, bear in mind that they will probably expect you to collect the chickens in person.
Best time to get your chickens is around Easter as they will be ready to start laying by then, but any time of year is possible.
Also try Chicken Rescue sites, these are becoming more popular, these hens are from battery farms and are quite poorly but with some love and care they will provide many more eggs, search on the internet for 'Chicken Rescue'.
Make sure any chickens you get are from a salmonella free flock or farm.
2.
How many should I get? Depends how many eggs you need, a chicken will provide about one egg per day, so if you have space for 4 hens you will get around 2 dozen eggs per week.
When the weather gets cold and the daylight gets less than they may stop laying but some of the battery hens breeds, such as Isa Warren, will lay throughout the year.
To keep your hens laying you can introduce artificial lighting and heating but you would need to decide if it is worth it.
3.
How much space will I need? Space requirements depend on what method you use to keep your chickens, if you do not have much space you can keep them in a small henhouse or chicken coop consisting of a small housing unit for nighttime and a small enclosed run for daytime, this could all be just a few square metres in size, but you will need to clean it out weekly or more often.
In a larger garden they can roam freely and they will return to their coop in the evening as the light fades; so no need to round them up! 4.
Disadvantages of Keeping Chickens Remember Mr Fox may be around and you may want to keep your flock in an enclosed run, even in towns the urban fox can kill your chickens if they are free to roam about.
Chickens will ruin your garden, if you are thinking of letting them loose around your flower beds or lawn, then after a few days of scratching your flower beds and lawn will be in tatters.
Where do I get my chickens from? There are several sources; you can look in your local free or paid newspaper for adverts.
Try Yellow Pages or keep an eye out when driving around to see if any farms near you are selling 'Point of Lay' hens.
Look for places that are already keeping chickens and that sell eggs by the road side, stop and ask where they have got their chickens from; if eggs are being sold from a farm they may be happy to sell you some chickens.
If you live in town you will need to look on the internet, search for 'Point of lay', there are quite a few suppliers, bear in mind that they will probably expect you to collect the chickens in person.
Best time to get your chickens is around Easter as they will be ready to start laying by then, but any time of year is possible.
Also try Chicken Rescue sites, these are becoming more popular, these hens are from battery farms and are quite poorly but with some love and care they will provide many more eggs, search on the internet for 'Chicken Rescue'.
Make sure any chickens you get are from a salmonella free flock or farm.
2.
How many should I get? Depends how many eggs you need, a chicken will provide about one egg per day, so if you have space for 4 hens you will get around 2 dozen eggs per week.
When the weather gets cold and the daylight gets less than they may stop laying but some of the battery hens breeds, such as Isa Warren, will lay throughout the year.
To keep your hens laying you can introduce artificial lighting and heating but you would need to decide if it is worth it.
3.
How much space will I need? Space requirements depend on what method you use to keep your chickens, if you do not have much space you can keep them in a small henhouse or chicken coop consisting of a small housing unit for nighttime and a small enclosed run for daytime, this could all be just a few square metres in size, but you will need to clean it out weekly or more often.
In a larger garden they can roam freely and they will return to their coop in the evening as the light fades; so no need to round them up! 4.
Disadvantages of Keeping Chickens Remember Mr Fox may be around and you may want to keep your flock in an enclosed run, even in towns the urban fox can kill your chickens if they are free to roam about.
Chickens will ruin your garden, if you are thinking of letting them loose around your flower beds or lawn, then after a few days of scratching your flower beds and lawn will be in tatters.