Keeping Chickens as Pets

Keeping chickens is becoming increasingly popular, and is one of the UK's fastest growing profitable hobbies. Apart from making great pets, chickens pay for themselves with eggs. So why not take a step towards being more self sufficient and start keeping chickens in your garden?

Chickens are easy to look after, and they only need cleaning out once every couple of weeks. They will find most of their own food in your garden as they eat mostly grass and insects. Although they will also need some corn or layers mash once a day, as well as a supply of fresh water.



They make lovely pets and can quickly become very tame. A good tip is to whistle every time you feed them, then when you whistle your chickens will coming running down the garden to see you!

Your average hen will produce about 280 eggs per year, which means you will probably have some left over to give to friends and neighbors in return for looking after them when you are away!

Hen houses are easy to come by and they don't have to look bad in your garden. There are a few which are painted and look very attractive. Some even have plastic floors which makes your life even easier. I would avoid ones which are made from just plastic though, they can get bad condensation inside. My chicken coop is made by Oakdene Coops, Chicken coop

Chickens are also great with children as they don't try to escape like most pets might! Also collecting the eggs in the morning is very rewarding and exciting for children and adults alike!

Chickens come in many many different breeds, there are 100's to choose from! They vary greatly in size, colour, character and egg production. Hybrid hens lay the most eggs (300+ per year). Other breeds such as the light sussex lay a similar amount of eggs but are arguably more attractive.

Bantams are another option, they are smaller than normal chickens, and thus require less space to keep. This is quite an advantage for people with less space in their gardens. Also, the eggs they lay aren't all that much smaller when compared to normal hens.

Some chickens are breed purely for elegance and good looks! Silkies are a good example of this, they have a lot of plumage on there heads which gives them a very amusing look!





Related Articles - Keeping chickens, pet chickens, chicken coops, hen houses,





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Posted in: Chickens,Keeping