Keeping Chickens - In Your Garden
Want a pet that actually 'gives back' in eggs, manure for your compost heap, and affection?
Man has been domesticating chickens since the dawn of time. And with a hens population of more than 24 billion in 2003, (as recorded in some sources) there are now more hens in the world than any other bird.
Humans have historically mainly as a source of food, with both their meat and their eggs being consumed.
There has been a surge of interest in keeping chickens, caused by celebrity chefs bringing to attention the awful conditions of battery reared hens, increased cost at the shops and the reported credit crunch.
The thought of keeping chickens in your yard and the thought of having organic eggs from your own poultry, no longer singles you out or causes as many 'home farm' type comments as it used to, of being a 21st century Tom & Barbara Good - from the popular television series!
In fact there's something 'modern' in these days of throw away cultures in coming back to a more 'self sufficient' lifestyle.
More and more people are growing their own veg - either in their gardens or on allotments. More and more people are becoming worried about what the food they eat actually contains and the buy organic movement seems to be gaining ground every year - forcing shops to stock a more wider range of organic produce.
Keeping chickens seems to be just a normal progression on this cultural shift.
Folk seem to be more used to having friends and neighbours who keep poultry. With the the incentive of a 'free organic egg' as part of the bargain, you'll probably get unlimited offers to take over your chicken keeping duties should you ever need to go on holiday.
Also when you've seen the deep yellow yolk and tasted on the amazing different texture of the egg white, of one of your own garden chickens' eggs you'll never go back to the supermarket egg again.
While cooking, your eggs you'll raise your eyebrows at the difference too. Back yard eggs hold together better than eggs bought in a shop as they're certain to be fresh.
There's also the plus point that keeping chickens bring a brand new dimension to your back yard - movement, sound and colour. Forget adding a pond, chicken keeping brings so much more!
Each chuck is an completely different and some can be real 'characters' and, if handled whilst they're young, they can be very good pets for children.
Chicken keeping needs some 'graft', and there will be some household maintainence tasks for your chicken house and obviously, letting the chickens in and out of their chicken shed at dawn and dusk.
There's also the 'chore' of searching for eggs. This should be done a few times per day - just in case your chickens are afternoon 'layers'.
Another thing you need to be careful of when keeping chickens; is 'chicken watching'...
Many hours can be easily wasted watching your chickens scratch around the back yard. If you're the sort of person who looks at mesmorising fires, you'll find chicken watching is addictive!
Keeping chickens can be done as budgets allow. If money is no object, then there's many fancy looking made to measure chicken homes that can be purchased from numerous chicken keeping outlets.
If finance is tight, then a home build chicken run can be built for virtually nothing, using scraps of wood found laying around your house.
A chicken shed just needs to be big enough for the chucks to roost in at night, and big enough to stretch their wings in during the day.
Also somewhere for them to scratch during the hours of sunlight should be provided.
So whether you're looking to build a chicken house, or buy a hand made chicken run or are just interested in keeping chickens as a pastime; a host of chicken keeping joy awaits.
