An unusual pet. (Chickens)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Chickens
Date:	30/03/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing eggs

Disadvantages: Poo, wreck the grass.

One fateful day a few years a go our friend turned up at the door with a big box in his hands. He came in and explained that he had a present for us and when we opened the lid, there sat two nervous young chickens! After trying to convince him that we couldn't possibly take them as we didn't have any where for them to live, we gave in and went out inot the back garden to try and figure out a home for them. That very afternoon we turned an old rabbit hutch into a lovely chicken coup and our new pets had the run of the garden. We had our chickens for quite a few years and it wasn't until we moved house that we had to give them up as our land lady didn't want us to have pets.

Chickens aren't the most common animal to keep in your back garden but why not? They are amazing animals to have. They are sociable, fun, different and whats more, in the right conditions they lay the most amazing eggs.

We had two chickens, one of which I grew very attached to; Maggie. She would follow me around the garden, bang on the back door when she wanted to come in, sit on my lap on the sofa and watch TV, play with my hair and apart from me her best friend was one of my rabbits. She loved being rubbed down and would lie next to me in the garden and sunbathe. She really was a gem and one of the most amazing pets I've ever owned.

If you are going to get chickens then I would recommend that you pick up a few because they aren't solitary animals. They do fight a bit whilst they are sorting out a pecking order but they will become lonely if you just have one.

Chickens are very low maintainance. All they need is a home. You can buy a chicken coup and run for a couple of hundred quid or you can do what we did and convert an old, big rabbit hutch. Line the coup with wood shaving and straw and you're done. One thing I will say is, if you are going to convert a hutch then make sure you include a perch inside as chickens prefer to perch when they are asleep.

They do need somewhere where they can wash so keep a shallow dish in the garden so they can especially through the summer. My chickens loved the rain and would have fun washing in it although Maggie hated it. She would stad in her coup waiting for it to stop and if it started raining when she was out, you'd see her bomb it back to the coup. It was a funny sight. I used to have to spray her with the hose (only a light mist!) which she hated but her skin would get flaky and dry if I didn't do it.

When you get your new chickens, keep them in their coup for a few days so they learn where there home is (like a cat). Once you have done this, you will find that they automatically put themselves away as the night draws in. All you need to do is make sure they are locked in so creatures of the night don't get at them.

Chickens have a very basic diet. I used to feed mine mixed corn from the local farmer and they will also appreciate picking at the grass in your garden. Every now and again I would turn stones in our garden so they could have a go at the insects and bugs that lied underneath. This is so much fun. The poor insects try to scuttle away whilst the chickens run around trying to pick them up.

You will find that young chickens won't lay for a little while and when they do you will get one from each chicken. They also only lay for a few seasons so once they stop laying you need to decide what to do with them. I was a softy and kept mine. I remember going out every day to check if there was a egg or two in the coup. One day I came bouncing through the door with my prize in my hand and my hubby thought I'd gone mental.

If you treat your chickens well then you will be amazed at the taste of the eggs. Believe me when I say that the free range eggs in the supermarkets don't come anywhere near the ones you will get from your chickens. They taste of pure gold and I can honestly say that I have never tasted an egg as good as the ones I have had from my chickens. The yolk is the yellowest I've ever seen and the whole egg is the creamiest I've ever had.

There are a few down sides to keeping chickens but personally I think the pluses out weigh the minus'.

They are very messy. I would change their coup once a week but regularly remove soiled bits so it was kept clean for them. When I did the big change once a week they would ferry around me and start chattering away like a bunch of old ladies. Once it was done they'd go inside and make it their own by basically making a huge mess. The straw would be everywhere!

If you don't want your garden to become a muddy wreck then make them a run. After a few months our garden had no grass left as they like to scratch. We did build a run eventually but the chickens would spend hours trying to jump over the fence because they hated being closed in.

The other thing is the fact that their poo's are really quite big. If you don't keep them in a run then don't go outside without shoes on. Many a time have I stood in a big dollop in bare feet and I ca assure you, its not pleasant! The more chickens you have the more messy your garden will be. I used to keep a small shovel handy so I could pick it up and throw it over the wall into the neighbours garden.......only joking!

It's not easy to sex chickens so make sure you get a professional to do it. We ended up being woken up one morning by 'Coooockkkkadddooooooodddoooodddlllldoooooo'. It was a nightmare as we lived in a terraced house so both neighbours were out complaining!

Over all I would definitely recommend to anyone to get some chickens, they are so much fun, cheap to keep and lay the best eggs ever!

Summary: If you have the room then get some!