Keeping hens is a great hobby, and also gives you some lovely, fresh eggs for breakfast. People have been tending chickens for thousands of years, selectively breeding them into many varieties. The birds we see today are perfectly domesticated, great at laying, and easy to catch, all of which makes them perfect livestock. To keep them at their happiest and most healthy it helps to know a few tips.
You can purchase all sorts of houses for your birds. A quick search will show you everything from bog-standard huts to cutesy cottages for your hens. What's actually required is a space where they can nest and perch for the night to avoid being eaten up by the local predators. Inside you need about thirty-forty centimetre squared space per bird. So if you have six birds you'll need a one metre by sixty-centimetre house. Bear in mind that you might want to buy more birds after you've got started.
Collecting eggs is one of the joys of keeping these lovable creatures, but be warned - they won't always lay where you expect them to. As well as perches you want individual nesting box for each bird in your hen house. This is hopefully where they'll lay, but you might have to search around your plants a bit if they're free-range.
Chickens like space to exercise, so about six feet by three feet is nice for them in terms of a pen. You can let them out in your garden, but if you've got any plants you don't want torn up you're advised to protect them with a boundary of some kind - chickens will scratch the earth dry to give themselves a dust bath just about anywhere, and eat almost anything. Also make sure to shut chickens away if you're going out for a while - foxes don't just hunt at night, and one fox will finish off a whole clutch of hens in the time it takes to nip to the shops and back.
Aside from the obvious essential of chicken feed you can also supply novelties to keep them entertained. Hanging CDs in their runs, or hiding food in various locations is all good to keep them active and healthy.
You can purchase all sorts of houses for your birds. A quick search will show you everything from bog-standard huts to cutesy cottages for your hens. What's actually required is a space where they can nest and perch for the night to avoid being eaten up by the local predators. Inside you need about thirty-forty centimetre squared space per bird. So if you have six birds you'll need a one metre by sixty-centimetre house. Bear in mind that you might want to buy more birds after you've got started.
Collecting eggs is one of the joys of keeping these lovable creatures, but be warned - they won't always lay where you expect them to. As well as perches you want individual nesting box for each bird in your hen house. This is hopefully where they'll lay, but you might have to search around your plants a bit if they're free-range.
Chickens like space to exercise, so about six feet by three feet is nice for them in terms of a pen. You can let them out in your garden, but if you've got any plants you don't want torn up you're advised to protect them with a boundary of some kind - chickens will scratch the earth dry to give themselves a dust bath just about anywhere, and eat almost anything. Also make sure to shut chickens away if you're going out for a while - foxes don't just hunt at night, and one fox will finish off a whole clutch of hens in the time it takes to nip to the shops and back.
Aside from the obvious essential of chicken feed you can also supply novelties to keep them entertained. Hanging CDs in their runs, or hiding food in various locations is all good to keep them active and healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment