Keeping chickens is becoming a fast-growing hobby for many people in the UK, probably spurred on by the TV programmes that have recently highlighted both the plight of the battery hens and the joys of keeping your own chickens.

Keeping doesn’t require lots of space even though most chicken lovers would advocate that the more space chickens can have the better. Did you know that keeping 2 small bantams bantams for example needs very little space. There are lots of really good chicken coops and runs on the market at the moment that would fit in most back gardens. Ideas-4-pets have a varied selection of hen houses to fit most pockets and most back gardens.

Chickens are not too particular about the design of their coops as they only need somewhere to perch at night, somewhere to nest in during the day and some room to roam around in where they are kept safe from predators (especially at night). So the choice of chicken coop is really up to the customer.

Small flocks of chickens don’t require any registration or permissions to keep but check out your tenancy agreement or housing deeds as these can still have exclusion clauses to the keeping of poultry in urban areas, for obvious reasons (The sound of crowing cockerels at dawn does not please everyone !!)

The good thing about chicken keeping is that you don’t need to worry about providing regular exercise and stimulation for them. This is not to say they are not intelligent creatures - I have heard it is said that they are as intelligent as an average 3 year old child and more intelligent than a dog or cat.

Once they’ve been let out in a morning they’ll happily entertain themselves all day by pecking, scratching and generally rooting around. Always make sure that they have access to a clean supply of fresh drinking water and feed they will be happy. They even put themselves to bed in their hen house at night!

As with most pets it is nice to have tame, friendly birds and to ensure this you do need to give your chickens some time, care and attention. You will soon have them eating out of your hand with regular food bribery and they will get used to you entering into the chicken run and will race over to greet you - usually because they expect you to come with some treats for them !!

Keeping any pet costs money from the initial cost of the hens, the chicken coops and chicken run, food, veterinary bills and insurance. But one of the advantages of chicken keeping is that they are a relatively cheap to keep. It is also worth considering adopting ex-battery hens who deserve an opportunity to live the free-range life after a life of being cooped up in discomfort.

Help to reduce your carbon emissions by collecting freshly laid eggs from the bottom of your garden rather that getting in the car to your local shop. As chicken poo compost is great for your vegetables, you don’t have to buy expensive compost either.

Feed your chickens a varied diet to ensure that they are healthy and at the same time reduce the amount of kitchen waste discarded in your bins. Chickens love food scraps provided it does not contain meat and feeding them left-over greens is an excellent way of supplementing your chicken’s diet. It is worth remembering though that they should also have proper chicken food which is very cheap to buy and comes in the form of pellets or a mash.

Well looked after hens are generally healthy birds that require very little medical input provided that they have clean chicken coops, freedom to move around regularly and access to good food and clean, fresh drinking water.

Once you get to know and love your chickens you will soon notice if they don’t appear to be well but we advise that you read up on chicken keeping before taking the plunge so that you have an understanding of some of the more common problems that can affect them e.g. red mite, scaly leg mites and worms.

The worst threat is that of avian flu and you should familiarise yourself with the DEFRA web site and their advice, just as a sensible precaution. Many of the hen houses on sale nowo have covered chicken runs which are in compliance with the avian flu guidelines regarding prevention of wild bird droppings which carry the virus.

Whether you choose to just keep a couple of layers or prefer to go into chicken “big time” we advise you to choose your hen house carefully - make sure it is a quality item, is easy to keep clean, it offers the correct amount of space, the chicken run is covered and large enough for the hens to feel free and comfortable, whether it is easily moved etc.

Many of ideas-4-pets customers tell us that they have learned a lot from our blogs and by reading up on the different hen housing available and have gone from an original purchase of a couple of bantams to keeping up to 20 hens !! Looks like the Tom & Barbara lifestyle may be realising a come-back !!