Greenhouse Effects: Raising chickens

Tony Juniper

If you have a garden, why not get some chickens? It may not feel like it at the moment, but spring is not that far away, so this is a good time to think about whether they might work for you.
After consistent lobbying from one of our children, we got some a few years ago. We bought an incubator, got fertile eggs from a local rare-breed farm and hatched our own chicks. It was a great thing to do, but, as well as a couple of hens, we finished up with a cockerel. His early-morning crowing gained a mixed reception locally, so he’s gone to live in the country. We have since bought more hens from a local breeder, and now have a flock of six laying birds.
We keep them in a wooden-framed run, covered with mesh attached to an old shed. They have sufficient indoor and outdoor space to be content, but come into the garden as well. You can make your own hen house and run, but there are dozens of good designs on the market (poultry.allotment.org.uk).
We feed ours pellets, grain and kitchen waste. We put straw on the brick floor of the outside run and a product called Hemcore in the shed. Inside are a couple of nest boxes and various perches.
Before you take the plunge, do pause to think. Do you have space for a fox-proof hut and run? Will someone clean, feed and water them, even in midwinter? Do you have room to store food and fresh straw? Is there somewhere to put waste straw and droppings?
If you think it will work, there is nothing nicer than picking eggs from a straw-lined nest box, taking them indoors and making breakfast. If you have children, chickens are a wonderful way to help them understand the source of food and to have a connection with at least some of it.
Tony Juniper is an environmental campaigner and former director of Friends of the Earth; tonyjuniper.com