The Urban Hen

Setting up Home

There are several options on the market but before purchasing your coop it is important to ask yourself some important questions.

Do you want them for pets? For eggs? To have a little family flock? Perhaps to raise for the oven? The internet is strewn with ready to buy coops that are ideal for 2 - 4 hens. They have integrated nest boxes, perches and wheels so that you can roll the coop around your lawn as necessary but, if you're not overcome with cash, they are relatively expensive. Keeping chickens can be cheap, think post war, rationing, finding that little extra source of food. You may want the newest, swishest, latest gadget looking coop, but then again, a DIY job, chicken mesh, and makeshift nest box also serves equally well - remember, as long as they're fed, watered and well looked after your hens really won't care what their home looks like!

If opting for the DIY method there are several things that you should take into consideration.

1) How many hens do you want? When buying a ready-made kit the space required will have been taken into consideration but if creating their luxurious pad yourself you need to think about this carefully. Keeping hens at home should definitely NOT be a battery affair, this is negligent and goes against all the principles of keeping hens. In general hens need at a minimum of 2sq. feet per bird but try and give them as much room as possible.

2) Fox Proofing. It is a fact of life as far as we can remember that the fox and the chicken have had an intimate and bloody relationship. We can't blame the fox - he's only trying to get what we pick off our supermarket shelves everyday, but we can do our best to deter him. When building your coop it is essential that you under mesh the entire area with chicken wire, this not only prevents the fox as it tries to dig in but will also help stop any rodent vermin that want to nibble on a tasty corn kernel or two. In the urban environment it is also best to complete the run with a mesh roof, possibly hinged for greater cleaning ease, but to stop the chickens from escaping and from predators and vermin to climb in. Unfortunately it is inevitable that at some stage we may loose our chickens to predators, but by putting all your security in place at the beginning we can try and prevent this as much as we possibly can.

3) The Nest Box. It doesn't need to be big, it doesn't need to be luxury, but it does need to be dark, safe and give the feeling of protection. Depending on your set up it will require a number of different things. For a totally enclosed coop your nest box can simply be a place where your hen feels safe to go and lay her eggs. Your roosting perches can be placed outside in the rest of the coop (if you decide to keep bantams you may not even needs perches) and so your nesting place needs to simply be an enclosed box with straw with a hole in the front sufficient for your hen to squeeze herself through. These can be bought or alternatively made from an old rabbit hutch or simply a wooden box with an opening on one side.

Choosing your Hens

Finally - the exciting part! You've created your hen's new oasis, your nest box is in, your coop is fox proofed and its time to get your new family additions. First and foremost it is important that you think about your neighbours points of views, you don't have to dash round, sit them down and give them a lecture on keeping chickens but you should think about the consequences. Many people will associate chickens with noise, smell and rodent vermin. We can control the latter two by cleanliness and a feline friend will always deter your squeaking residents, but you don't want your neighbours, or yourself for that matter, being woken up at the crack of dawn by a crowing cockerel, or a gaggle of happy hens. For that reason housing cockerels in the urban environment really shouldn't be considered (unless of course you're rearing chicks for the table in which case at the first sign of a crow it should perhaps be time for the chop) and consideration into the type of hen housed should be taken.

All hens will make noise at some point, that happy "I've laid an egg" celebration, or the "there's something in the bushes, lookout, lookout" cry, but some hens are quieter than others. Several quieter species are Silkies, Buff Nankins and Light Sussex.. The downside of the former two is that they fall into the bantam category which does affect egg size but they are very quiet, don't need as much space as a large true fowl does, and the Silkies especially are very tameable. In addition Silkies cannot fly so if you wish to allow them out to trundle around the garden from time to time you don't have to concern yourself with wing clipping. Join some poultry forums, talk to those that already keep hens, and most importantly talk to whoever you are going to buy your hens from - they will have a good knowledge of exactly how the hens they keep behave. Try to buy hens at point of lay, or at approximately 6 - 7 months old. This is the time at which they start to lay you a steady stream of eggs. Give them time to settle in, accommodate themselves, and you'll soon see them start to visit your nest box. A good tip here is to always leave one egg in the nest, it will encourage the others to lay in the same spot and make egg collecting that much easier.

Feeding your new family

Once the initial set up of your little feathered friends has been down the general day to day feeding is very easy. When you first buy your hens establish what they have been fed on and give them the same diet to help smooth their transition into their new home. Once established you can start to introduce the diet that you wish to keep them on, a ready mixed poultry corn from a reputable dealer is perfectly acceptable many of which will deliver direct to your door. You will no longer have to throw your household scraps in the bin as your hens will now happily gobble up most things -pasta and left over porridge are serious contenders - and a feeling of green and environmental health will soon waft over you!

In addition hens will need a source of grit to help them break down the corn. Oyster shells or another form of grit available from most pet suppliers will be adequate but make sure they have a good source for both their digestive system and for making those lovely eggs.

Happy Hens

And there you have it, hens installed. At the start you may just see your hens as a little source of food but as you get to know them their personalities and little traits will soon have you wondering why you never kept them before. Keeping hens really is a wonderful experience for all the family, they are low cost, they eat all your kitchen waste, they supply you fun, amusement and a source of fresh, mouth watering eggs. Give it a few months and you'll be wanting to expand your flock for sure!