subject: Having Chickens Is A Fine Pastime For The Whole Family [print this page] If you want the right pet for your kids, and one which can be profitable for dad and mum at the same time, then you should consider buying a chicken house and a few chickens.
Hens have several benefits as pets. Needless to say the very first benefit of keeping chickens is they provide you with wonderful, nutritious and extremely delicious free range eggs.
You won't believe how good an egg can taste till you've tasted your own newly laid free range eggs laid by your own chickens. You'll immediately throw away all of those supermarket eggs.
And hens are lots of fun to keep. Each one has its own personality, they are available in a number of shapes and sizes and surprisingly, if you bring them up correctly, they can be an affectionate pet.
We have hens and my kids absolutely adore them. One that we've brought up by hand is really so tame that it will run up to you when you enter the chicken yard and climb onto your shoes till you pick it up for a pat.
However there are some things you must consider before you purchase your first hens. The first is the spot where you will house them.
Generally chickens are housed in what is known as a chicken coop, but can also commonly known as chicken house or a henhouse. This is a structure that has been built specifically for having your hens and has several essential things built into it.
In the chicken coop you will need to supply perching rungs, or perches. They're wooden rungs approximately 1 to 2 inches wide which your hens use to sleep on. The same as birds in the outdoors will perch on a branch to sleep chickens also would rather sleep off the floor and they will perch to do this.
And you will also require nesting boxes. Nesting boxes are where your hens will go to lay their eggs. A nesting box must be around the size of one hen only. if you design them bigger then you'll find, as I normally do, that despite the fact that that there is 2 or 3 to choose from there'll be 2 chickens both attempting to lay in the same nesting box simultaneously.
It is important that the nesting box be above the ground as chickens like a nesting box that way, and as well that it be comparatively dark. If the nesting boxes are extremely light then you may well find your chickens will lay the eggs in the dark corner. They seem to love it darker when they lay.
You will need to think about providing both water and food for the chickens too. Often this is provided in the chicken coop, often by means of automatic feeding and watering, however many people handfeed their chickens.
Getting an automated watering and feeding method means that having hens does not subject you to exactly the same issues that you would have with lots of other pets, namely what do you do with them when you are away. Supply enough food and water for a week and you can securely leave your chickens by themselves and no harm will come to them. We have done it many times.
Check out any farm shop to find various versions of watering and feeding systems. Remember not to put the feed or water near or beneath either the perches or the nesting boxes as your hens will poo in their own food or water quite contentedly.
While a lot of people leave their hens in the chicken coop all day long I much prefer to have a yard where they are able to free range. I've got a simple yard surrounded by wire and they contentedly peck away all day. I also let my chickens out to roam around the house from time to time and it is delightful to see your chickens contentedly eating insects in the garden.
There are many varieties of chicken coup around. Look on the internet and you will see all sorts of intriguing designs for sale, made from all sorts of materials such as steel, plastic and timber. Many people make their very own hen house. I did so, and it is an economical way to provide your hens with a fine coop to live in.
Regardless of whether you like to be a handyman and make your own chicken coop or whether you'd like to purchase one does not matter. What does make a difference is that you take the first step towards getting your own hens by deciding the number of chickens you wish to have. This depends on the number of eggs you would like daily, and how much space you can allocate to your chickens.
Nevertheless getting too many eggs is rarely an issue, just offer a few to your nearby neighbors, they'll fall all over one another to buy your wonderful free range eggs.
I really hope this has made you enthusiastic about learning more about keeping hens. It is a fantastic hobby, kids love it, and it's a great way to introduce your kids to pets. And also to ensure a constant supply of omelettes.
There's of course much more to keeping chickens than what I've laid out here, this really is just intended as an introduction. If you are serious do some more research, delve much deeper in to the ins and outs of keeping chickens, then head out there and get yourself 6 or 7 birds along with a chicken coop and you're on your way.
