Keeping Chickens Articles.

Keeping chickens in the back garden is growing in popularity. There is something tremendously rewarding about caring for chickens and something incredibly relaxing seeing them scratching around the garden looking for bugs or worms. Many chicken fanatics started with just a few chickens for eggs but ended up getting more, often by hatching eggs under a broody hen or in an incubator.

Unfortunately, it's not all a bed of roses. Chickens need locking up at night to protect them from the fox and vermin such as rats can appear in winter to feed from your chickens food. Chickens do not distinguish between the vegetable plot and an old bit of scrub ground, and will scratch away happily at seed beds given half a chance.

From collecting hatching eggs to seeing that first little chick pip through the shell through the window of the incubator or from underneath a broody hen, emerging as a fluffy yellow chick a few hours later is still immensely rewarding for me. These are the sort of things that make keeping chickens such an amazing hobby.

Beginners

• Start with the Absolute Beginners Guide To Keeping Chickens. You may also like to have a look in the Chickens FAQ Section. Here you will find many answers to the common questions people ask about chickens. If you have other questions, try searching the site or putting a post in our Poultry Forum. There is also a short article for newcomers on keeping chickens in the NFU Mutual lifestyle magazine.

• If you are researching the breeds, the Chicken Breeds section contains specific breed information and photos of the different breeds of chicken.

• If your birds do fall ill, you should go and visit a vet. Don't forget our Poultry Vets database lists UK poultry vets.
  

• Our Diseases & Disorders section contains a fast menu that allows you to quickly go through some of the common problems you might have with your chickens and links into the various health articles around the site.
  

Articles Menu