Keeping chickens is something that anyone with a spare section of land or garden can do they dont require much attention, or taking out for walks. They will not eat your furniture, or attach themselves to your visitors legs when they come for a coffee! Chickens only requirement is fresh food and water and a pleasant house, provided with these, they will be extremely happy and give you all the fresh eggs you need.

Chickens are labelled as a dumb bird, and that is patently not true, once you understand how these little egg producers work, it can make for a remarkably different experience.

Chickens are highly intelligent animals, and they are remarkably quick learners. You can teach your chickens to be friendly and have confidence in you, chickens are naturally extremely timid animals and will move away the moment you approach them, but with a little encouragement (usually with food) you can have your chickens literally eating out of your hand.

Chickens are naturally inquisitive animals, and they love stimulation, chickens get bored. Again food is a fantastic way of stimulating your chickens and a variety of food, in addition to the usual pellets, or mix is a great way to keep them interested. Chickens will eat almost any fruit or vegetable and with trying different varieties you will soon discover what they like the best. Believe it or not, my chickens love water melon, and on a hot day I break a water melon into large pieces and place it in the run and they love it, it is also good for keeping them cool. Stale wholemeal bread is also extremely good, buy the bread uncut, a baguette, for example, and then after a couple of days when the bread is hard, place the complete baguette in the run it will keep them entertained for days.

Chickens lay eggs every day, but during winter months, this will slow down, the reason for this primarily is the seasons. In the winter months, chickens moult, just like your dog or cat would, chickens renew their feathers to help deal with the cold, and in the summer they shed their feathers. Whilst this process is occurring the chickens reproductive systems takes a well earned rest, and that is why they go off the lay during the winter months.

Being as intelligent as they are, chickens like regularity and if you stick to certain times for feeding or for letting them out, they will be extremely happy and highly responsive.

The birds themselves are structured animals when they are together in a pack, if you look at chickens that are kept in a group you can see the hierarchy, and the regular patterns they stick to within the pack. Each bird has its own individual character and understanding the birds brings a little more individuality to them.