If however you have decided upon an open coop then your nest/roosting box will need to encompass both of these features – a place for your hens to settle down to lay, and place where they can roost for the night within the safe confines of their home. Place it high by putting it on stilts or securing to a sturdy wall of the coop and make sure you have some means, i.e. a ramp or perhaps some old, well placed tree branches, for your happy hens to get in and out.

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 should be a no no (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. I myself keep Silkies, Buff Nankins and Light Sussex, all of which are relatively quiet. 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. My best advice here is to 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 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, I find a general corn diet aimed at poultry is best, its ready mixed so you don’t have to worry about buying all the different ingredients for a healthy diet. You can buy this from many pets suppliers as well as online – I use Haiths – which deliver to your door and make the process ridiculously easy. You will no longer have to throw your household scraps in the bin as your hens will now happily gobble up most things – mine LOVE pasta and left over porridge – 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 you 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!