You may be considering keeping hens at your home to help you spend less money on food during the current cost of living crisis, or you may want to keep them as pets. Whatever reason you are looking to get chickens in your home, there are various factors you need to consider first. Considering everything with care can help ensure you create the perfect space for your hens to thrive, and you can help to keep them safe and happy. You will find some of the factors you will need to consider below to help you start planning to keep hens at your home and ensure you provide a suitable environment.
Where To Get Your Hens
You will need to consider where you will get your hens from and how many you will get. Various charities, such as the British Hen Welfare Trust, aim to rehome battery farm chickens that still have plenty of life left. They have locations throughout the country where you can collect hens for a small donation when they are ready for adoption, and there are other charities also that you can use. Once you have sorted out where to get your hens, you will need to consider how many you will get and where they will stay.
Getting A Chicken Coop For Your Garden
The next thing you will need to do is consider where you hens will stay and get them a suitable chicken coop and run to keep them secure. When shopping for a chicken house for sale, you will need to ensure you get one that is a good enough size for the number of hens you will get. Below is the amount of space your hens will need to help keep them happy:
Floor Space: You must ensure that your hens each have around 30 square centimetres of space on the floor.
Perch Space: Hens also like to perch, as with most birds, and they will need about 25cms per bird of space.
Outside Run Space: You will also need to ensure that each hen has around 1 meter squared of space per bird in the outside chicken run.
You will also need to consider the location of the chicken coop, and you will want to provide them with protection from the elements. You will also need to ensure they are protected from predators, avoid having bushes and trees too close to the chicken run and have a wire mesh roof to prevent birds of prey from attacking from above.
Feeding Your Hens
You will also need to feed your hens a healthy and balanced diet, and one of the best ways to do this is by providing them with chicken feed, which you can purchase from many locations. You can also feed them scraps from your kitchen to supplement their diet, such as:
- Vegetable Scraps
- Fruit Scraps
- Grains
- Cooked Rice
- Cooked Pasta
Be careful with what you feed your hens, and ensure you research the subject before feeding them all your leftovers. Once this factor is sorted, you are ready to welcome your hens to their new home and provide them with an excellent quality of life.
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