Raising Happy Chickens

I have a tiny little bantam Lemon Millefleur Sablepoot called Bono (he was called Bonnie until he started crowing and squaring up!) who insists on squaring up to everyone, including my huge 50 kilo Livestock Guardian Dog. She is completely bemused by him and never tries to hurt him - she just stares him down. He doesn't actually do her any damage as he can't even reach the top of her leg.

Margaret Bell

When I was young I used to come home from a dance at 2 o'clock in the morning. I'd have to not wake any cockerels up otherwise they all crowed until getting up time. And I used to be in very serious trouble! My dad was a farmer... if you woke one up it set the whole lot off and they crowed until getting up time... so you can imagine...

I used to sneak down the lane on tip-toe trying not to wake them up. I was about 16 - 20... I'd been to a dance. You know.. it was just one of those things when you live on a farm!

We sold the eggs and the eggs for hatching - that's why there were a lot of cockerels because we needed them all fertile. I used to help feed them... just the things you do on a farm, you do a bit of everything when you live on a farm. I married into a farming family so there was no let-up from the cockerels!

Rachael Harris, London

On honeymoon in South Africa there were some feather footed chickens (?cochins) in one of the places we were staying. They were so much fun and came to visit us every morning! When we got home I said to my husband that I wanted to keep chickens but my husband didn't agree. It took me about 18 months before he agreed and now we both love them. It hasn't all been straight forward but it is a huge learning curve which is just ongoing! We have now had chickens for about 2 years

I would like to keep more animals and become more self sufficient but our hectic London life style doesn't let us (we both work full time). I was always nervous about supermarket eggs, not knowing how the hens are treated :-( Plus, how great is collecting fresh eggs everyday?! We also find that it is very relaxing watching the flock free range in summer... But we also go through very stressful points when things go wrong... Foxes, illness, pecking order etc

We started with one second hand Eglu with 3 hybrids, last summer we expanded to a cube with 6 bantams, about 4 months later we rescued a bantam rooster. We then got 2 Polands, they were not happy in the cube so we had an emergency purchase of a second eglu.

3 hybrids have died in 2 years, 2 from fox attacks and one from a mystery illness. The 1 orginal hybrid is alive, she is top of the pecking order, she pecks the lowest chicken and that one always has a bare bottom! Names are Mrs Pilkington (named after my great Grandma, 2 that died were Dorothy and Clara after my grandparents) The rescue rooster is a Pekin bantam called Rocky (previously named!)

The 6 bantams are the 3M's (after were my husband's dad worked!) Margo Maude and Mathilda. And the other 3 were named after Owd Lancashire sayings, Purrt'n Kettle On (Kettle) Is It Heckes Like (Issy) and Ecky Thump (Thumper). Our Polands are Onyx and Amber (they are our most recent addition in September

Characters... Too many to mention... The pecking order is rife... They all chase the ones below... When we add new ones my husband calls it carnage! The Polands are the sweetest the sweetest things.

We have one bantam who is the lowest in the pecking order and she has started spending some time inside with us!

It's relaxing but not so great in winter when it's dark and the are asleep when we go to home and asleep when we come home...! I worry that I won't know if one is sick. In the summer I love it... Just pottering in the garden with them... Seeing their personalities

Hopefully going to have chicks this spring which will be another huge learning curve!

If I were to give advice i'd say research research research, join poultry groups and ask lots of questions and get lots of support!

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

Everything changed for the better when we rescued our rooster! The whole dynamics of the group changed and I love the way he cares for his girls and they think he is a chicken God and act like groupies around him! I love watching him getting horny and getting some (is that too much information!?)

Michelle Wilson, UK

I grew up on a farm with leghorns.  My job was to clean out the hen house once a week, collect the eggs and look for anything weird.  My birds did well.  We had 2 roosters that fought occasionally, so my dad killed one, even though I thought they got on well enough most of the time.  I think it was a rooster pecking order thing and limited.  I didn't enjoy eating him.  I was upset dad killed him as we had lots of hens.  I don't think dad watched them like I did and jumped to conclusions after watching them spar.  After that I moved out and decided I wanted to have Croad Langshans as my own chickens.  They are awesome and I have up to 9 roosters over 30 hens.  It works.  Now I have turkey's too, and I have to be very regimented with my worming program, but it works well.  I am 45 now, so I have had a good deal of exposure to chooks.

They were seen as an important staple of our diet (eggs).  More valued as they seem to be now.  Now farm people rely on trips to the supermarket more.  Not me though.

The Hunters, UK

My daughter,  who was about 3 at the time, used to get taken for a walk by her granny or grandpa every so often.  She would hold their hand and happily wander up the country lane.  On reaching the back lane she would ask to be lifted up and carried.  Rounding the corner and being carried by her grandparent she would see the small flock of hens halfway up the lane and amongst them the small white cockerel.  As they approached the hens would wander off but the cockerel would stand in the middle of the lane and puff out its chest, it was up for a fight and my daughter would hang on tight and begin to laugh.  She thought it was hilarious that granny or grandpa was being attacked by the miniature cockerel and the fuss that ensued.  Unfortunately the cockerel picked a fight with a 4 wheel drive and came off second best!

Mandy Roberts, 50, Nothumberland

My family kept hens when I was a teenager - part of the self sufficiency 'craze' of the 70's I guess.

 We had a Rhode Island Red cockerel called Eric The Red who we were very scared of but needed to lock up at night. We had to use a bamboo stick to get him into the greenhouse - a bigger target than the chicken hut.

 We also had bantams who would roost in the bushes at dusk - we had to lift them down and pop them away as they roosted so low that a fox could have easily got them.

Dolan Conway, 55, Elvan Lodge

My wife's friend Sue had a cockerel with a damaged leg and it was the left leg. So it used to walk strangely on the right leg. And Sue, when she saw it walking said I'll call the hen Ministry of Silly Walks. She lives in Hartburn in Morpeth.