Emma Butcher

My chickens keep me sane and have helped me through really tough times.....
I never realised that these funny little creatures could have such a therapeutic affect on me.

After suffering a massive pulmanary embolism to both lungs which resulted in my heart failing last August I was, needless to say at the age of 34... gutted!! But after a long stint in hospital my chickens and ducks even kept the girls on the ward smiling!! I amused them with tales of my Drake that fancies my chihuahua and my Poland cockerel that looks like Rod Stewart! My tales kept all of them smiling and earned me the name chicken Mad Emm.

Once I was allowed home from hospital and reunited with my family I could not wait to waddle outside to see my girls, and was greeted by my seven large fowl running at top speed down the garden to greet me (my clumsy exchequer leghorn stumbling as usual).

My cup of tea in a comfy outside chair was the highlight of my day as i could see my poultry and tell them my worries without feeling guilty for alarming them. Even now the girls i've kept in touch with still ask me how my birds are.

Although i am unwell again now due to a relapse i know my girls are there as a release and escape if needed!! They bring joy and companionship to people who really need it so never discount poultry as a wonderful pet and hobby.

Felicity Anne Hayes

My chicken story started with my husband designing a chicken coup. He works in the timber industry and has always had access to cheaper timber as a result. My son was a carpenter, and together they decided that, after clearing our back garden, which was a mammoth task, they would build the chicken coup. Well, they did that beautifully and even had help with one of my son's friends, who, being in the roofing industry, was able to put a proper corrugated iron roof on it and attached gutters and a down pipe. Then came our first three rescue chickens, Rhonda, Darkie and Honey. We had all three for just over two years and I became very attached to them, although I was nervous about the responsibility at first, and knew absolutely nothing about looking after chickens. Rhonda and Darkie unfortunately and sadly passed away last winter, but Honey has stayed with us and she is a very, very strong chicken, and lays lovely eggs about three times a week. I was going to just keep her on her own, but my son said you have to get more chickens to keep her company. I resisted at first but then, upon returning from a vacation to help my sister move, my husband and I bought two pullets, Bec and Jo, off a breeder. Honey was really bossy at first and caused some grief as she was always picking on the pullets. Bec had a cold but she started to lay eggs every day and has been very resilient. Jo got sick early this year and I took her to the vets and he treated her for chicken bronchitis. Thankfully, she has now recovered fully and she laid her first eggs this week. I am absolutely delighted. Even Bec has stopped her sneezing, so I think all the chickens are now happy and content. I have always liked animals and I really enjoy my new lifestyle with my friendly chickens.

Eilene Corcoran

I lost my tiny little flock of four last year to a couple loose dogs, so I had to start over this spring. We raised 13 chicks for ourselves and a couple friends, and would you believe 10 of them turned out to be male? So we were down to one little pullet for us, and a couple for the friends. We found a woman advertising an easter egger on a local poultry group, so we arranged to meet her in a parking lot of a local business. She pulled up, grabs this little girl out of a cage, and hands her to me... I swear, she had exactly three tail feathers, bald spots, just a sad looking bird. My husband said... are you seriously going to take her? Look at her! I said... yes, absolutely... I have to get her away from them! So, for $15, I got the saddest little chicken in the world. She lays a beautiful blue egg nearly every day, and though she is still sort of a ragamuffin, she's feathered out quite nicely. We call her Lucy, the Junkyard Chicken! She has more personality in her little foot than most other birds! Love my little Lucy.

Jordan, 17

Fiona Edwards

I started keeping chickens in June 2012, after a speaker at the local horticultural society talked of his experience and encouraged everyone to keep at least a couple of hens in their garden. I had 3 to start with, though as many chicken keepers will tell you, you soon become besotted with these endearing creatures and inevitably end up increasing your flock!

I like the fact I know my hens are happy and healthy and they provide us with many eggs. It is also a fantastic experience for my children.... from holding and feeding them to watching the change from egg to chick to maturity. They are not so keen on the cleaning out though!

I have 8 hens; 3 Light Sussex cross bantams (Elsie, Chatty, Harry), 2 Araucanas (Wendy and Henry), 2 RIR bantams (Sadie and Britt), 1 Star hybrid (Starla) All girls despite the 'boys' names! Elsie is top hen, a Light Sussex/Silkie cross. She is broody as regular as clockwork - 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off. She is a wonderfully feisty character in her 'bloomers' and has taught me so many things about keeping chickens. Wing clipping, breaking the egg-eating habit, incubating eggs under a broody and raising a chick. You soon get to recognise who's who, not just by their look but also by the different sounds each make and their personalities.

As I said, Elsie is a feisty girl and we have had occasional battle of wills! I'm sure she thinks she is also superior to me as she often ignores what I want her to do and does it her way - which usually turns out to be the right way! When I tried to keep her and the one chick (the other 11 eggs failed) safe by enclosing her in a run within the run, she kept finding ways to get them both out and I would find them at large in the garden! I gave up and took down the enclosure and everything was fine!

The newest girl to the flock, Starla, came to us by default! A neighbour came to the door to tell me one of my chickens was out in the road! I ran out to find it wasn't one of mine, but no way could I leave her to the mercy of the traffic, dogs or anything else! After an hour or trying to catch her and eventually enlisting the help of the local pet shop owner/chicken enthusiast, we managed to corner her and he took her back to his shop while the owner was traced. She laid a couple of beautiful large white eggs but then had a prolapse. We decided to let her rest for a week or so and though I put up many posters etc no-one came forward to claim her. I eventually brought her home and she settled in quickly with my girls. After a week she was laying again, and several egg laying weeks later, she hasn't prolapsed, though I will continue to monitor her.

Cons: Absolutely no cons - well apart from having to get up early in the morning to let them out and the sad duty of dealing with the demise of your hen.

Pros: Too many to mention! Mainly for me is the entertainment! Hen-watching is such a great pastime. A fantastic education for my children. Plus, of course, delicious eggs!

Advice: Try to visit someone who is already a hen keeper, to see their set up and get advice from. Also, do plenty of research into the most suitable coop for you - bear in mind you may soon get bitten by the chicken bug and get more! - and before your hens arrive, make sure you are as fox/predator proof as possible. Research chickens! Try to find the best for your requirements - I have a friend whose hens quickly grew too large for his set up as he hadn't realised how big they would get! Also, one of my first girls is constantly broody which wasn't something I checked when I was looking for hens. And try to get your chickens from a good source - my first 3 came with a dubious age and 2 with scaly leg mite. However, they were soon fine after treatment and still with me after nearly 3 years. Ideally, a first timer shouldn't have to face problems from the outset.

Linda Black

Eileen Nicholson

My story is only from about three weeks ago.

I was in the garden, cleaning the coop and run, and the dogs and the chooks were just bumbling about the garden.

After a while, I realized that not only had no one tripped me up for a while, but that it had gone awfully quiet. Looked about - not a hair or a feather anywhere! I fair panicked, thinking they'd escaped some how so ran indoors, checking the undergrowth and bushes on the way, and saw I'd left the backdoor open.

The chooks often steal my dogs' dinners, if they can sneak in so I headed for the kitchen. No dogs, no chooks.

Was about to proper panic and headed for the stairs to wake my OH up (he's a night-worker) to panic him too, when as I passed the living room I heard a 'bok'.

Popped my head round the door and there are the two dogs, sitting comfortably, one either end of the couch and my three Ladies sitting in the middle WATCHING TV!

Oh, I SO wish I was a modern techie person with the mobile always to hand, but I'm not - it was on charge in the kitchen...

Mr and Mrs Ritson

Bryony Holden

I had a 40 foot fox-proof run which used to be for rescue and rehab of wild owls. When it was no longer needed (the bird intake moved to other premises) I decided to start with chookies. Ive had burford browns, speckledies, goldline and white star and cannot imagine life chookless. I mean, what other pet makes you breakfast ? My hen is a mouser too! Has anyone else got one that catches and eats mice ? It was initially for a few eggs but they are such entertainers, I now consider the eggs as an added bonus.

Mine are in a 40 foot fox-proofrun with a semi covered and wire roof. Inside the run they have a range of perches of varying heights and positions, and an eglu go up which some hate, some love, some just go in to lay. They are free ranging when I'm home

I only keep a couple at a time and their names are usually old fashioned like Betsy, Lucy, Matilda. However, my current goldline favourite is Bouddica and she suits it well... Boudicca is a mouser! I was stunned to see her race across the garden and next I knew, there was a little mouse wriggling in her beak. She ripped it to shreds and ate it before I got to her. She wasn't hungry, she isn't short on protein .. stunning !

Pros: Eggs! Entertainment. Cuddles

Cons: There are non as far as i'm concerned!

Advice: Get hens! Get Happy!

Jan L'Argent, UK

When I retired I realised I could do something that my mother did in keeping hens.  We always had chickens but the one I remember is the pet chicken that I called Penny and used to come to the back door for treats.  It isn't just that they give us beautiful eggs but that they are great little characters, funny and so endearing in their ways. I've had hens for 2 years now, they are my pets, they all have names and I love them very much some even like a cuddle! I've lost a couple and it broke my heart but you never stop learning but one of the most important things is that I have made friends because of the hens.

I wanted to have really fresh eggs and on the side of economy I rarely have to buy eggs.  My hens are well cared for and not in cages, they are kept clean and have room to fly, which they're usually too lazy to bother with. I can't bear the thought of hens kept in cages where they have no room to move, where they are pecked by their too close neighbours and are considered 'past it' by the age of 2 and sent for meat unless they are lucky enough to be rescued.

I have 2 runs, 7 share a 2 x 4 metre run, they have a converted garden shed for a coop because I find purpose built runs too difficult to clean (I have arthritis in my spine).  It is well sealed against draughts, has nest boxes and a perch.  Their kiln dried sand on the floor to which I occasionally add diatomaceous earth - they use it for dust bathing but it also really easy to keep clean.  They have hemp bedding because it is so absorbent and easy to clean out as well.  Their run has hard wood chip on the floor and is changed every 3 months or so and when someone is home we let them have the run of the garden, which upsets my other half as they decimate his veg beds!  The other run has 3 girls but is similarly set up but smaller and they have an ark not a shed, I take the roof off to clean it out.

There are 10 in number, 2 Speckledy's, 1 Bluebelle the rest are hybrid crosses of Copper Black Maran, Cream Legbar and Skyline.  They are all named after British Queens and Queen Consorts because one of my first hens was a lovely coppery red/brown with creamy feather mixed in around the neck which I thought looked like an Elizabethan ruff so she was called Elizabeth.  Sadly she died from mycoplasmosis. I now have Eleanor, Caroline, Matilda (who strictly speaking called herself Empress), Margaret, known as Meggie, Guinevere, Isabelle, Anne, Katherine, Jane and Boudicca, clled Boo for short.  Annie likes to cuddle as does Matilda.  The 2 Speckledy's are just gannets and very noisy especially when it comes to telling the whole village that an egg has been laid!  All the little cross breeds are less biddable and prefer not to be handled but once they have been picked up they tolerate it except for Meggie whole give you a nasty bruise with her beak!  Oddly she is bottom of the pecking order but is not bullied.  Katherine is also bottom of the pecking order in her run.

Pros are fresh eggs, friends (both hens and people) and always having a talking point.

Cons are it's expensive to get your set up, keeping it clean is less so but is time consuming, feed is relatively cheap but good quality food is worth it.  If you live in an urban area getting a good poultry vet is difficult.  Losing a hen is very hard, it's as bad as your dog/cat dying. Going on holiday is difficult unless there is someone you trust to care as much as you do.

You may have to deal with the horrific result of fox invasion or even buzzard and sparrowhawk. You have to be prepared to deal with mice/rats if they crop up.

Advice? It is not cheap or easy so think hard before you jump in. Do a backyard chicken course. Research breeds, some lay better, some are noisy others less so. some may be more prone to disease. Consider taking ex-batts they will lay for several more years, are well domesticated and will give the pleasure of knowing that you gave them freedom from cages and a longer life.

There are so many little things but I'll never forget the day I met Matilda walking down the road when returning with the dog from a walk. Thankfully, we live in a village and a cul-de-sac but we do get traffic. I was horrified that I could have lost her but it was hilarious watching my blue/grey hen happily strolling along and picking up tidbits from the neighbours hedges!  She'd flown over 2 garden gates to get out so I've never let them free range unattended again!

Cally Day

I've always wanted to live in the country with chickens and when we moved to the country we bought some from a breeder, and like most things in our life we did some basic research and winged the rest. They do what they want and teach everyone else, child, dogs, cats, ducks. They are in charge of this household. I love them silly and of course my top dog (or hen) is like a little puppy who follows me everywhere. Tracey likes cuddles and falls asleep in my arms.

They're fantastic for fresh eggs, my girls lay all year round and their house waste I use for fertiliser.

We have four girls:

Tracey. Copper Moran, she's top dog and my favourite, very cheeky, always wants to see me and come into the house bringing Courtney with her. We have regular intellectual conversations about life and things. Crazy out of control free ranging serial stealers of hearts and givers of laughs!

Courtney. Copper Moran who's very tame, quiet, doesn't cause any dramas.

Babs. Purple Haze, she's a lot like Courtney, just bocks around minding her own business.

Carmen. A Black crow looking thing who comes out daily for food then straight back to bed to pretend she's hatching chicks! She's the moody broody pecker!

They make me happy. Every morning when I open the door they come running up the garden to see me! Chickens running is hillarious! Relax, they're easy to keep and easy to train.

Pauline Watton, UK

I got my 1st 3 girls in 2011 , I had always liked the idea & then when I turned 40 I took the plunge, I think a few of my friends & family thought it was a mid life crisis! My chickens are pets so it's a hobby for me

I live in a terraced house with a huge back garden, my 1st two coops were both made of wood but after 3 years I invested in an Eglu Cube which is all plastic & so much easier to maintain, attached to the cube is a self made run half of which is covered for shelter , I'm fortunate that I have a secure garden which means my girls free range 75%

I started off with 3 brown hens , Amy, Imelda & Florence. Amy was head girl 2nd in command was Florence & poor Imelda came last , Imelda died after a year she had always been poorly , I waited a few months & decided to get 2 more (brown) I named them Dolly & Madge (I decided from start they would be named after some of my favourite singers!) the 1st 2 weeks was hard trying to introduce them to the older girls but finally peace reigned & Amy was still head girl & she was also the most tame she loved a cuddle the other girls are friendly to me but Amy & I had a bond sadly she died in 2014 followed 2 weeks later by Florence who I think just missed her friend too much, I was heartbroken. I decided weeks later to get 4 more girls as I felt sorry for Dolly & Madge rattling around a big coop on their own.  I got Paloma (black rock) Olivia (Amber star ), Loretta (lavender) & Azealia (barred rock ) they are all one happy family , Dolly is now head girl with Madge as her sidekick & Paloma & I have bonded same as with Amy she loves a cuddle & given half the chance she would sit on my shoulder all the time like a parrot! They all have their own personalities & I adore each of them

Pros - Fresh eggs of course but it also keeps you active, they have great personalities & make great pets , nothing beats sitting in the garden on a summer's day listening to the girls chatter of contentment

Cons - Cleaning out days in the winter can be grim if it's wet and windy, if they get ill it can be difficult trying to figure out what's going on sometimes as chickens health issues can be complex & they are good at hiding symptoms until too late, you need great family & friends who don't mind looking after them if you want to go away for any longer than a day chickens like most other animals are a commitment

If you decide to free range your chickens in your garden fence off any area you value, they will destroy your plants & grass in no time they are garden assassins!!