Pet Chickens
Chickens may seem like an odd choice for a pet, but they can be very friendly and entertaining - and, of course, they pay their way with eggs and pest control for your garden.
Chickens can easily be tamed and trained, even as adults, with positive reinforcements and food rewards. They will come running when they think you might have a treat, learn to eat out of your hand and some may even allow you to stroke them. If you talk to them, treat them well and handle them gently you'll have faithful followers.
Chickens have become so popular today that you can attend Hen School for beginner keepers to ensure you are doing the best for a happy and healthy chicken.
Chickens come in hundreds of colours and "styles": Brown, gold, red, white, gray, silver, speckled, spotted, checkered, dappled, smooth, fluffy, silky, grizzled, whiskered, bearded, bare legged, feathered legged, booted, high tailed, bushy tailed, long combed, rose combed, bare headed or with fanciful headdresses to mention a few. Hens, with their subtler colours, lay eggs and cackle and cluck. Cockerels (roosters) are much more colourful and flashier, fertilize those eggs and crow loudly and often. Unless you want more baby chicks, don't get a rooster as a companion for your hen. Hens do not need a rooster to lay eggs, and without one, will be less stressed and harassed. Chickens come in various sizes, from one-pound banties to 10 pound Giant Jerseys. Some hens lay blue or green-shelled eggs, some spotted, some dark brown and others pearl white. Some lay every day while others only a few months of the year. Most hens start laying in their 5th or 6th month and are productive up to their third or fourth year, but some have been known to produce well into "old age". Pet chickens average lifespan is about 15 years.
Fancy Feeds
As adults, feed your chickens good quality Fancy Feeds Layer's Pellets in the mornings and Fancy Feeds Mixed Corn in the afternoon, with clean, fresh water available at all times. Pellets can be given in a feeder from which they help themselves, while the grain can be scattered on the ground so that they can enjoy scratching for it. Table scraps are a welcome treat, but limit them to less than 1/4 of the diet or they may not get proper nutrition.
Chickens will also eat the growing tips of grasses, and anything they can forage during their scratching activities. They provide a natural garden pest control, eating snails, slugs, earwigs and other insects, so only use non-toxic, organic pesticides on things they might eat. If kept in a coop, provide them with greens such as cabbage leaves, lettuce, spinach and/or green vegetables hung up so that they can peck at them when they want to. Also provide some poultry grit to help grain digestion in the gizzard, and crushed oystershell for strong eggshells. To keep your chickens healthy and prevent odors, clean the coop regularly.
Pet chickens are not as odd as they seem and those who have kept them rave about their qualities and attributes. Chickens have distinct and interesting personalities. In a flock they quickly establish a social order and watching this evolve in a group of growing fowl is highly entertaining. Raised with love and tenderness, they'll be only too happy for you to be at the top of their 'pecking order'.
To see the new range of Fancy Feeds, pop into Scampers in the heart of Cambridgeshire, on the A142 Soham Bypass between Ely and Newmarket. Voted Best Pet Shop in the UK.
