Keeping chicken

Now I know they're not exactly pets, what we had a very friendly chicken wander into our garden lately. Although it's gone back now to its owner, I wonder what's involved in actually keeping a couple of chicken? Any ideas?

the best person to ask would be Anna but she's not around at the moment .You could research it on google .We stayed at. Guest house here there were chickens .We weren't too impressed at being woken up at 5-30am !

My friends used to have chickens, and it seemed fairly straightforward. But I guess it depends on how you plan to rear them and what you're keeping them for. They had lots of land, so the runs got opened first thing in the morning to let them wander and graze to their hearts content, then when it started to get dark, they'd automatically mosey on back to the run and settle in for the night. My friend would give them chicken feed every day to supplement what they found for themselves, and they only kept them for the eggs, not the meat. The only problem they had was every so often a fox would get into the hen house and have himself a party :P which meant cleaning up the mess and starting again!

Good luck if you decide to give it a go!

Thanks for the tips, our garden is reasonably long, so I think we will definitely think about it - I'm sure I can interest my hubby in some fresh eggs every day! (And Ladynett, I'm definitely not getting a rooster!)

We keep 3 hens which we have had for 18mths. Surprisingly I have become quite attached to them as pets as they definately have individual personalities and some funny quirky ways.
I have a large coup which sits within a run about 20X10 ft. They also have a covered sand bath in this area. They are not time consuming as I thought they would be, in fact once certain things are done, they are happy to just get on with things.
Every morning I pick out the poo from their bedding area and the run. Fresh pellets and water are put down each morning. On some days I sprinkle around powder to deter mites, which can be a problem with chickens.
They put themselves to bed and are then shut up until morning.
This is very basic and there are problems that most chickens keepers come up against at some time. I am learning as I go along.
I learned all that I know from joining a web site called Down The Lane. A brilliant place to go for all sorts of things. Even if you are only thinikig about chickens, do have a visit.