Starting a Small Flock of Backyard Chickens

Few things mark the shift from a large garden to a genuine smallholding quite like the arrival of a small flock of hens. They turn scraps into eggs, scratch the ground into a workable tilth, hand you a steady supply of nitrogen-rich bedding for the compost heap and provide the sort of gentle, purposeful company that makes a morning round feel worthwhile. But hens are livestock, not ornaments, and a little planning before you bring them home will save you a great deal of mud, money and midnight worry.

Start with three or four, not twelve

Chickens are flock animals and do badly alone, but they also do badly when crowded. For a first flock, three or four hens is an ideal number: enough for company, enough eggs for a household, and few enough that you can carry them one at a time to the vet if needed. A practical rule of thumb is 0.3 square metres of floor space per bird inside the coop, and at least one square metre per bird in the run — the more the better. Crowding is the root cause of most behavioural problems, from feather pecking to egg eating, and no amount of toys or cabbage hung from a string will fix a run that is too small.

Choosing the right breed for your patch

There is no single best breed, only the best fit for your garden, your climate and your expectations. Hybrids such as the Bluebelle, Speckledy or Rhode Rock are the workhorses of the backyard flock, laying roughly 280 to 300 eggs a year and generally calm and hardy. Pure breeds — Light Sussex, Buff Orpington, Marans, Plymouth Rock — lay fewer eggs, perhaps 150 to 200, but often live longer and come in colours that make a mixed flock a pleasure to look at.

• Small gardens: bantams take up less room and eat less, but their eggs are small and they are lighter, flightier birds that clear fences more easily.
• Wet, heavy ground: choose a hard-feathered breed rather than a fluffy, soft-feathered one that turns into a mud sponge by November.
• Broodiness: Orpingtons and Silkies go broody constantly; hybrids rarely bother.
• Laying through winter: hybrids and modern pure breeds keep going; older traditional breeds often stop between November and February.
• Ex-commercial hens: rehoming a spent layer is enormously rewarding, but expect a scruffy, nervous bird that may need a slow introduction and careful feeding.

Point-of-lay pullets, usually 16 to 22 weeks old, are the sensible starting point. Buy from a breeder who will let you see the parent stock and the conditions the birds were reared in.

Housing: dry, draughty-free and genuinely fox-proof

A coop needs to be weatherproof and well ventilated, but ventilation must sit above head height so the birds are not sitting in a draught. Line the floor with wood shavings rather than straw, which is less absorbent and harbours mites. Perches should be rounded timber about 4 to 5cm wide, allowing 25cm of perch per bird and set roughly 45cm off the floor. Nest boxes, one per four or five hens at around 30cm square, should be dark and lined with clean shavings.

Foxes are the single greatest threat and they are patient, athletic and often urban. Flimsy chicken wire will not stop a determined animal. Use welded mesh, dig a skirt of it 45cm down and 45cm outward around the perimeter, and roof the run entirely. Fit a secure bolt and shut the pop hole at dusk; an automatic door opener is money well spent if you work late. Check every crevice for red mite when you clean, as these tiny grey mites multiply explosively in warm weather and will drive hens off the perch at night.

Feeding and the daily round

A balanced layers' pellet, fed ad libitum, should make up the bulk of the diet — around 120g per hen per day. Keep a separate hopper of mixed poultry grit and oyster shell so each bird can take the calcium it needs, and provide constant access to clean water; a hen will drink 250 to 300ml a day in warm weather. Household scraps are permitted for non-commercial keepers in the UK, but check current guidance and avoid anything mouldy, salty or spoiled.

The routine is simple and takes fifteen minutes a day:

• Morning: open the pop hole, count heads, refill drinkers and feeders, collect eggs.
• Midday: a quick glance for a hunched, quiet bird or a soft-shelled egg, which usually signals a need for more calcium.
• Evening: shut the flock in, check the latch, and count again.
• Weekly: remove soiled bedding and scrub drinkers. Monthly: a full clean-out with fresh shavings and a mite check.

Keeping hens healthy

Learn what a healthy hen looks like — bright eye, red comb, smooth feathers, dry vent — and you will spot trouble early. Worm the flock routinely, treat scaly leg mite with an appropriate oil or spray, and keep a small isolation pen ready for any bird that needs separating. Hens moult each autumn and will look dreadful for a few weeks while laying slows; that is normal. Keepers with 50 or more birds must register with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, and winter avian influenza housing orders apply to backyard flocks too, so watch for government notices each autumn.

Bringing your hens home

Transport hens in a sturdy cardboard box with ventilation holes, and put them straight into the coop and run rather than letting them free-range on day one — they need a few days to learn that this is home. Introduce new birds at dusk and quarantine any arrivals for three or four weeks before mixing them with the flock. Expect a fortnight of squabbling while the pecking order settles, and expect your first eggs within a few weeks of arrival. Then put the kettle on, sit on the bench and enjoy the quietest, most productive members of your smallholding.