KEEPING HENS & DUCKS

Building a brood or gathering a gaggle

Our chickens and ducks are like chalk and cheese. The chickens are well-behaved school prefects – bright, reliable but prone to bossiness. The ducks, in contrast, are rowdy teenagers – noisy, messy and lots of fun. They all stick together during the day, wandering around as a gang, but come the evening the chickens and ducks part ways and head for their separate huts. Putting them in the same house wouldn’t work – chickens need to roost on a perch while ducks sleep at ground level. Having one above the other would be a recipe for disaster. And, like children, bedtime routines are different for both types of birds. The chickens, good as gold, put themselves to bed, while the ducks would carry on the party given half the chance and need shooing indoors. For all their quirks, however, they reward us richly with their endless egg-laying and slapstick antics. Watching eight ducks jostle for space in a washing-up bowl of water is far more entertaining than anything the television can offer.

SETTING UP THE COOP

Choosing a hen house is a balancing act: too small and you’ll get birds attacking each other and a smaller number of eggs; too large and the birds can’t keep warm and it will take for ever to clean out. As a rule, for free-range birds, bantams need 40cm x 40cm per bird in the coop, medium-sized birds 50cm x 50cm and large breeds, such as Orpingtons, 60cm x 60cm. Solar-panel doors close at night and open with first light, adding a safety net should you forget to check them. You’ll need one nesting box for every three birds and 15cm-30cm on the roosting bar for each one. If they’re confined to a run, allow one to two square metres outside space per bird. A weekly cleanout will also keep them happy.

FEEDING CHICKENS A SQUARE MEAL

Chickens need a surprisingly balanced diet, one that’s packed with protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals – a scoop of corn just won’t provide the complete nutritional package. Depending on the age of the hen, they need different feeds: up to five weeks old, baby chicks need ‘chick crumbs’ (a complete feed); pullets (six-18 weeks old) have ‘growers mash’ or ‘grower pellets’, which support their growth spurt; and layers need ‘layers mash’ or ‘layers pellets’.

An adult chicken will need about 120g of food a day. Smallholders used to supplement their chickens’ diet with kitchen scraps. To prevent processed animal products re-entering the food chain, DEFRA regulations state this is now against the law unless you live in a strictly vegan household. Due to the risk of crosscontamination, this even includes vegetarian kitchens, where products of animal origin such as milk are used. You can, however, still give chickens vegetables from the garden, such as cabbage leaves or lettuce. Ensure fresh water is always available.

FINDING THE BEST LAYERS

How many eggs will a chicken lay? It depends on many factors including breed, age and time of year. Broadly speaking, hens bred specifically for commercial egg production – usually Rhode Island Red hybrids – lay more eggs than rare or pure-breeds, but only for a few years, after which their capacity drops dramatically. Rare and pure-breed hens lay fewer eggs but are productive for years.

Exposure to daylight also affects production, with many breeds slowing down or stopping over the colder months – rural folklore will tell you that chickens stop laying on Bonfire Night and start again on Valentine’s Day, but some hens just keep going. If you want to sell your eggs and have fewer than 50 chickens, you don’t need a licence, but it has to be direct to customers (in an honesty box, for example) rather than in shops or restaurants.

FOX-PROOFING THE PENS

Foxes help to keep wild pest populations, such as rabbits, under control but can devastate a hen enclosure. When it comes to keeping poultry safe from predators, fencing needs to be at least 2m high with an extra 30cm overhang, and dug into the ground at least 30cm to prevent a fox burrowing underneath.

‘Chain link’ fencing is tougher than normal chicken wire, which foxes have been known to chew through. Flexible electric fencing is another effective option – you can get a kit with a 50m roll of netting, poles and battery pack for around £250, but it isn’t always suitable if you have small children and other pets. Hedgehogs can also get frazzled trying to climb through electric netting, so choose a net with a small grid size to avoid this happening. If a fox does visit and kill a few birds, but knows there are more left alive, be extra vigilant for a repeat attack.

The ducks reward us richly with their endless egg-laying and slapstick antics