This is what I've learned so far from keeping hens:
1. When building your coop, think like a fox and look high
and low for ways they could enter.
2. Hold your hens occasionally and check them over for problems.
3. Some things are poisonous to hens, including potato, tomato leaves, rhubarb, avocado and chocolate (so you can enjoy that by yourself!). Peas and beans should be cooked first. *Please Note: this is not an extensive list and there are many more things that you should not feed your hens or let them reach through the wire from inside their garden.
4. Hens need to be able to escape to somewhere cool in the heat of the day. Ours like to get under the leaves of the bushes in their garden. They also need somewhere to shelter from the rain. Mine don't mind a few spits of rain, but if it's too heavy they will seek shelter.
5. Make sure they have a perch in their bedroom that they can perch on at night (even if they're like mine and chose not to use it). It's a personal chooky choice.
6. Be prepared to name them and enjoy their antics and different personalities.
7. Hens are wonderful little animals that give us eggs and manure and entertainment and don't ask for much in return.
8. Remember that for every chook we have in our backyard, that's one more little lady that we know has a good home and a good life.
A happy hen enjoying her life
