Thank you, Dinosaw, - although when describing me, the only superfluous adjective on your list is 'vegan! '
I suppose everyone starts out keeping a few hens in their garden with the hope of some kind of idyllic rural lifestyle, where the chickens can roam freely and decoratively, occasionally pausing to nibble daintily at a bit of grass without scratching holes in it, and being trained to sit nicely on the scrubbed wooden kitchen table without pooing on it, like in the picture. (Yuk!) Then reality strikes, the owners find out about mud, poo, rats, and complaints from neighbours, before a fox jumps in and kills the lot. Or they believe the coop-and-fixed-run manufacturers' estimate of how many chickens can be kept in a tiny run, and then find out about feather pecking, bullying, red mite etc. Winter comes, the novelty wears off, the hens stop laying, the drinkers freeze up, it's dark before and after the owners go to work, and only too often the hens get neglected at the bottom of the garden. Thus is like the 6-month-old-puppy stage, where the pup has become unmanageable and is sent to a rescue, although that's not so easy to do with chickens. It's a shame, because everything the article says about the therapeutic and other benefits of keeping chickens is absolutely true, but people do need all the right information before they get started on the project in the first place. All the problems are manageable with the right information about choices of equipment, how much space will be needed for the numbers being kept, suitable breeds and numbers of birds, and realistic expectations on long-term care. (All of which can be found on Poultrykeeper or on here, of course!) Chickens are remarkably resilient and only need safe accommodation and a few minutes a day of basic care, the right food and water and clean conditions,- plus whatever else by way of love and attention the owner has the time and desire to provide.
In return, they donate lovely eggs - what more could you want?
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