Frequently asked questions

Can I keep hens in my garden?

Most houses are fine to keep hens in the garden, double check your deeds if you think their may be a problem.

Sometimes there might be local restrictions but you can easily check by telephoning your local Council. Even the smallest garden has room for at least 2 or 3 chickens.

Are hens noisy to keep? 

Cockerels can be noisy, the hens are much quieter.
They are silent after dusk as they sleep. During the day they might make the occasional clucking sound or the odd squawk.

They make a little clucking sound when they celebrate laying an egg but nothing that will cause a nuisance to neighbours.

How many eggs does one hen lay?

This depends on the time of year; the breed of the hen; the diet of the hen; the age of the hen and how the hen is looked after.

Clucking Hens will supply you with a brown hybrid breed of hen which will lay approximately 300 eggs per year. Specialist breeds will lay similar or fewer eggs, approx 250 - 320 depending on breed.

Do you have to have a cockerel to get eggs?

No, hens will happily lay eggs without a cockerel, their eggs are therefore not fertilised and will never hatch into little chicks.

What do hens eat?

A good quality layers pellet mixed with a corn treat (all available from Clucking Hens) will be the daily diet of your hens. However as with most pets treats are welcomed and will help keep the hens laying delicious eggs.

Treats can include:

• Vegetables – especially salad or cabbages and fruit peelings, sweetcorn and melon are a favourite
• Pasta and rice (cooked without stock)
• Stale bread (but not mouldy)
• Stale cereals and biscuits (avoid too much sugar in the hens diet)
• Snails, slugs and worms from your garden! (Avoid any use of pest control e.g. slug pellets)

Have your Hens been vaccinated?
Clucking Hens Vaccination programme includes:
MAreks, IB Massachusetts, Salmonella Enteritdis, Samolnella Typhimurium, Infectious Bronchitis 4-91, Newcastle Disease, Gumboro Disease, Tremors, TRT and Egg drop Syndrome.