BY ALLISON LEE
It wasn’t all that long ago when keeping chickens as pets was seen as being rather eccentric, despite the fact that the bird was first domesticated around 8000 years ago and is now one of the most common and widespread domesticated animals in the world.
Chickens do make good pets. They are social, friendly and are adept at forming bonds with humans. However, thought should be given to how and where they will be kept before embarking on the chicken-as-pet journey.
As with all pets, you need to be sure that you have the proper setup which gives them the care and companionship that they need. Choosing which breed to buy is also important if you intend to keep chickens as pets. So here are a few points to carefully consider:
- Do you have adequate space to house your chickens with a warm, dry and well ventilated coop? It is important to check local laws before getting chickens, in order to verify that you are permitted to keep the birds, as some cities and counties do have restrictions.
- Do you have the time, resources and knowledge to care for chickens properly? Chickens are sociable and therefore they should not be kept alone. If you want your birds to be tame then you will need to spend time with them, get to know them and allow them to become confident around you.
- Are you aware of the necessary laws? As a poultry keeper in the UK you will need to register your birds with the Great Britain Poultry register to receive important disease alerts and guidance.
You will need to buy a suitable coop to house your birds, the size being dependent on the number of chickens you wish to keep. Your outdoor space must be adequate enough for the chickens to wander around to exercise and you will need to feed them a high-quality chicken feed giving access to fresh water at all times. Chickens should be handled regularly for a number of reasons including monitoring their health and to address any issues. You may need to consult a vet from time to time, if you discover any health issues, and bills can be expensive. It is worth bearing in mind that chickens may carry parasites and treatment needs to be sought in the event of any infestations.
Handling chickens from a very young age will help them to become accustomed to human interaction and make bonding and monitoring the birds much easier than having to chase them for hours should you need to catch one! Chickens are affectionate birds and they do recognise their carers so, spending time with them regularly is beneficial.
When considering which breed of chicken to buy, it is worth bearing in mind that some breeds are more docile, and therefore tamer, than others. Good choices for a friendly pet include the Silkie, Orpington, Brahma and Sussex. Ornamental bantams also make good pets.
As a keeper of chickens on my smallholding in North Yorkshire I was interested in finding a company that was passionate about poultry keeping and I came across ‘Omlet’. Founded by four design graduates from the Royal College of Art in 2004, Johannes Paul, James Tuthill, Simon Nicholls and William Windham started their business with one question firmly in their minds: “Why don’t more people keep chickens?” The founders quickly realised that chickens had an image problem. They were seen almost exclusively as being a farmyard animal that only people with acres of land and a tractor could keep. Johannes Paul recalls ‘We realised chickens were in dire need of a rebrand to unlock their extraordinary potential. If we could design a chicken coop that didn’t look like a chicken coop we might just open people’s minds to the idea that chickens could be a pet that they could look after in their back garden.” And that is exactly what the four designers set out to do. The result was the Eglu, a modern, easy-to-clean, predator-proof coop that looked nothing like the old wooden coops people were used to. Its colourful, contemporary design made it possible and appealing for people in towns and cities to keep chickens in their own gardens for the first time.
Twenty one years later, Omlet’s impact is undeniable. More than 250,000 people worldwide now keep chickens in Omlet’s Eglu coops, from London to Los Angeles, Sydney to Seattle, with their flocks laying an estimated 5 million eggs every week. At the heart of Omlet’s ethos is the belief that chickens don’t just give us eggs, they give us joy. “In a world in short supply of things that make us feel good, chickens change us for the better in ways you never thought possible,” says Paul. “Watching them scratch, forage, and chase bugs is both grounding and uplifting, a small but powerful antidote to modern stress.”
Allison Lee is a smallholder from North Yorkshire who has written for the Yorkshire Times and other publications. Her website can be accessed here.