Starting a Backyard Flock: Rules, Birds and the Starter List

Step One: Check the Rules Before You Buy Anything

Whether you can keep hens, how many and where the coop can go all depend on where you live. Settle these before you spend money:

• National rules: some countries require every keeper to register, even with two or three pet hens (the box below has the details).
• Local rules: city, county or council rules may cap numbers, ban roosters or set distances from houses.
• Deeds, leases and homeowners' associations: these can restrict poultry even where the local authority allows it.
• Neighbors: a friendly word (and the odd box of eggs) heads off most complaints.

Choosing Your Birds

Chickens are flock animals, so plan on at least three. A single hen is a lonely hen, and a small group copes better if one bird dies or falls ill. You don't need a rooster for eggs; hens lay without one, and many places restrict roosters because of the noise.

• Day-old chicks are fun but need a brooder and several weeks of care, and unsexed chicks may turn out to be cockerels.
• Young hens about to lay (point of lay) skip the brooder stage and are the easiest start for most beginners.
• Ex-commercial hens from a rehoming charity give retired laying hens a second life outdoors.

Hybrids generally lay more eggs; pure breeds vary more in size, looks and temperament. Bantams (small breeds) suit smaller gardens and yards.

If You Start With Chicks: the Brooder

Day-old chicks can't keep themselves warm, so they need a draft-free brooder with a heat source until they're fully feathered, usually several weeks. A radiant heat plate sits low over the chicks and carries less fire risk than a heat lamp. Whichever you use, check the temperature with a thermometer and watch the chicks: huddled under the heat means too cold, spread out at the edges means too warm.

Use a shallow chick fount (deep water can drown a chick), a small feeder with chick starter crumbs, and absorbent bedding such as wood shavings. Keep food and water near the heat but not under it.

Coop and Run: Buy Bigger Than the Box Says

A coop's printed bird capacity shrinks fast once nest boxes, perches and a feeder are inside. Buy for the flock you expect to have in a year, and give the run as much room as you can: cramped hens get bored and peck each other.

• Inside the coop: perches higher than the nest boxes, one nest box for every few hens, good ventilation above head height without drafts at perch level, and a door you can lock.
• The run: covered or partly covered helps in wet weather and keeps wild birds out during bird flu outbreaks.
• Cleaning: a coop you can open wide or reach into easily will get cleaned more often.

Predator-Proofing From Day One

Which predators you face depends on where you live: foxes, raccoons, coyotes, badgers, mink, weasels, rats, snakes, hawks and other birds of prey, and dogs (including your own and the neighbors') all take chickens somewhere. A run that keeps them out covers four ways in:

• Through the mesh: use strong welded mesh (hardware cloth), not thin chicken wire, which keeps hens in but doesn't keep predators out.
• Under the fence: bury the mesh or lay an apron of mesh outward along the ground so diggers hit wire.
• Over the top: roof the run, or at least net it, against climbers and birds of prey.
• Through the door: use latches a clever paw can't open, and lock the hens in every evening at dusk without fail. An automatic door helps if you're often out late.

Feed, Water and Bedding

Feed a complete poultry feed for the birds' age: chick starter, then grower, then layer pellets once the eggs start. Add poultry grit if they forage and oyster shell on the side for layers. Our chicken feed guide explains each stage. Don't feed kitchen scraps: in the UK and the EU it is illegal, even for pet hens.

Hens need clean water all day, every day, and more in hot weather. Bedding should be dry and absorbent; see coop bedding compared for the options.

Health Basics and a Vet

Find a vet who sees poultry before you need one; not every practice does. Buy from a reputable breeder, hatchery or rehoming charity, and keep new birds apart from your flock for a couple of weeks before mixing them. A quick daily look at every bird (bright eyes, clean vent, eating and moving normally) catches problems early.

Vaccines, mite and worm treatments and other medicines: see your vet or a pet supply store with trained staff. They can tell you what suits your flock and where you live.