We have some chickens, several. We bought pullets from a local farm and we also have a few 'rescue' chickens that we got from Clitheroe auction. They were in a sorry state with no feathers on their bottoms but it's really lovely to see them fatten up and live a life like normal hens. We also find that they lay really well and settle in very quickly.
Just a note on feeding them: I always heard of older people talking about feeding hens scraps. We looked into it and found that hens are pretty much scavengers really. They love bread and cereal etc. We began to feed them all our veg and fruit peelings, stale (not mouldy) bread, cake etc. Also plain leftover pasta or rice. They LOVE it.
Potato peelings have to be cooked as they are poisonous raw, and carrot tops or other large chunks of hard veg are better cooked a little to soften them.
I have a family so we have quite a lot of veg peelings to give them. I collect the peelings in a food bag and then every few days quickly boil it up for the hens. It cuts down the hen food cost by at least 1/4, and the hens always race to be the first to get to the scrap bucket.
My next ambition now is to get some silkies, and also to have some of our own baby chicks next year. Not sure quite how to go about that so I'll have to look into it...
