by Geoff Wakeling

Created on: March 16, 2009   Last Updated: March 31, 2009

As the world creeps closer to its most disastrous food crisis in history, individuals are becoming ever choosier in when they eat, what they eat and why they eat it. With fossil fuels in decline and a seeming increase in natural disasters it is only right that we start to look for new ways to grow our food, whilst being aware of the sources it has come from. An ideal means to start this change of attitude and something that most can do for small cost in their own backyard is to keep chickens.

Once a residential standard for the supply of eggs and meat, especially in the United Kingdom during and after World War I and II, people's lives have become increasingly faster and busier. The simple art of keeping a couple of hens in the garden has died out and it is only in more recent years, as people look to growing their own and eating healthy food, that chicken keeping popularity has started to rise. Whilst many may be put off by recent bird flu scares, by thoughts of vermin, smell and noise, the benefits of owning poultry far outweigh any disadvantages and with the correct care these clucking, chortling, happy little birds can become additional members to your family.

When it comes to chicken keeping the first obvious benefit is that of food, of fresh eggs collected in a basket, of omelettes produced by simply popping down the garden for supplies. The more advanced keeper may even prefer to raise a small number of chickens for the oven and though horrifyingly cheap in the supermarket, fresh, own reared meat can taste like no frozen chicken you've had before. What's even more satisfying is that left over kitchen scraps can simply be gobbled up by your new found friends to make new, fresh food! Life couldn't get much greener than that.

But there are additional benefits. Chickens love insects, snails, dandelions and other weeds that to the average gardener become the bane of their lives. Let out of their coop on a supervised basis your hens can soon help stamp out those garden pests with ferocity. Gardeners can benefit too from the droppings, making excellent manure with the straw composting down into the perfect mulch for your garden borders.

As with all animals chickens also come with fantastic personalities and having hens in your backyard can soon become an addictive fascination. Friendly, curious and often quite tamable chickens can quickly become much more than a source of food to the average family. The joys of keeping pets with children is most rewarding so why not teach them about caring for hens and supplying home grown food for your table...you may just find that getting eggs into them is suddenly that much easier!

Coming in a range of shapes, sizes and colours there is a chicken variety for everyone, whether it is the standard Rhode Island Red to the incredibly fluffy and flightless Silkie. With most laying daily you'll never have to buy eggs again, especially if the not so uncommon occurs and you suddenly find that your happy hens are producing more than one egg a day each. They are cheap to care for, hardy and resilient and very easy to look after. The only thing you'll have to worry about is your growing addiction causing you to want more and more.

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