Who keeps chickens?

I'm making some fleece jumpers for ex-battery hens, for a local rescue charity, and have been asked if we'd consider keeping a few of the rescued hens! We would if we could, but not sure if we have the space or how much work they are. Will they need a run? a house? a perch? Would they mind the fact that our small back garden has only gravel? Are they expensive to keep? I'd love to know your experiences of chickens as pets

@ramsons ...

Ali does @scrunchkins but is on her holidays at the moment x

we have a farm with chickens, ideally they need grass to scratch around on and obviously eat grass/worms etc! yes you can have chicken just on concreate/gravel surfaces, its just not the best enviroment for them.
yes they'd need a house with a run, a perch is optional. but different objects in the run for them to "perch" on is good for them, keeps them busy.
there not expensive to keep, you can give the your scraps/ bread,corn, some like pecking at fruit and veg.
thy would need some sort of pellets though, which you could buy in bulk.
HTH

We're thinking about chickens too. I'd be getting ex-batts as there is a chicken factory not far from here.

Hi, We've kept chickens for the lasy 7 years. The more space they can have the better. Being blunt some ex battery chickens are in very poor condition, they are not the easiest thing for a beginner to start with.
Personally I wouldn't keep them on gravel, you might be better to keep making the fleece jumpers and support the charity that way instead. They would need a house with run and ideally you want to rotate/move the run about. xxx

We've been considering having chickens too in our new house cause we'll have a nice gardens... is it true that they wreck the grass though?

The lack of grass would be the biggest issue, as there'd be space for a small house and run, and the garden is entirely fenced in anyway. The woman from the charity who emailed me said stones/paving would be fine, as they've spent their entire lives so far in a mesh cage, but I'd want to give them a lovely home where they could have some grass beneath their feet, and they're not the sort of pets you can just take to the park for a run around

We've been considering having chickens too in our new house cause we'll have a nice gardens... is it true that they wreck the grass though?

Not 100% sure if they damage it themselves, although their poop is very nutritious for the lawn. I'd imagine the coop might damage the grass if it sits there for a long time, iykwim.

It was DH who suggested we might get some, which surprised me as he hates having pets at all. I don't think we're ready for chickens just yet (and it would make me feel so much worse about the one sitting in the fridge right now...) if we ever move house a decent garden will be a top priority and I can go chicken-mad then!

We'd love chickens too once we move and have space we'll definitely be having some.