Our Values
We love chickens. And there are lots of them to love. Over 25 billion to put a round figure on it. They are amazing creatures; inquisitive, playful, intelligent, caring, boisterous, sociable. And even though they can sometimes be bossy little bullies, they never cease to be fascinating.
They are also great providers. Without eggs, there’d be no full English, no Yorkshire puds, no omelettes, quiches, egg butties or cakes. Nothing to dip your soldiers in. And although as a vegetarian I’m loathed to say it, there’d be no chicken roasts, nuggets, dippers, KFC or tikka masala. The British kitchen table owes a lot to the chicken.
As we rely so much on chickens, we believe that they deserve the best care we can provide. We are fully committed to improving the welfare of poultry in the UK and beyond. On this website, our intention is to help chicken keepers look after their chickens in a responsible, caring way that will ensure they live happy, safe and healthy lives, free from cruelty, predators, hunger and disease.
At the same time, we wish to do our best to improve the welfare of all chickens which are used for commercial purposes, whether that is for egg laying or for slaughter. This includes supporting measures to make slaughter more humane and to cease battery and shed farming so that all commercial chickens get the opportunity to live in a natural, free-range environment.
As part of our values, we aim to support the incredible work done by organisations which do their best to improve the lives of chickens. In particular, we welcome the work done by the British Hen Welfare Trust to rehome retired commercial hens and would ask our readers to consider giving these hens a welcoming home in their own flocks.
Our Aims
The aim of Keeping Chickens UK is to provide our readers with relevant, accurate information to help them look after their chickens. All chicken keepers, especially beginners, come across problems that they need help with. With over 40 years of chicken keeping experience, we hope we can provide solutions to those problems. Where there are things that even we are unsure of, we’ll try to find the answer out or send you in the direction of another expert who might have a solution.
We aim to provide information on how to:
- choose and buy chickens
- check chickens for health problems and how to treat those problems ( or let you know when its time to call in the vet.)
- feed and water your poultry
- keeping your flock safe from predators and poisons
- hatch and rear chicks
- sell eggs
- find the best coops and runs
- make your hens happy
- protect your hens in winter
- overcome every day chicken keeping issues
- understand chicken behaviour
- stay within the law when keeping chickens
Above all, we want chicken keepers across the UK to find this site a place where they can find helpful and reliable information and advice to make looking after their hens a rewarding and happy experience and where the chickens are very well looked after and cared for.