Keeping your own chickens is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the UK.
There are as many reasons for keeping chickens as there are people keeping them.
In the world we live in today food prices are continuing to rise and there is also concern about how far our food travels.
Many people, wishing to ensure food freshness and quality, have turned their gardens over to growing their own fruit and vegetables and for some, the next obvious step is to keep chickens.
Chicken coop's are readily available online.
Buying a chicken coop to suit your budget and requirements is so easy to do.
So if you have been hesitating, consider what the benefits are to raising and keeping chickens.
The first is easy, a ready supply of fresh eggs.
But there are a number of benefits that may not be so obvious.
Did you know that chicken waste is very beneficial for your garden, especially if you are one of the growing number of fruit and veg growers.
Chicken fertilizer is high in nutrients and nitrogen, which can help your vegetables and fruits grow faster, stronger, and larger, it is organic and free of pesticides, (obviously subject to what you use in your garden to feed and protect your plants), thus creating a healthier and safer garden for you and your family.
If you have children then chickens can make great pets for them while providing eggs for the family.
Chickens, though not as clever as dogs and cats, are placid and friendly, simple to care for and not only do they fertilize your garden but they keep the number of bugs down too! A further advantage of keeping chickens is the money you will save.
Supermarkets free range and organic eggs are costly.
Ordinarily a hen can lay an average of 300 eggs in a year for 4 to 5 years.
The eggs produced by your chickens will be higher quality more nutritious and will contain less harmful amounts of salmonella than commercial eggs.
Eggs have had a chequered history as a source of food.
But eggs are now considered to offer health benefits and are an inexpensive form of protein.
Eggs contain a wide range of essential nutrients, including protein, minerals, calcium, iodine, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc and selenium, as well as vitamins A, D, E and a number from the B group.
Eggs are also low in sugar and do not contain carbohydrates.
The level of cholesterol contained in an egg was of concern.
It is now recognised that the amount of saturated fat eaten, particularly in the form of foods such as cakes, biscuits, crisps and processed food, will have more effect on blood cholesterol levels than consuming foods rich in cholesterol, such as eggs.
The current advice is that people in normal health can eat up to 7 eggs a week.
Though it is now the case that eggs are healthy to eat and are an inexpensive form of protein you must ensure that the eggs you consume are fresh.
You will no longer be able to rely on a sell by or use by date stamped on to the eggs.
So how do you tell if the eggs you use are fresh without breaking them? Looking through old domestic science and home care books provided a surprising number of methods for checking egg freshness many of them were incomprehensible.
However, advice about how an egg floats can determine its freshness, was consistent.
Place the egg or eggs in a bowl of water and if it falls on its side, it is fresh, if it topples in the water, standing on its end, it is fairly fresh, but, if the egg floats you should consider discarding it.
Alternatively, write the date you collected on the egg shell.
Once you have your chicken coop and your chickens you will just need to find some tasty egg recipes to use up the glut of eggs!