Living Conditions
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We think one of the most important questions with regards to animal welfare, including chicken welfare, is getting their living conditions right. Commercial hens live in a massive spectrum of conditions from caged hens to truly free-range / organic hens.
Our girls (and boys) are living their lives in the rear 1/3 of our garden (although as you can see from the photo, they don't tend to stay there!). They've got a couple of runs (8m x 3m and 4m x 3m) for if they need to quarantine and to add to their shelter from the Wild Welsh Weather. They share their land with fruit trees, bushes and overgrown boarders so that they can dig, scratch and hide as they would do in the wild.
At night, they all get rounded up, counted and put into their Solway Coops.to keep them warm and safe.
Chickens are omnivorous and so will eat almost anything from grass, corn and vegetables to bugs, worm and even rats!
Ours have a consistent diet of Layers Pellets supplemented with raw vegetables, salad and whatever they find whilst out free-ranging. Emma has been known to buy them blueberries as a treat.
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Our the majority of our ladies have come from commercial premises: not caged birds but a dozen from a flock of 1000's.
Our ladies now have the whole 1/3 acre garden to roam, with bushes to scratch around, and trees to perch on.