From George Smart's Wiki

Keeping Chickens

My parents have always been interested in raising livestock since Hugh Fearnly Whittingstool's River Cottage project was aired on Channel4. This combined with Jamie Oliver's battery chicken campaign made my parents want chickens all the more.

We live in a busy town on the outskirts of London, and had always planned on doing this when we move. My parents intend to move once my Dad retires in 2013. However, a family friend living on the Isle of Wight convinced my Dad that it was completely achievable in an urban setting.

We ordered the chicken coop made by ComfyPets from eBay UK. The chickens come from Smilers Farm Poultry, a farm, about an hours drive away from us. We bought 4 birds, with the intention of buying 2 more at a later stage.

We had no idea how hard it would be to keep chickens. Our primary concern was that the foxes would get into the coop. The paving slabs around the coop serve a double purpose. They provide a nice path to stand on, and also prevent the foxes from digging into the cage. We bought a galvanised dustbin (shown left) to keep the food (Layers Pellets, Mixed Corn, Mealworm, etc) inside, in an attempt to keep out vermin.

Soon after putting the chickens into the coop it was evident that there wasn't as much room as we would have liked. We decided to extend the back of the coop to just over double the size. I will add a photo of this soon. It's still under development :)