NUTRITIONbe classified as free range, the hens must
have meaningful and regular access to an
outdoor range during daylight hours. Farmers
facilitate this by opening up doors to the sheds
every morning and closing them up in the
late afternoon when the hens are back inside
roosting.
Keeping hens in your backyard where they
have access to roam during the day would
therefore classify them as free range which
makes for a happier chook. Whilst there
doesn’t appear to be any significant nutritional
difference between eggs that are free range
and others, the biggest benefit of having your
own chooks in the backyard is taste – you get to
eat them fresh from the source! What you feed
your chooks and what they have access to in the
backyard may give your eggs a slightly different
taste and colour too.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Given the benefits of eggs as part of a healthy
diet and of keeping chickens for overall
wellbeing and the health of your garden,
keeping your own chooks may be a great way to
boost the health and wellbeing of your family.
Just make sure you do your research first so
you know what keeping chickens happy and
healthy entails and you and your family are
ready for the responsibility. There are also
some simple legal constraints that you need to
be aware of.
Talking with a neighbour with chickens and
a vet is a good place to start. There are also
some really good companies helping to get
chickens in our backyards. If you want to give
backyard chooks a go but aren’t 100% sure
how it will fit with your family try Rentachook
(rentachook.com.au) or if you’re committed and
ready to go check out Backyard Chicken Coops
(backyardchickencoops.com.au). Both also have
really good resources on what to expect and
the laws that apply when keeping chickens in
Australia.
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