Keeping chickens

if you want laying hens choose a smaller bird usually a first cross hybrid. A hen is any female bird. A chicken is a domesticated bird. Pure breeds tend to be heavier and consume more feed but put on weight faster. Layers produce best in their first two years so choose pullets if you are starting off.
Their biggest dangers are disease, foxes and rats.
Hens are messy so be careful if you think they can range free in the garden. Their pooh can carry salmonella, e. coli and the gut contains campylobacter, all dangerous food poisoning organisms. Ducks carry even more salmonella. Be careful if you have young children.
If you want them to stay healthy the water supply must be fresh and not allow them to step into it. Food should come from a feeder not just thrown onto the ground. Or only throw a little never allowing it to go mouldy.
They also need grit or shell sand in the scratching soil. Grit keeps the crop healthy and allows them to digest their food. Sand containing shells is ideal as it contains enough calcium to keep the eggshells strong.
At night chickens will roost according to their pecking order or hierarchy. If you have a cockerel it will choose the top perch. Other hens will choose perches according to their size and dominance. Give them a choice.
Foxes can devastate a flock and will kill indiscriminately. If the hens are free range they must be shut in at night.
Hens need dry, clean nesting boxes to produce healthy eggs. Ducks lay anywhere and their eggs are often dirty. Nor do their have a membrane inside the shell. Rats will steal eggs if they can. Signs of rats are grease marks, big droppings and chewed wood. Only metal plates in key areas can keep rats out. Leaving food on the ground and water out is a sure way to encourage rats.
Once a year hens will go into moult for up to 2 months. Their feathers look scrawny and fall out. Don't worry they are simply renewing and resting. They will go off laying for a while; they simply need water and healthy feed. Seaweed is a great feed if you wash off the salt first. They will pick through for insects and shells.
Hens also need light to produce eggs. Light stimulates the pituitary gland which in turns stimulates follicle stimulating hormone which in turn releases the eggs into the oviduct. Their ideal lighting for laying. We used to keep them in the Orkney Islands with continuous natural light in mid-summer and hardly any in mid-winter. I put a timer in the hen house and found by experiment that 15 hours of daylight gave us the maximum egg laying potential.
Although a chicken will lay for many years their greatest potential is the first two years. If you are commercially minded and feed conscious it would be best to cull them in the third year or when production drops off (excluding the moulting time). If you keep a cockerel you can breed your own but be aware that not everyone likes a fertil egg with a little spot in it. Some breeds often go broody. We used to keep a bantam that loved to sit but hardly ever produced eggs. The sex of the bird is determined by the temperature of the breast. She produced 8 cockerels in a row, she was a hot bird!
Cockerels grow fast but eat a lot. I could cull them at 6 to 8 months making a great table bird.
Some cockerels like Marans, (grey speckled with spurs) can be very aggressive. I always carried a bamboo cane to fence them off. If you want to cull a bird, go quietly into the hen house at night. Creep up behind them, grab the legs and swing them upside down. They will remain quiet. place two fingers behind the head and hold the body with the other hand. Quickly dislocate the neck. This is instantaneous with no blood and no panic. Drain the blood out before plucking and cleaning. Some people steam or singe the feathers before plucking. If you want a Halal bird hold the neck downwards, twist it and cut the artery with a knife. The heart will naturally pump the blood out and give you clean meat. Be aware that the gut it the most dangerous part for food poisoning organisms. Avoid cutting into the gut and avoid piercing the green or yellow gall bladder.
In summary decide whether your chickens are mainly going to be pets or whether you need the eggs.
Do you want them for the table? If so choose pure breeds. Do you want them for laying? If so choose golden comet, black rock or White leghorns for white eggs. If you want chocolate brown eggs choose some Marans.