And they enjoy eating up all the various kitchen scraps.

We don't have table scraps and vegetable peelings etc. go in the compost.

which is why we decided to have a go at vegetables again! The litter
from
their coop is wonderful in the compost bin - but an open compost heap
will
be demolished in very short order. Then there are the eggs ..

Fresh eggs are gorgeous. Ours are pampered and kept more like pets.

So are ours.

Beware of the critters that eat poultry though - they fit through
amazingly
small gaps.
(much much more of a risk to them than toxic plants)

Indeed. We've spent a lot of time and money making a fox-proof fence, we've
lost too many hens to Reynard.

... and chicks if there's a cockerel. I hope your brother is prepared
for
other issues ...

He'll probably also get more wild birds because hens are messy eaters
and
scatter grain. They're messy anyway.

I wouldn't be without ours. We go away for many weekends and they go
with
us. Well, we don't have a dog.

We have well trained neighbours who feed them for a small return in eggs
and
duty free...

Oh but we WANT them to come with us - and since we are usually being
mediaeval they fit in very well. Why should someone else have the pleasure
of them?

I think our hens are typical, all the hens I've ever known have scratched
for food, even though they are very well fed. Our daughter has a lot of free
range hens and she's had to create vegetable runs too.

Mary