Hello! I've been thinking about moving to London when I turn 18, specifically Tooting Bec. I've also always wanted to keep chickens. What are the laws concerning keeping chickens? I can't seem to find any. Thank you!

I kept four pekin bantams in wandsworth and it was great - fresh eggs, happy toddler and somewhere to put kitchen scraps! The fox never made an appearance.

Their favourite was uneaten porridge

I built my own run with a sedum roof and a big running about area that was secure, but this is a lovely run http://www.framebow.co.uk/chicken-coop- ... -coop.html - if I got chickens again I would get this one.

I bought the chickens themselves from Perfect Poultry, about 40 minutes drive away

Go for it!

Rosie x

Keeping chickens is great fun, and the kids will love collecting the eggs from the house. 

But just some advice about the Hen Houses, make sure you have chicken wire that goes around the whole pen and acts as a roof and a floor to keep the foxes out, they can jump in and will also dig there way in as well!  

Don't let foxes put you off, just make sure the pen is secure  

Enjoy your chickens and of course the eggs  

hi we have four chickens in Wandsworth and they are very easy to look after. as long as you keep them in a run the foxes won't get them. They did get some of ours on a Saturday afternnon as they were running round teh garden so if you do let them out for a roam they need supervising at all times. The best thing we ever did was getting an electric door for the hen house so you don't need to get up in the morning to let them out and they put themselves to bed.
There aren't so many ex bats around now - we got some ex commercial free range ones and when the fox got them we got a Legbar and a couple of bantams which are smaller and more suited to London life. It's great fun - we love our chickens. We got quite a nice big henhouse for them and then extended it by attaching a rabbit run to it as well. Good luck!

I'd second that about rehoming battery hens. As mentioned, they are in a bit of a state when they reach you (ours had about a dozen feathers between them and were very scrawny) but everyday they get plumper and happier

Ours didn't lay eggs until most of their feathers grew back but then they made up for it by producing about 6 eggs a day! It was a really rewarding experience and they are pretty calm animals. If you are confident about handling them and securing their wings under your arm then the kids will love stroking them and checking for eggs everyday

Unfortunately I have no experience with rearing chickens in London, we had our chickens in the country, but we didn't have a huge garden. We had an Eglu (check out www.omlet.co.uk).

Good luck!

I don't have experience myself but an ex colleague of mine had chickens which were rehomed battery chickens. They were in a bit of a state (emotionally and physically!) but settled really quickly and produced loads of eggs. My colleague didn't have children but the chickens really were like her children. She went to the chicken equivalent of jojo maman bebe to buy them bedding, toys, runs, ... If you're going to get chickens it would be nice to rehome ones that have had a rubbish life so far.

Our family has been thinking about keeping chickens. We live in Wimbledon in a house with a garden we think is big enough. We've been looking into different options for keeping chickens. Anyone out there raising chickens in Southwest London?

I think it would be a great experience for our kids and I'd love to have the fresh eggs too...