Keeping Chickens - Your Start into Self-Sufficiency

Chickens in your own garden are more than a hobby – they're a first, concrete step toward self-sufficiency. Fresh eggs daily, lively animals that enrich the garden, and a surprisingly low amount of care needed: no wonder keeping chickens at home is booming. This article explains what you really need to get started well.

Am I Even Allowed to Keep Chickens?

Before buying a coop and birds, the legal side needs clarifying.

Rural areas: Generally unproblematic – chickens are considered small livestock, part of normal agricultural use.

Residential areas: Depends on the municipality. Most municipalities allow a few hens, but often not roosters (noise nuisance). When in doubt, ask the local regulatory office or check the zoning plan.

Rental law: If you rent your home, you need explicit permission from your landlord.

Registration requirement: In Germany, chickens must be registered with the veterinary office and with your state's animal disease fund (Tierseuchenkasse) from the very first bird – three hens in the back garden included. It's little effort: usually a single form, and the fees for small flocks are very low. You must notify the veterinary office before you start keeping chickens (Section 26 Livestock Movement Ordinance). According to the Chamber of Veterinarians North Rhine, all chicken flocks must also be vaccinated regularly against Newcastle disease, and a flock register must be kept for at least three years.

What Chickens Really Need

Coop

The coop is the most important investment. It must be:

• Fox-proof: solid floors or fine-mesh floor panels (at least 12 mm thick wood, wire with a maximum mesh size of 25 mm), locks
• Large enough: at least 1 m² of coop space per 3 hens, ideally 1 m² per 2 hens
• Well ventilated, but without drafts – vents at the top, not at body height
• Dark and dry

Roosting bars: Chickens sleep on bars, not on the floor. At least 30 cm of bar length per bird, at least 30 cm above the ground.

Nesting boxes: 1 nest per 3–4 hens, dark and raised. Nest size approx. 30 × 30 cm.

Run

Chickens need room to scratch, dust-bathe and explore. Guideline: 4–10 m² per bird (the more, the better). A run that's too small quickly gets scratched bare and becomes a hygiene problem.

Fencing: At least 1.5 m high (many breeds can fly over 1.2 m), chicken wire or an electric fence against foxes.

Tip: A mobile coop or regularly moving the fence to fresh areas lets the run recover and gives the birds more variety.

Feeding: What Chickens Eat

Chickens are omnivores – within limits.

Basic feed: Grain-based layer mash or pelleted complete feed as the base. This contains all the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Don't get creative with the basic feed.

Supplements:

• Unprocessed fruit and vegetables straight from the garden – maximum 20–30% of the ration
• Grass, herbs, insects from the run
• Mussel shell grit or oyster shells as a calcium source for strong eggshells

Kitchen and table scraps, on the other hand, don't belong in the trough: feeding them to food-producing animals is banned across the EU (Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009), and your three garden hens count as such. Anything that has been through the kitchen – cooked, seasoned, or sitting next to meat – stays out; lettuce stalks and cabbage leaves straight from the bed are fine.

What chickens must NOT have:

• Raw potatoes and green potato parts (solanine)
• Avocado (toxic!)
• Onions and garlic in larger amounts
• Moldy or spoiled feed

Water: Always fresh, clean water. Chickens drink surprisingly a lot – up to 0.5 liters per bird per day in summer.

Health and Care

Regular Checks

Take a quick look at the flock once a day:

• Are all birds active and lively?
• Is the droppings normal (not too runny, not too dry)?
• Is the plumage well kept?

Common Diseases

Red Mite (Dermanyssus gallinae): The most common pest in chicken coops. Small red mites feed on blood at night – hiding in cracks during the day. Symptoms: restless hens, pale combs, declining egg production.

Against mites: Regular coop cleaning, hot-steam disinfection, silica powder (diatomaceous earth) in cracks. Biological preparations based on predatory mites.

Worms: Regular stool testing at the vet is recommended. Treatment with fenbendazole on prescription. Even in a back garden, chickens count as food-producing animals: medicines come from the vet only, the stated egg withdrawal period has to be observed, and the treatment goes into your treatment records.

Molting: Once a year (usually autumn), chickens lose their feathers and lay fewer eggs or none at all. Not a sign of illness – a normal cycle.

Dust Bathing

Chickens need a dust-bathing option – sand, ash or dry soil in a shallow basin. This behavior protects against parasites and is essential for well-being.

How Many Chickens Make Sense?

Minimum number: 3 hens. Fewer makes the birds unhappy due to social isolation.

Practical for families: 4–6 hens provide enough eggs for personal use (4 hens = approx. 3–4 eggs daily during peak laying).

Rooster or no rooster? You don't need a rooster for eggs. A rooster has social functions (warns of danger, keeps peace in the flock) – but is often a problem in residential areas because of early-morning crowing.

The First Few Weeks: What to Expect

New hens need 2–4 weeks to settle in. During this time:

• Fewer or no eggs (stress from transport and a new environment)
• Establishing the pecking order (sometimes rough – normal, as long as no serious injuries occur)
• Exploring the run

After 4–6 weeks, the coop becomes a familiar place – and every day begins a new little egg adventure.

Conclusion

Keeping chickens is easier than most people think – and enriches the garden in a way you can hardly imagine beforehand. With the right coop, enough space, and a small daily routine, chickens become a natural part of life in the garden.

Sources

• Federal Ministry of Justice (gesetze-im-internet.de): Viehverkehrsverordnung § 26, accessed 5 Oct 2026
• Chamber of Veterinarians North Rhine: Merkblatt für Hobby-Geflügelhalter, as of 21 Dec 2022, accessed 5 Oct 2026

The sources support individual statements in this article. The organisations named have neither reviewed nor endorsed it.