Egg-laying hens

Introduction to keeping egg-laying hens

Keeping chickens for selling eggs is popular with smallholders and crofters, and many people in Scotland keep a couple hens in their backyards for personal use. Chickens can be kept alongside other livestock or combined with market gardening, and kept in a variety of spaces. 

Keeping hens is a form of livestock management and comes with legal responsibilities of caring for their welfare throughout the year — you must check on your chickens every day. Your legal duties as a poultry keeper grow along the size of your flock, especially if you have more than 350 birds, but small producers supplying local customers are exempt from many requirements. 

Before purchasing hens, you must learn how to manage hens and care for their welfare. As a starting point, you can look at online info hubs such as the Poultry Keeper or the Accidental Smallholder. The Scottish Crofting Federation also sometimes offers courses relevant to poultry.