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Egg-laying hens

A guide to raising laying hens for egg production.

Updated 15 April 2024

Establishing a chicken coop

When starting out with egg-laying hens, decide whether you want to rear them organically, free-ranging or in a barn.

Each of these systems comes with legal minimum requirements which determine how you can market the eggs, and the considerations for free-range chickens are quite different from barn chickens. For example, free-range chickens will dig up your garden if not restricted and may not lay eggs in the winter (see ’Collecting eggs’).

If you want to sell your eggs as organic you will need to be certified by one of the UK organic certification bodies. The requirements vary slightly between the different bodies, as some set standards higher than the EU baseline. The key requirements for organic hens in terms of welfare are plenty of space inside and out (including perches) and ready access to the outdoors (unless local or national restrictions are in place). Beak trimming is not permitted in organic flocks.

You are expected to source organic day old chicks or pullets, but you can ask for an exemption if none are available. And as with other organic livestock you can only feed your hens organic feed.

Site selection

When selecting a site for a chicken coop, consider how many hens you want to keep and whether you will provide them an outdoor range. You should also consider the biosecurity risks of the site — check if you are in a Higher Risk Area for avian influenza.

You are legally required to ensure that your flock has a suitable environment, meaning that your chickens must have:

Enough space to move both outdoors and indoors. If you have more than 350 hens, you must not keep more than 9 hens/1m².
Adequate shelter (see ’Housing & fencing’).
A sufficient diet. If your chickens feed by foraging, consider how to manage the foraging area and their diet for enough nutrients (see ’Feeding & watering hens’).
Protection from predators, for example by supervision or fencing (see ’Housing & fencing’)

Restrictions on keeping chicken

Before committing to a site, consider nuisance to your neighbours especially in urban areas.

Hens do not need a cockerel to lay eggs, but all hens make noise especially when laying eggs, and can attract pests. Disturbed neighbours may file a statutory nuisance complaint to the local council — read more about statutory nuisance.

You should also check if keeping chicken is restricted on the property (this can differ for hens and cockerels):

Councils: Check with the local council that they do not have any by-laws that restrict the keeping of chicken.
Your property: Check the deeds of your property for any restrictive covenants that may prohibit the keeping of chicken.
Rented property: Check if your contract allows keeping livestock.

Housing & range

You must provide your chickens access to shelter, a comfortable resting area, food and water, as well as protect them from predators. If you want to produce organic of free-range eggs, you need to provide your hens an outdoor pasture. You will also need feeding and watering equipment.

If you keep more than 350 hens, you have a legal duty to comply with additional regulations relating to housing.

Coops & housing

Coops must comply with the requirements noted in the code of practice for the welfare of laying hens.

Key requirements for chicken housing include:

Easy access to inspect the birds and clean the space at any time.
Materials are safe to come in contact with chickens, have no sharp edges that can cause injury and can be thoroughly cleaned.
Protection from draughts and heat and cold stress.
Good ventilation and sufficient light.
Excludes vermin and predators, and prevents parasite infestations.

Coops and housing should have perches for the birds to roost, with around 25-30cm space per hen and legally no less than 15cm. Hens also need nest boxes for laying eggs, and you must provide at least one nest box for every seven hens.

If your chickens have outdoor access, you may want to get a transportable coop to change the location of their range (see ’Outdoor range’).

Second-hand coops should be carefully sterilised before usage to avoid spread of parasites.

Outdoor range

Having access to outdoors benefits the welfare of your flock and for some certifications, such as organic, providing an outdoor range for egg-laying hens is mandatory.

You can let your chickens range free or keep them in an enclosed run.

Forage: When foraging, chickens will dig up the ground and eat plants. Some common plants are poisonous to chickens, and they are also susceptible to agrochemicals such as herbicides. Read about things are that toxic to chickens on the Open Sanctuary Project.

Soil quality: If used by too many hens, ground within the range area can break down and become muddy or infested with parasites from the birds’ droppings, which can cause environmental and health issues. You should avoid this by rotating the location of the range/run or resting parts of it in turns.

Safety: Chickens can be injured by farm machinery and predated on by other animals. You must provide your flock some overhead shelter when outdoors (such as trees), ensure access to water and a dry laying area, and consider how to keep wild birds away from their feed and water to avoid spread of avian flu.

Planning permissions

You do not need a planning permission if the chicken housing or fence complies with the permitted development rights for the property, which are regulated by your local planning authority.

Chicken housing less than 465m² in size and under 12 meters in height is usually allowed within permitted development rights, unless your farm holding is less than 0.4 hectares. Small coops and runs in your backyard do not usually require planning permission if the eggs are for your own use only.

Fencing higher than 2 metres, or higher than 1 metre within 20 metres of a road, will need a planning permission.

Check permitted development rights for private dwellings and agricultural operations in Schedule 1 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992. Additional restrictions may apply near listed buildings and in areas of conservation designation.

Before building housing or fencing, it is advisable to confirm permissions with your local planning authority.

Find out more:

’Farm Buildings and Infrastructure: How to Comply with Current Legislation’, Farm Advisory Service

Your flock

When planning your flock of hens, consider how many eggs you want to produce and what weather conditions the hens must be able to cope with.

Plan what flock size you want to maintain and how you will replace birds — hens will start laying eggs around six months old and their productivity will go down with age. Some bird keepers keep hens of different ages to ensure a steady supply of eggs, but this can cause issues in the pecking order. Others replace the entire flock at a time.

Breed selection

Different chicken breeds are adapted to different environments and often intended for either meat or egg production. For producing eggs, look for laying breeds or dual purpose breeds, which will also put on weight during their lifespan.

Breed choice may be restricted by what is on offer in your area, and you should research options before purchase.

Sourcing hens

You can purchase your birds as fully matured adults, chicks, or ’point of lay pullets’ which are hens almost at the age of starting to lay eggs.

You can buy birds directly from breeders or from poultry auctions. Pick up the birds yourself so you can inspect their living conditions and health, and ask for health documentation such as vaccination records. The Open Sanctuary Project has published a guide on how to conduct a chicken health check.

If you want to hatch eggs or rear hens from chicks, you need specialist equipment and feed. In some breeds, male and female chicks are difficult to tell apart and you may accidentally buy cockerels. Read more in the Accidental Smallholder’s guide on hatching eggs and rearing chicks.

Adding hens to your flock

Quarantine new hens for at least two weeks before slowly introducing them to your flock.

Quarantining hens is not a legal requirement in Scotland, but will reduce the risk of disease and parasite spread. Flocks also have a pecking order, and introducing new hens without due care can cause behavioural problems such as violent bullying especially for younger birds.

You should not mix vaccinated and unvaccinated birds (see ’Vaccinations’).

Egg-packing equipment

To be registered as an egg-packing centre (see ’Registering as an egg-packing centre’), you must have certain equipment:

Candling equipment
Egg air cell gauge
Egg grading machine by weight
Commercial scales
Handheld stampers or printers for marking eggs

Egg-laying hens