Hi,
I'm just about to become a first-time chicken-keeper. Because I have a tiny garden, I'm am planning to keep my birds on my allotment. I've just got a 3 metre cube Mk2, plus additional walk in 2 metre run, and am aiming for 4 chicken layers - (x-breeds) to start. But the only way to buy chickens in my local rural area is my town's weekly fur and feather market, where people don't pick up / hold their chickens before purchase. I havent lived here long so don't know any of the breeders (although this is a lovely place and I am sure people would help if I knew what to ask). Please, does anyone have advice here? From outside a cage in a noisy auction shed, what should I look for? Also chickens tend to be for sale in pairs. If I buy 2 pairs and put them in together, will they all fight?