Keeping chickens in the backyard

This is Martha, one of our Rhode Island red chooks. She is abut 10 months old.Chickens are a chaotic jumble of gentleness, cannibalism, stupidity and raw cunning so it was not surprising that the first pet I bought for my children were chooks. My kids grew up looking after chickens. They fed and watered them, carried them around, collected their eggs, played with them and helped buried them when