It's a question I often get asked because my birds do appear to be very tame although they are living in a forest garden in a semi-wild state. I do however, like them to trust me just in case of anything happening and me needing to intervene. So I tend to build a relationship individually with each of my birds, with many of them having names and with some of them even answering to the same.

My first reply though would be with another question: what actually constitutes a pet? Is it a friend, a companion, someone to do things with or just a creature that will sit on your knee?

Step 1: Poultry As Companions

In the case of poultry, maybe the French words for pet suit them better, animal (or it should really be bird) de compagnie, someone to keep you company and to accompany you in your daily life. Poultry are pretty good at doing both these tasks, as they are super-friendly, once they trust you and they are hyper-inquisitive and there is nothing birds like better than watching others work.

That is not to say however, that a bird will not sit on your knee and allow you to stroke it. Birds are sybarites - they love the luxury of being comfortable and warm. They are also highly sociable but ironically it is those who are not so inclined that seem to make the best pets, in preferring the company of humans to that of their feathered kin.

Bungle, my gold black laced Polish (above) is the ultimate poultry pet, she dislikes hens and cockerels/roosters both and she isn't too keen on chicks either but she makes a great companion. She'll snuggle up to you like a dog or cat, she'll come when called and like a canine she is extremely alert and territorial, she will warn me of someone approaching well before I ever see them. The downside is, this makes her extremely bossy but I have found a group of hens and roosters with whom she will deign to share a part of the garden, although it is easy to understand from her behaviour that she owns it all.

Poultry therefore can make very good companions but it doesn't end there, poultry aren't just highly decorative and friendly, they do things.

Step 2: Poultry As Co-workers in the Garden

Perhaps the forte of many breeds of poultry is there ability to clear land, break up soil, eat weeds and pests and generally help you in the garden. This puts them way ahead of cats and dogs both, in my book. Apart from this they also add to the compost bin and significantly therefore to the garden's ability to grow food and flowers.

On the downside most poultry eat a lot of greenery, in fact apart from catching invertebrates and a few small vertebrates, geese and ducks, for example, live entirely on vegetation. To this end poultry tend to be good at garden start-ups but need to be supervised when once the garden is in production. This is why I have a forest garden with greenhouses and a great deal of everything that poultry need in the way of leaves and fruit, that way there is enough to go round.

Quail are very good companions in the garden too and it's one of the ways I can safely free-range mine by training them to come to the fork or trowel. Whilst I'm working they work and when we pause, they are happy and settled enough to go and sit in the shade for a rest.

As my poultry are pretty tame and not easily spooked, I can take them on gardening jobs with me, although the aforementioned Bungle tends to opt out of too much heavy work.

Step 3: Poultry As Guards

Having lived some of my life in Scotland, I can assure you that our local distillery, secured its whisky not with patrol dogs but with a flock of geese. They make a lot of noise if riled and if you've ever seen an angry goose, then you know it's not a creature you want to mess with.

That said, geese too can be very affectionate, they will reply when spoken to, witness Sissi, our friend's goose in the film and they can be trained to be obedient - sort of.

The other great guard poultry (other than Malay chickens of course) are turkeys, we had 300 free-ranging on our farm and I guess even the foxes were scared of them. That said, turkeys can be very affectionate pets too and big softies when dealt with on a one-to-one basis and like geese have a good understanding of human speech. According to a couple of YouTube videos I have seen, they can play soccer as well.

Step 4: Walkies

Yes you can take a chicken for a walk. In fact there is a great Punch cartoon from the Victorian era, which is meant to be a send up of the Cochin Craze or Hen Fever but you can buy harness-type leads for birds.

In my case I like to take my birds out to wild places, like the beach, Bungle is the best to do this with, as unlike the rest of my flock, she can cope with open spaces. The others have lived so long within a forest setting that they tend to get slightly nervous when taken from their natural habitat. They all seem to travel well in a car and witness Bungle's siesta in my bicycle satchel - whilst I was doing the laundry, I'm guessing a laid-back bird, like her, could be taken out on a bike.

I've often speculated that we should bring back the rights of pannage (forest foraging for animals in communal forests) for people who would like to keep birds/animals but have no land, so then you perhaps would need poultry on a long lead.

Step 5: Pedagogy

From everything I have observed in poultry behaviour over many years, there are some incredible lessons for us humans to learn in caring, nurturing and enjoyment of life. That is why I believe poultry make great pets for all ages because even just in observing them, we can learn not only about birds but also about ourselves.

Yes, certainly sometimes there are fights but these are mostly ritualistic and do not involve actual contact. However and here's an interesting aside, the hens are much dirtier fighters than the cockerels/roosters. They can be very direct and physical, particularly in fights over food and if the food is destined for a brood of chicks.

The other interesting lesson for children and adults, is that in watching your own poultry you realise how little is actually known about them. There are endless books on raising poultry and an internet full of articles but one of the first lessons I learnt was, birds are individuals, each with a different set of characteristics and there is no way to categorise them as simply as humans feel they can do. Luckily poultry don't tend to read poultry books.

The lives and histories of poultry are intertwined with those of humankind and some of the most beautiful breeds like the Cochins and Polish have romantic and in the case of the Cochin, very dark tales to tell in the ways they moved across the continents. What starts as a study of the Cochin begins in the Opium Wars and ends in the Founding of the Banking System. Your poultry can be great points of departure for home-schooling and/or just interesting topics to share with children and get them in an exploring frame of mind.

Step 6: Dogs Bite, Cats Scratch, Hamster Nip and Poultry Peck

All pets have the potential to inflict pain, that also is a part of understanding them. One of the main things to be aware of with poultry is that they are drawn both to teeth and bare toenails. I don't know exactly why but they are, so it is well to be aware of it.

Poultry also like food and they make no bones about taking it. I do remember a particularly embarrassing moment, well two actually, when a hen stole cake from the hand of a visitor and also on my husband's birthday when we were having a group photo.

They also have jolly good memories and are very determined so if you show them where the food is kept, then they will remember and they will work out how to break in to get at it!

Step 7: In Conclusion

I've really just scratched the surface here but I hope I've set you thinking about why you should consider keeping poultry even if it's only for the eggs... but it won't be.

Above all treat them as you would like to be treated, give them space, good food and affection and they will return it and if you've never eaten a home-raised egg, or seen a chick emerge from one, then your missing out on some of the incomparable joys of life.