Fri, 28th May 2010

Good news!

Well the meat chickens are now ready to go to their new ovens and freezers! If you'd like details, please see my Special offer page!

The pure breed chicks are mostly doing well, growing nicely, some have gone to new homes, and some are staying with us, but I still have quite a few for sale.

They are between 5 and 8 weeks old

We are also now the proud owners of 'Beefy' the Indian Game Cockerel. We are going to try breeding him with several of the dual purpose birds like the Light Sussex and Rhode Island Reds and perhaps even my little Naked Neck to see if we can get some bigger table birds. So watch this space!!

He hasn't got any grass at the moment until I can move him into his permanent house!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Pig and Poultry Show at Stoneleigh. It's really for the 'Big' Boys, but we arranged to meet a few people from the Allotment website I'm a member of. And met John and Val the owners of allotment.org.uk. They are really lovely people and it was so nice to meet them after knowing them online for over 4 years now!

We met up with the hatcheries we get our chicks from, and some new companies. One in particular, BEC/Osprey. They make lovely feeders and drinkers, and the good thing about them as well as good prices is that their items are British Made! So good sturdy stuff!

When people come to buy chickens from us, the new owners sometimes ask us about housing and equipment, and now that we have found a good local source of handmade coops, we are thinking again about doing the chicken starter packs.

I know lots of people do them, but most of them charge the earth for rubbish!

Ours would be one of these lincolnshire handmade coops, suitable for 4-5 hens, although my friend often has10 of her hens trying to sleep in one favourite coop! A 3kg feeder like this

But these are not like most of the cheap red and white ones, they are much sturdier and shouldn't split like some of the ones we have had in the past!

A 3 litre drinker, like this one

Again much more robust and a very chunky handle, they can also be hung up. The larger sizes can come with feet too which raise the drinker 3 inches off the ground to stop contamination of the water.

a large bag of layers pellets, a large bag of mixed corn and a bag of bedding.

Anyone wanting a larger feeder or drinker, can upgrade, but as I don't like fleecing people, you will get a bargain!

I'm trying to get OH to build some run panels too, that can be used as 6ft long and 3 foot high, or 6ft high and 3ft long at a reasonable price, so all you have to do is put it all together and off you go! Some will have a gate in them for easy access. I think they will have to be collection only though unless I can get a decent price from my courier company!

So it's all go here at the moment!

These are the 6 and 12 litre drinkers, which I love! They are so neat and tidy, and again they are British made!