What the Chook!

I’m Sherry, living in the south west of England, with my husband (hereafter known as The Bloke), dogs, cat and chooks. Our house is set amongst rolling hills and far reaching views. I’ve been keeping chickens for a few years now but only in small numbers. I keep Pekin bantams, in frizzle and smooth feathered colours and also have Poland bantams, a recent addition, a few hybrids for egg laying and a super cross breed cock bird running with them.

Our pet and breeding chickens until recently lived totally free range in a few acres of land, but due to a dog attack we now keep them in large electric netted runs and allow them out to free range freely for large parts of the day when we are around to keep an eye on them. The runs still allow them plenty of room and they are very content roaming round behind the netting.

I also rear chickens for the table, not to sell, but for myself. I prefer knowing the quality of the meat and that it was raised in good free range and organic conditions, so every so often we bring on a batch of table birds, usually Sasso’s. It’s not for everyone, rearing chooks to eat, but I think if you have time and space its worthwhile giving it a go. I honestly don’t get attached to these birds and find that when the time comes to send them off, I am able to do so knowing they lived a far better life than barn reared or intensively grown chickens that usually end up on supermarket shelves injected with water to fill out the flesh.

Chickens are gaining popularity here in the UK as back garden pets. They are for the most part easy to keep and care for and in return give you many hours of amusement and a fair few eggs throughout the year, depending on which breed you choose to keep. But they are not without needing some commitment and time invested into them.

I’ve found many sites with information on chicken keeping, be it as pets, hobby or serious breeding and showing, but much of the information, the basics, handy tips, things you learn as you go, are either not covered in depth or are scattered about as snippets of information on forums or small sites. I’ve spent many hours trawling the internet trying to find simple information, that didn’t require me to either a) purchase another chicken related book or b) call a vet or c) worry that in the time it was taking me to find said information my chicken could have died!

Hence this site. It seemed like a good idea. A sort of beginners guide. Combine a chicken keeping weblog and also include handy information that it might be good to know in advance rather than scrambling to read up on it once something happens. I hope to include tips for animal care, feeding advice, broody hens, chicks and many other subjects. I shall also cover poultry illnesses but am not a qualified vet nor are my experiences and treatments dispensed to my own flock meant to be taken as how you should treat your own. If in doubt, always seek a vets advice or try a poultry expert if one is at hand in your area. Many vets don’t treat chickens, and even some that do don’t always have much experience with them and are unable to do much at all, other than basic pain relief and antibiotic.

This site is to help promote chicken keeping, provide information and tips for their care and to follow my experiences in keeping them. Hopefully you’ll find something of use to you here.