Yorkshire Chickens

Lotus-eater

Don't be put off wooden coops by tryingtobegreen, although what he said is true in a way, good hygiene means you will rarely get mites, I have had them once or twice in 6 years, one quick spray and they are gone.

I agree that coops should be off the ground, but disagree with putting the food in them, if nothing else will attract the rodents at night, that will.
I have my food, most of the time under cover outside. I feed my chucks enough food for the morning and they will clear up any leftovers that might spill over, then I feed them some early afternoon, again, almost always they will clear it all up, any left and I take the bowl inside at night, often I will do that anyway and clean it. But if a tiny tiny bit of food is left, it's alot less than what can be found under most bird tables.

I have heard of rats being seen in chicken pens in the day time, so obviously if that happens you will need to move the food (as well as get rid of the rats) but it's never happened to me.

I live in the countryside, next to a stream, we will have rats here no matter what and most places in the towns are the same, it's just a minimizing exercise.

batcatz

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Don't be put off wooden coops by tryingtobegreen, although what he said is true in a way, good hygiene means you will rarely get mites, I have had them once or twice in 6 years, one quick spray and they are gone.

I've got a wooden coop. I've just bought it. Although I'd love an Eglu and will get one in the future I needed something cheaper for now. I have bought loads of items to spray the coop and powder to shake in the coop as a preventative measure. I've kept cockateils for years in a wooden aviary and never seen mites.
Amanda

batcatz

Another idea I read is to silicone the inside of the chicken house so there are no crevices for mites to hide in.
Amanda

fuzzgun19

MoJo wrote: »

After spending what seems like forever researching chicken keeping, we are at last getting our act together.
There seems to be a sad lack of Northern poultry places and before we start trekking out all over the place I wondered if anyone could recommend somewhere in Yorkshire to get chickens from?
Cheers

I have bought hens from a farm near Thirsk, if that's any good? Prices range from £1.50 - £5 a bird.
PM me if you want more details.

MoJo

fuzzgun19 wrote: »

I have bought hens from a farm near Thirsk, if that's any good? Prices range from £1.50 - £5 a bird.
PM me if you want more details.

That's a blast from the past
I have six lovely ladies now thanks, had them just over a year.

Dezzie_2

Can anyone tell me where I can buy some x battery hens please. I live in Yorkshire and have kept hens before and want too again. Would prefer to rescue some battery hens as have done it in the past but don't know where to get them from.

Errata

Try the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, I think they have a co-ordinator in East Yorkshire.

Muppet81

Hi Dezzie
The Battery Hen Welfare Trust will be able to help you if you go on their website.

www.bhtw.org.uk not sure how to insert a link so if this does not work just type it in and it will.

Look at Adopt an ex-bat then Adopt some ex bats on the tabs down the side of the homepage. The photo of a woman wearing a red rosette is me by the way when I had just wone 1st prize in the local horticultural show with my eggs.

Further down the page is a link to find your nearest coordinator. There is loads of info on the site which may be of interst to you as well.

Depending on where you are in Yorkshire you might prefer to use the Haslingden, Lancashire collection point run by Adele Hall and assisted by moi. I live in Halifax, West Yorkshire so Haslingden is the nearest for me and may be for you.

We did our last rescue on Saturday just gone and there is one this Saturday too. I think the next will be 24th April.

It is such a joy to see the ex batts go off to their new homes and I do hope you go ahead with adopting some and enjoy them as much as I do. If you come to collect at haslingden do ask if Pam is there as I would love to say hello.

If you want to know anything else, please ask.

Yorkygirl2712

My first girls came from Storrs Poulty in Sheffield, they are lovely people showed us how to clip wings, basics of what to look for, etc and their birds all looked healthy and over a year on we have not had any problems

kate83

On the subject of rats - you're no more likely to get rats having chickens in the garden than you are by feeding the wild birds which most people do without worrying