A guide to buying Chickens

A guide to buying Chickens

You, like many other people are beginning to understand the benefits and advantages of keeping Chickens. No more supermarket eggs days or weeks old from who knows where, you can now enjoy eggs, organic eggs within minutes or hours after being laid. Beautiful orange yolks not dull yellow, what a great way to start your day!

Research has found that Chickens allowed to roam freely eating grasses and other natural vegetation, produce eggs that are in turn lower in cholesterol and higher in Omega 3 and Vitamin E. So not only do you get these fantastic eggs but also keeping chickens has it’s other benefits too.

Chickens when allowed to roam also feed off those little garden pests (caterpillars, beetles, grubs, earwigs and many other little beasties) they also keep the grass in check, (Care should be taken to ensure the chickens are spread around the garden as Chickens can clear land as well!). All this eating leads to one thing, an amazing fertiliser which when added to the straw and or saw dust from the coop can be composted. This compost is an ecological and effective way to reduce your ecological footprint and produce a fantastic natural product for your garden.

There are two main types of chickens, Bantam which is a small / miniature chicken and a standard breed which is a bigger bird. Bantams are the most common pets, as they require smaller space than their cousins. Bantams generally require 3 square feet living space and 1 square foot of roosting space. Chickens like to roost in the evening and require a perch to do so, all Feel Good coop’s come with an enclosed perch bars. There are 100’s of different breeds of chicken, the main breeds are Cream Legbar, Blue Belle, Brahams, Pekin Buff and White and Rhode Island reds. It is recommended when purchasing chickens, to purchase “Point of Lay“ birds as these are generally 12-16 weeks old, fully vaccinated and ready to lay.

These can be easily sourced locally from a poultry supplier or the British Hen Welfare Trust. On average a standard bird will lay 250 to 350 eggs per year in the right conditions. Chickens enjoy a wide array of food including: grasses and vegetation, insects found in the garden, scraps and waste food, seeds and specially produced feeds. It is recommended that a variety of these feeds be used to ensure a healthy and happy bird.

Once you have decided on what breed and how many you to keep you'll need to consider the more practical elements of chicken keeping such as how you intend to keep your birds, will they be free range? requiring you to manually close away and open their coop each morning and night? or are you planning on using an automatic door; are you planning on placing a coop in a large Chicken Run to offer a large run area whilst also offering protection from predators? Or are you looking for a Coop with an integrated run, ideal for smaller gardens and allotments meaning they can be free range for part of the day and then safely away when you are not able to be around. Your decision about this may be impacted by whether you have an enclosed garden with less chance of predator attacks or if you live in a more open area with few barriers between garden and fields. 

We have a range of Chicken Coops and Chicken Run that allow you to work with any of these set ups and we're always happy to help advise on what the best type of Chicken Coop is for you.

– – – – –

Feel Good UK are specialists in Lifestyle & well-being products. We are UK based distributors of products that have been specially manufactured to meet our specific requirements.

We have over 30yrs experience of the retail industry. Being a family run business based in Leicester, we pride ourselves on our honesty and integrity. We specify our products to the standards, we as a business expect, to allow us to meet the high levels of product satisfaction we endeavour to achieve.

 

———————————————–