Jeff and Jane are a retired couple.  During the latter 40yrs of working in the Health Service and Education, we decided to breed and show chickens.  This expanded to selling chickens, coops, feed, accessories etc.   We are still doing this, but as the years progress we are finding the need for some work life balance, hence why we now only open by appointment on limited days of the week.

What do you have in stock? - our website is updated in real time, so if you can ADD TO CART, its in stock, if its PRE ORDER or SOLD OUT, its out of stock.

Searching for something? eg, What Bantams do you have in stock - please check on the BIRDS - Heritage Breeds page for details

Do I need an appointment? - yes, either make an order then make a click and collect order appointment or scroll down and make a different type of appointment.

When can I collect? - for opening hours see the contact us panel on the main menu

Do you Deliver? - yes shipping on most items England, Wales and mainland Scotland, see our shipping Policy for more details. WE DO NOT DELIVER BIRDS.

Are your Nestera or Easicoop chicken houses fox-proof?  Yes we are confident they are we have not received any reports of a fox getting into one of our houses when the door has been closed.  

Are your metal runs fox-proof?  This depends how well you build them. Foxes usually dig under pens, so if you run the mesh outwards from the sides across the ground a few feet or put concrete slabs all around, that will prevent digging.  We use them and they have resisted a badger attempts at access.  There is always plenty of mesh supplied and often enough to "double glaze" the lower sections if you feel the need.

Are your Nestera or Easicoop chicken houses red mite-proof?  Red mite are tiny, and live in cracks and joints in poultry housing. Plastic coops are made from solid HPL or recycled Plastic, there are very few suitable places for them, unlike wood and felt which provide a great environment for them to live and breed. We recommend sprinkling some Diatom powder around the house when refreshing the bedding, so that any mites are quickly dealt with before they can multiply. HPL is also easy to clean, should you be unfortunate enough to see evidence of mites.

So, while any chicken coop is not red-mite-proof, the Easicoop HPL coops have far less hiding places than any other type and are less prone to them than majority of others in the market.  Both Nestera and Easicoop are also very easy to clean.

Our coops are solid walled coops which greatly reduces the risk of red mite infestations residing in between the walls of twin walled coops which have many inaccessible areas ant cant be thoroughly cleaned.

Do the Easicoop chicken houses get cold in winter? HPL is a surprisingly good insulator, it is resistant to thermal shock, even though it is a solid material. The internal temperature of and HPL constructed coop is more stable than a wooden coop would be. Chickens need good ventilation are are perfectly comfortable in temperatures down to minus 20 deg C provided they are not wet and out of strong winds.  Our coops are solid walled coops which greatly reduces the risk of red mite infestations residing in between the walls of twin walled coops which have many inaccessible areas ant cant be thoroughly cleaned.

What maintenance is required for the Nestera or Easicoop chicken coops?  No maintenance requirements, just clean with a disinfectant, a monthly deep clean.  As there are no screw, clips etc, disassembly and reassembly is a very quick operation.

What maintenance is required for Wooden chicken coops? Wood requires a yearly treatment of preservative on the outside to remain waterproof.  We recommend cedar oil for domestic use or creosote for agricultural use.  The inside either needs very regular spraying with redmite disinfectants and or use of DE powder or the application of lime wash.

Introducing, Feeding and Caring your new Chickens

 

Transporting and Bird release

The transportation of birds will cause stress.  As soon as you get home, remove your birds from their box and put them in the chicken house with the pop hole door closed.  Leave for 5 to 10 minutes in the dark, then open the pop hole door.  The birds will take some time to emerge, do not stress them more by tempting them with food etc, its best to walk away and watch from a distance.  If you have existing birds – please read below.

 

POL Hybrids

POL Hybrids (16+ weeks) are fully vaccinated and can be mixed with existing flocks from 16 weeks of age onwards with little risk.  Hybrids have been reared on layers mash/meal, if offered pellets first, they may not eat immediately so we advise feeding Hybrid starter feed (pellets and mash mixed fed dry).  To wean them off mash and onto pellets, simply mix the two together and increase the proportion of pellets gradually.  Hybrids should start laying at around 19-21 weeks of age (blue egg layers approximately 25 weeks). 

Pure Breeds

• Pure Bred chickens are not vaccinated and must be kept separate from any other chickens for a minimum of 2 weeks as advised by DEFRA. After the 2 weeks quarantine period, you can integrate with other chickens of a similar age or when they are at least 18 weeks old.
• Chicks up to 6-10 weeks old – should be fed on chick crumb dry, simply fill a small feeder and don’t let it run out. Their housing and run (softchip shavings) area must be kept clean, eg smite disinfectant, and dry as much as possible to help prevent a severe coccidiosis infection developing and allowing them to develop natural immunity.  Cider vinegar in their water once weekly will also assist their resistance.  The addition of vitamins to their water also helps their vigour during the growing process.
• Chicks from 6-10 weeks to POL – can be fed Growers Pellets or chick crumb.
• Chickens from POL – should be fed on Layers or Breeders pellets or mash/meal.
• Birds over 10 weeks are guaranteed for 5 days, younger birds are not guaranteed.
• Bantams should start laying 20-30 weeks, large breeds 30-40 weeks between spring and autumn.

All birds can be given some mixed corn before bedtime to encourage them back into their coops/runs.

Worming and bird mites

We recommend worming your chickens every 6-12 months using 1% Ivermectin, this kills most worms, lice and chicken born mites.  Ivermectin applied by drops direct on the skin, one 5ml bottle will treat approximately 40 Hybrid sized birds; (do not eat eggs for 2 weeks following treatment) apply at the rate of 1 drop per 0.5Kg of bird.  We can supply this for £7.50 per bottle.  If you don’t want to medicate your birds we can also offer Worm count test kits.

Red Mites

We recommend continued use of DE (Diatomaceous earth) in your coops to help prevent a red mite infestation.  Should your coop get infested, we recommend Total Mite Kill by Net-Tex and RED STOP.  If your birds start to look anaemic, start to refuse to go into their coop at night, or the egg laying rate reduces, this is the sign of a coop infestation.

1. Chicken houses must be sited on solid level ground and not in contact with soil.  We recommend siting on concrete flags or concrete blocks, this keeps a good air flow underneath the house.  They must also be placed out of direct sunlight and in a sheltered position, both direct sun and strong winds can damage the coop and is not in the best interests of the poultry housed.  Vents should be kept open all throughout the year in the UK to avoid internal condensation, chickens are comfortable down to minus 15deg C as they are covered in a 40 tog duvet.  

2. Wooden coops need regular maintenance, they should be treated with a waterproof preservative once a year.  We recommend cedar oil for domestic use, creosote is ideal also but is for agricultural use and has health warnings.  We do not recommend water based fence paints, these are not sufficiently waterproof.  HPL Easicoops and plastic coops do not require any maintenance other than the usual regular cleaning.

3. Metal runs should always be built with the mesh either buried in the ground or spread out sideways for form a fox proof skirt, then covered with earth or concrete slabs.  Tarpaulins need to be checked periodically and further fixings used if on exposed windy sites.

4. In severe weather conditions such as snow, rain, hail, wind, thunder and lightening please take extra precautions to secure your poultry house and its occupants against the elements.

Vaccination programme for Hybrids
Age	Vaccination
1 day	Mareks
18 days	Infectious Bursal Disease
24 days	Infectious Bursal Disease Newcastles Disease Infectious Bronchitis
30 days	Infectious Bursal Disease
6 weeks	Newcastles Disease Infectious Bronchitis
10 weeks	Avian Encephalomyelitis Newcastles Disease Infectious Bronchitis
13 weeks	Avian Encephalomyelitis Pox Salmonella Newcastles Disease Infectious Bronchitis
15 weeks	Newcastles Disease Infectious Bronchitis

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Hatching eggs in schools

 

Sadly due to health and age we are no longer operating this service and have passed over the reigns to Alec at wrights.poultryandaviary@gmail.com who can provide a service to suit your needs.