Never ever renew any insurance without shopping around first. The insurance companies will give you a good deal for the first year, then up your premium and hope that you are too lazy to search for a better deal when it's time to renew.

I bought one of the £30 Kreg jigs to help build my chicken coop, but it was useless for the task as the maximum thickness of timber it could be used on was less that what I was using. I will use it in the future though, when I make use of some Victorian pitch pine paneling i have. There are some rea...

My run is big enough for another 5 at least, and there are other parts of the garden I could use if needed.

My friend, who lives over the road, had three turkeys in with her chickens for 3 years. They shared a large run during the day, but were housed separately at night. The eggs are amazing. She is a vegetarian and wanted to save them from being Xmas dinner. Just remembered, they had a habit of escaping...

Thanks for the reassurance. I think I have a way round it. I have an old kitchen unit that would house 2 hens temporarily, and some plastic sheeting to cover it with to keep the rain out. I'll adjoin this to the trampoline frame and place the lot next to the main run so they can see each other. Not ...

Thanks for the info all. In that case I don't think I can accommodate any more. I have a large old trampoline frame I could cover with chicken wire and place inside the large run, to put the new girls in, but I don't have anything I can use as a temporary coop.

Our little flock of 5 hens, which we have had for 3 weeks now, have settled in nicely, but they are rattling around in their large run, so I would like to get a couple more girls. I have located a breeder near me who has a couple of Black Copper Marans available, and as these were on my original sho...

Hi, and welcome. When I got my girls nearly 3 weeks ago, they panicked at dusk not knowing where to go to bed. My hubby picked them up and put them in the coop, and from then on they have taken themselves to bed every night. I just go and close the coop door behind them. As for bedding, I asked the ...

If I'm not mistaken, you can eat beetroot tops too. As someone else said, it's supposed to taste like chard.

I had a hell of a time trying to find breeders in my area who had stock. In the end I had to travel 40 miles to get mine, so like you I considered breeding in the future when I have more experience. But, TBH, I think there is a reason breeders are hard to find = there's very little money in it. Some...

golly I never read that bit, maybe that's why its so absorbent in the run! Mine like it dry, they scratch about in it & Giblet even dustbaths in it, I personally wouldn't want to wet it, especially if you're using it in the coop, perhaps its different using it with horses. No, I won't wet it ei...

I just read this thread and can I just ask, I'm feeding my girls on layers pellets that have Vermex added by the manufacturer. Is this enough to keep them worm free?

I got 5 Point-of-Lay hens almost 3 weeks ago, 2 RIR's 2 Black Rocks and a Maran. The RIR's are the calmest out of them and get on well with the others. According to the breeder they are now 23 weeks but no eggs yet. They are nce looking birds and I'm glad I chose them. I'm looking forward to our fir...

I went with Hemcore. It has citronella so hopefully will keep pests at bay. Smells nice and fresh anyway. Apparently it's for horses, and the packaging says that you should sprinkle 5 liters of water per bale when it's first laid. Does anyone use this and do this? It says it's to activate it. I don'...

We didn't get time to go to Aldi in the end, it's at the other end of town. I'll make more time for my next shop.