Welcome to my Poultry & Chicken Keeping Blog
This is a a bit of a mixture of diary and articles about poultry keeping we hope you find interesting. Unusually for a blog, some is written by John Harrison and some pieces from his daughter Cara Martin.
Our grandson with 3 of our hens that he’s helpfully named Charlie – all of them are called Charlie!
Back Garden Poultry Runs with Chickens, Ducks & Quail
We, John & Val Harrison, live in Snowdonia, North Wales on a smallholding. Cara, her husband and son live nearby in a village.
Prior to joining us in Wales, Cara lived near Leeds where she kept chickens, ducks and quail in a small back garden.
The ducks and chickens were kept in fenced off runs with the quail in an aviary on the patio. I made a few videos in the backgarden there.
It isn’t only people with acres of land that can have their own small flock of happy and healthy birds. Whether you have a small city or suburban garden, an allotment, or a larger garden or smallholding – you can keep a flock of hens for fresh eggs in the morning.
We’re not trained experts but we’ve picked up a lot of information and experience over the years. We try to share this with you through this website and blog.
We also write a monthly newsletter so any questions please feel free to contact me with them and we will answer them in the newsletter or on here so that your questions can also help other poultry keepers.
You can keep poultry in town or country
We’ve kept hens in a small urban space, and now on a larger smallholding. Both present their own challenges, but no matter how much land you have there is usually a way to keep back-garden poultry happy and healthy.
More Help on Keeping Poultry
Don’t forget that we’ve a lot of information to help you on the site with articles covering other poultry such as ducks, geese and quail as well as chicken keeping help.
10 Week Old Chicks & Juvenile Moult
The chicks are all ten weeks old now and going through their juvenile moult. We may also have more girls than we thought as all three Spangled Orpingtons appear to be girls!
Favourite Chicks plus Omlet’s “Hentertainment” Bundle Review
The chicks are now all over 6 weeks old and almost fully feathered. Only Little John the Brahma is still to fully feather up, but even she is nearly there. Brahmas are always slow to feather and grow, but they…
Outdoor Explorations and Sexing the Chicks
The chicks have made their way into the big secure run this past week. At the moment they are outside during the day and back indoors for the night. We’ll continue this arrangement for at least another ten days as…
Little Chicks Growing Fast and Feathering Up for Flight
The chicks are quickly gaining their feathers now. It’s interesting to watch as they are all the same age yet some are far faster feathering than the others. The three Welsummers are ahead of the rest, but even the slower…
New Chicken Enclosure and Incubation
Hi – Cara here and long time no see! John still has the chooks up at the smallholding. The remaining Charlie lives with her “Angels” now (sorry for the bad TV pun), a bunch of ex-barn hens who are more…
Farewell Charlie Chicken Three
We’ve lost Charlie Three. It’s all very sad but you have to accept that you’ll lose pets. It’s what you do in the time you’re together with them that matters. She’s not been good for the last month. First of…
The Back Garden Flock
