I am loving keeping chickens! I have six at the moment. I bought three 12 week old Cuckoo Marans, and two 22 week old Warrens from the Fur and Feathers auction at York Auction Centre on 18th September. It was a new and exciting experience being part of an auction (other than Ebay) for the first time. I wandered up and down the rows of cages, making notes of which lots I might be interested in. Thank goodness there were other chicken keepers around who were happy to answer questions (and I had a lot of questions!). I felt a bit out of my depth when the bidding started, but I came away with five of the birds on my shortlist, so was happy! The Warrens (which are hybrids) were already laying eggs, and I paid £16.00 for them. The Marans (pure breeds), who won't start laying eggs until Spring cost me £12.00 - for all three!!!


Getting them home was an experience!!! The cardboard boxes I aquired from a few shops at the railway station in York were very flimsy, but we somehow managed to get the chickens in them and got a taxi home.



The coop itself I bought from Ebay the week before. It cost £85.00, plus £14.99 delivery. It was flat-pack, so I needed to put it together, but it only took a couple of hours to do that. A few coats of wood preserver later, and it was ready for the ladies to move into.

The picture below shows the rear of the coop. There is a slide-out litter tray area, which makes the daily poo-picking easy.

The front of the coop is shown in the picture below. There is a pop hole with catch which the chickens go in and out of via a wooden ramp (not shown). Above the pop hole, there is a vent slat, which provides ventilation for the birds.

Apparently these types of coop don't last too long, as the wood is pretty flimsy, so I can start saving for a better one. I'm hoping that the wood preserver I have used will at least allow me to use it for a few seasons before the coop needs replacing. A lot of chicken keepers use sheds which they convert to make them suitable for keeping poultry, so will look into that in due course. We have had a lot of heavy rain recently, but the coop we have has remained dry, so fingers crossed it will last a fair while.

We constructed a run from timber and chicken wire mesh. The run itself is about 12ft by 10ft, and the mesh was about 3ft deep. 3ft. Hmmmm, it wasn't long before we discovered that 3ft wasn't going to be deep enough!!!

The garden did well this year. We had sweetcorn (of course), courgettes, a pumpkin, red and white onions, garlic, several varieties of tomatoes (which got blight), peppers and potatoes (which were completely disappointing!). I still really enjoy being out there, and even enjoy weeding! I can spend hours out there, and time just passes in a flash.

God, how sad do I sound?!!?!

I am now the proud owner of chickens. I bought them from a livestock auction in York three weeks ago - two 22 week old warrens (hybrids), and three 12 week old pure breed Cuckoo Marans. Unfortunately we lost one of the Marans eight days ago. It was very sad, but she obviously wasn't right.

My Dad came over that day and took us to the Rare Breeds auction, where he persuaded me that I NEEDED two black Silkies. They are pure comedy value!

Decided to start the leeks off a few days ago. I've realised I have more ideas than garden. Dear Santa, can I please have an allotment for Christmas?