Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

On 17 July, 01:30, Janet Tweedy wrote:
Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraphhttp://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Hah you will lose lots of money. BTW, are you prepared to kill your
chickens at 18 months old when they become uneconomic (ie lay few
eggs)?

harry wrote in news:2369f81d-9510-48f0-9d1f-
:

On 17 July, 01:30, Janet Tweedy wrote:
Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraphhttp://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Hah you will lose lots of money. BTW, are you prepared to kill your
chickens at 18 months old when they become uneconomic (ie lay few
eggs)?

There are many good reasons to keep poultry which are nothing
to do with money.

But if someone is looking to save (or make) money keeping a
few chickens at home, they are likely to be disappointed.

Janet Tweedy wrote in
:

Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet

Personally I wouldn't bother with a course until after
you've assimilated easily available information on the web.
Once you've done that, you'll be able to articulate what
you want to take away from such a course.

Suitable starting points are
http://www.allaboutchickens.tk
and the "backyoard chickens" forum (see the links section)

On 17 July, 11:22, Tom wrote:
Janet Tweedy wrote :

Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet

Personally I wouldn't bother with a course until after
you've assimilated easily available information on the web.
Once you've done that, you'll be able to articulate what
you want to take away from such a course.

Suitable starting points arehttp://www.allaboutchickens.tk
and the "backyoard chickens" forum (see the links section)
The above is good advice.

In article
,
harry writes
Hah you will lose lots of money. BTW, are you prepared to kill your
chickens at 18 months old when they become uneconomic (ie lay few
eggs)?


Possibly not, but learned through genealogy that my great grandmother
(all 4 foot 3 of her) was a chicken neck wringer by trade in Fishguard!

Do you really lose lots of money? i would have liked to rehome some
battery hens and run a few rare breeds alongside if possible.

I
will probably have to be thinking of moving in the next 2 or 3 years and
if i knew about hens etc. I could look for somewhere that would enable
me to do so.

Anyway the courses would be a new challenge - trying to take up new
things and already got Bridge, Dowsing and possibly Indesign lined up

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article 3, Tom
writes
There are many good reasons to keep poultry which are nothing
to do with money.

But if someone is looking to save (or make) money keeping a
few chickens at home, they are likely to be disappointed.

Yes i know, i have several friends with quite large flocks but I
wouldn't dream of keeping them unless I knew a little bit first at
least. Not looking for money making ideas. Though i do cook an awful lot
of cakes

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article 3, Tom
writes
Suitable starting points are
http://www.allaboutchickens.tk
and the "backyoard chickens" forum (see the links section)


OK thanks Tom. Isn't the forum American orientated? Would that matter?
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
Do you really lose lots of money? i would have liked to rehome some
battery hens and run a few rare breeds alongside if possible.

I assumed he meant that you would lose money on the course (where you can
probably find all the content you need online or in books anyhow). Given
the price of our chicken run, I suspect we're still running slightly at a
loss, but with nearly 4 eggs a day and an outlay of ~200 pound, we're not
doing too badly. Neighbour is selling his eggs at a pound/half dozen at the
moment. We've never had enough to sell them (although we do get up to 30 in
a backlog now and then, but then I either visit my mum, or I make cakes)

* wrote, On 17/07/2010 12:24:
Janet wrote:
Do you really lose lots of money? i would have liked to rehome some
battery hens and run a few rare breeds alongside if possible.

I assumed he meant that you would lose money on the course (where you can
probably find all the content you need online or in books anyhow).

That was how I read it, as well.

Given
the price of our chicken run, I suspect we're still running slightly at a
loss, but with nearly 4 eggs a day and an outlay of ~200 pound, we're not
doing too badly. Neighbour is selling his eggs at a pound/half dozen at the
moment. We've never had enough to sell them (although we do get up to 30 in
a backlog now and then, but then I either visit my mum, or I make cakes)

When I kept chickens, some years ago, and sold most of the eggs at
work, I reckoned they earn enough to cover their food bills but
without anything left over to contribute to the capital costs.

Making money out of them hadn't been part off the reason for wanting
to keep chickens though, so that was fine.

--
Cheers, Serena

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. (John Donne)

Janet Tweedy wrote :

Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet

People kept chickens years ago without needing a 'course' to do it. We
kept chickens for years (and subsequently also ducks and geese, plus
hatching our own) until a few years ago. We started off with getting out
every library book to read on the subject, then purchasing a couple to keep
for reference, (we found that each different book covered different
topics/recommended a different way of doing things/didn't cover a specific
problem). There are also probably several good magazines around; we used to
take one called 'Home Farm' At the beginning we also asked advice from our
neighbour who kept chickens. These days of course there is a wealth of
information, and no doubt newsgroups and forums on the internet.

Start with the basic knowledge, build up from there and learn by
experience, keep a couple of good books for reference and enjoy them!
Ros

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:30:11 +0100, Janet Tweedy wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet

You really don't need a course: just buy Katie Thear's book. It's really
not rocket-science.

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:33:41 +0100, Serena Blanchflower wrote:


Making money out of them hadn't been part off the reason for wanting to
keep chickens though, so that was fine.

Ditto. Raised beds made of tanalised wood to fit the chicken-run: weed
clearance and manuring without the tears. Fresh eggs and a few left over
to sell on the bar of my local paid the feed bills - just.

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article
3, Tom
writes
Suitable starting points are
http://www.allaboutchickens.tk
and the "backyoard chickens" forum (see the links section)


OK thanks Tom. Isn't the forum American orientated? Would that
matter?

No problem, just stick to Rhode Island Reds :-)

Seriously though we kept hens for several years and never felt
the need to take a course. Occasional reference to a library book
in the early days and internet later on was all we needed. We
incubated chicks and ate the resulting cockerels as well as
keeping ourselves in fresh eggs. We kept the start up cost to the
very minimum by building our own coop and making a run using
second hand wire mesh.

Mike

On 17 July, 01:30, Janet Tweedy wrote:
Can anyone recommend a good poultry keeping course (for home not for
commercial ones) ? Preferably in the south east or south midlands

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraphhttp://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Your main enemy will be Mr.Fox. One of the problems is that you have
to be there twice a day to fasten them up and release them. Not to
mention feeding and watering them. They will all manner of scraps and
waste food BTW. If you have a pot of ground you can move the run
around, they will lay the area they are penned on waste. Ideal for
diging up afterwards to grow things.
Ever considered pigs? Heh! Heh!
Or seriously ducks. You get a better egg performance out of ducks.