4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[StephanieSB]

I just received an email from the very nice people at The Garden Hen, breeders in Windsor. They have a few of their own day-long chicken courses. Not to compete with Omlet's own hen parties, of course (which I will be attending in June)... but an alternative:

 

The Garden Hen One Day Poultry Course

 

I've not met these breeders personally, but they have been so knowledgable and helpful over email, that I thought it worth passing this along. Only wish I could afford both the Omlet hen party and this course too!

Edited May 24, 2008 by Guest

[Snowy]

Looks good! Appears to be a combination of the Omlet beginners and advanced courses, so a similar cost just all done on the same day

 

But it does say they will have birds with live parasites on for you to check Wonder how they manage that one then??

[StephanieSB]

Oh my gosh, I missed that. -- how odd -- maybe a large flock always has some gal in there with a problem.

[Christian]

Or they keep the critters in little jars and 'dose' the hen before class??

[chelsea]

Or they keep the critters in little jars and 'dose' the hen before class??

 

and then they do a "before" and "after" demonstration - just like the makeovers on This Morning!

[Egg Lou]

Looks really good! Shame I really can't afford it as spent so much on my "chook shoping list" that I just cannot manage it right now!!

 

Could really have done with all the content too.. particularly the wing clipping and dealing with issues.

 

Maybe another one will come up at a later date

[moomin]

I got my chickens from Simon at The Garden Hen, he is a nice chap, very knowledgable. He keeps all his chickens in a huge allotment, he has cockerels too! Neighbours must be deaf or something!

 

My chooks have turned out to be lovely, very healthy (so far - 'touch wood' ), the BV has lovely markings now, and the Cochin is a greedy, mischevous, friendly ball of fluff!

 

But unfortunately, I too have exceeded my 'Chicken Allowance' for this quarter!! So will need to give it a miss

[susanbb]

I got my e-mail about this as well. I got my 2 older girls from there a leghorn and a cochin and they are just such beautiful girls. Okay so I am biased

[StephanieSB]

Oh and there's also these people at The Chicken Schoolin Swindon (who can arrange to travel to your home, if you cannot get to them).

 

They have also been very helpful and nice to my novice self over the phone, even though I cannot now do their course, so I thought it worth giving them a plug too.

[moomin]

Thanks Stephanie, that looks really good, I live in Swindon just a stone's throw away from them. I have contacted them for details.

 

Here's hoping I can persuade my other half to let me overspend on the Chicken Allowance!!

[StephanieSB]

Your welcome, Ros. And when I spoke with Val, she was really nice, and even gave me freebie tips over the phone. Definitely a woman who cares about animals.

 

And while I'm on a roll with course info that I've gathered -- there's also River Cottage All About Chickens. This is already on my birthday wishlist (i.e., demand-list). It's a full day and I think more of a good-life, self-sustainabilty angle (rearing, buying, keeping, eating) than a chooks-for-pets angle, but I've been to a jam-making course there once, and all of their work is superb.

[Egg Lou]

Really liked the look of the River Cottage one!! that is until I saw the ending which as a vegetarian is not something I want to see!

 

I should add I totally agree people who choose to eat meat should consider raising the animal themselves and give them a good life before eating.. its just not for me!

[StephanieSB]

I should add I totally agree people who choose to eat meat should consider raising the animal themselves and give them a good life before eating.. its just not for me!

 

I completely understand. My husband and I are dedicated to eating only cruelty-free meats or eating veggie otherwise. I was a veggie-then-vegan for a number of years until I moved to the UK and could trust food labelling and could trust that when something said free-range it was, when it was labelled organic, they legally had to mean it. In the US there were all manner of loopholes that led to a factory farmer being allowed to call his meat 'free range' if he opened the windows for 3 extra hours per day.

 

But there is another reason I want to learn things like proper culling and humane dispatch of the birds. I think proper husbandry of poultry requires me to know how to put a bird out of its misery if it came to it. Vets are not always an option, and I don't want to see a bird suffer. I once had a dove savaged by a magpie, dying slowly, and was unable to dispatch it myself. The drive to the vets was only 10 minutes, but the bird suffered unnecessarily for that time due to my squeamishness. I vowed that if I got chickens, I'd buck up and learn how to do it myself.

 

Again, like you say, I respect all other opinions, but that's just me.

[Egg Lou]

 

But there is another reason I want to learn things like proper culling and humane dispatch of the birds. I think proper husbandry of poultry requires me to know how to put a bird out of its misery if it came to it. Vets are not always an option, and I don't want to see a bird suffer. I once had a dove savaged by a magpie, dying slowly, and was unable to dispatch it myself. The drive to the vets was only 10 minutes, but the bird suffered unnecessarily for that time due to my squeamishness. I vowed that if I got chickens, I'd buck up and learn how to do it myself.

 

 

I do actually agree with you on this.. I wish I had the guts to learn for this reason.. however I also know if it came down to it I would falter and may cause a lot of suffering .so for me its best left to others.. luckily I live very close to both a vet and a farmer.. so should I need to take this step I konw I can get suitable help..

 

Admire your thought though

[moomin]

The River Cottage course sounds lovely, (especially the lunch - and the wine!! )

 

But this bit -

 

'You will go home with a fresh chicken that you have gutted yourself, as well as tips and recipes from the day.'

 

I just couldn't do it, sorry!

 

I would be thinking I was gutting one of my own!!

[StephanieSB]

'You will go home with a fresh chicken that you have gutted yourself, as well as tips and recipes from the day.' -- I just couldn't do it, sorry!

 

I had a grandfather who was a professional fisherman and then lobsterman, a great uncle that used to rear rabbits for the table, and a father who used to be able to get whole, pre-skinned goats from the butcher cheap if he did the butchering himself at home. There was lots of gutting and animal carcass preparation going on in my childhood so, morbid as I am, I read that line and said, "Wow. Bonus!"

[StephanieSB]

Okay, I promise, I will get a life and get off this computer and go outside, but I keep getting emails about courses, so let me pass on one more.

 

This one is at Golden Valley Poultry on the Surrey/Hants border:Beginners' Basic Chicken Husbandry Course for Children Aged 8 – 14.

 

They are the nice folks whom I will be getting my 3 pullets from end of June.