Welcome To Winter!

GILLIAN COOPER says make it easy for yourself – and your poultry​

- Gillian Cooper

If you planned well in the summer and thought about the cold, the dark and the possibility of avian flu hitting these shores again, then you'll be well prepared for whatever weather or circumstances throw at you.

If you didn't then there is still a little time to sort out your poultry housing and make sure that if you have to, you can house them away from wild birds and most importantly, keep them contented by providing stimulation, plenty of space and thinking about mixing the birds.

When confined it is more important than ever that birds are not bullied by others and that you do not have too many male birds in with females – to be precise one only per group of females. Either keep the males together out of sight of the females – they are more likely to be content and not fight – or be big and brave and get the males humanely slaughtered for your freezer.

Interior Design

You can help the shyer members of the flock by making runs with different heights within it so that you perches or straw bales above the floor. This will give those further down the pecking order, the chance to get away from the others. The big free range farms are now very good at this sort of technique. You can also put in tree branches or anything that gives varying heights. Include an area of sand for bathing and diatomaceous earth in it as this will help in the prevention of red mite. You can tie vegetables up for them to peck at – Brussels sprouts will be in the shops soon and even supermarkets have them on the stalk these days. Hens also like swede cut into segments.

Ensure they have a balanced ration in the morning, laying mash or pellets for example and a 'scratch' feed in the afternoon, early evening of corn.

Check the protein level on your bagged feed - for high layers you will need a 16% protein instead of the usual 13%.