Let us help you make a good start, the following is a list of items we consider to be essential for keeping chickens:
- Feed – all available as 1.5kg, 5kg & 20kg bags: Layers mash or layers pellets (our birds will be on layers mash when you collect them. If you wish to feed pellets we suggest that you take a small 5kg bag of mash to settle them in, and some pellets to mix in swap them over gradually over days 4-7, alternatively, our layers mash is a fine feed to keep them on)
- Treat food: standard Mixed Corn (small handful per bird/day, max. 30% of overall diet, fed mid to late afternoon). There are other treat foods, such as Kibbled Maize, Supercorn and much more, please have a look on our website if you would like to treat your birds to anything else.
- Feeder: (to hold daily feed, best hung to avoid spillage and dirt)
- Drinker: (to hold daily drinking water, best hung to avoid spillage and dirt)
- Grit cup: (to hold mixed grit, best sited near food & water)
- Mixed grit: (this is used by the birds to help digest their food)
- Dust bath tray: (a wooden tray to hold dust bath material)
- Dust bath material (dust mix): (this is how the birds keep clean & a natural control of fleas and lice)
- Shavings: available as a large bag or bale: (this is used as the internal floor covering / bedding)
- Straw: (best used on top of a thin layer of shavings in the nest box for nest / egg laying – never use hay)
- Poultry shield – 1lt or 5lt bottle: (this is your chicken enclosure disinfectant, but more importantly an anti-red spider mite spray – please take the time to read our help sheet on protecting your birds from Redmite)
- Diatom powder – 350g or 2kg: (This is a fantastic powder in the constant fight against pests – anti fleas, lice & redmite, add regularly to the dust bath and general bedding)
- Nopex tonic – 250ml or 1lt (a natural aid in maintaining your birds wellbeing).
And some really useful items:
- Woodchip: (provides a great substrate for the poultry run floor, it can be raked and forked over as necessary to prevent clogging, it forms a free draining layer and is a long lasting, natural floor, it attracts many bugs and crawlies, providing interest and instinctive forage for our birds. We sell and strongly recommend pure (native) hardwood chips (no mixed in greenery – this causes the chip to rot faster – the compost effect) – no more mud!
- Free standing perch for run: (a useful item to add interest and activity to the run)
- BioDry: (a cleansing powder, super absorbent, extends life of bedding, extremely effective absorbing liquids and ammonia gas, inhibiting spread of bacteria and other harmful organisms)
- NopexBK capsules: (for a natural control of internal parasites)
- Nopex wound spray: (a natural aid in healing wounds)
- Poultry boost powder: (a vitamin & mineral supplement that can be added to feed as required)
- Dummy eggs: (used in the nesting box to encourage your birds to lay in the correct place)
