Many customers are now taking advantage of the new larger sizes available for the Ark Maid and Red Mite Powder. These products now come in resealable buckets. The Red Mite Powder is available in 2kg and 5kg buckets and the Ark Maid is in 5kg and 11.5kg buckets.
These buckets are great for those who are looking to stock up on these little essentials but do not want to be purchasing vast amounts of the smaller tubs, and want to save money at the same time.

When cleaning your house sprinkle the floor of the chicken house with Ark Maid before putting the fresh bedding down and next time when you come to clean you will notice that the bedding will come away with ease and the not-so-lovely ammonia smell will be kept to a minimal.

The Red Mite powder is a deterrant and once you have put your bedding in the house sprinkle the powder around the perches and in the nest box and also a bit on top of the bedding. It is important to sprinkle the powder and not put in down in clumps. This powder will then kill any Red Mites which may choose to venture into the house.

Of course, if you only want a small amount, the smaller tubs are still available, giving you as many options as possible

Hello everyone

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. I would imagine that we are now all feeling the colder temperatures - I definately am, lol. When I left the house this morning I left my better half defrosting his car with the dogs patiently (well, not really that patiently!) waiting for him to return so they could go on their walk.

If you are experiencing the cold also and would like to make sure that your chickens are in the best condition possible for the upcoming winter then it’s a good idea to start adding cut maize to your birds feed.
As it gets colder and the nights get longer then the maize can be swapped for mixed corn and the amounts can be increased. A good time to change to mixed corn in mid December. A couple of handfulls each night will work great as it will fill your birds crops overnight, helping them keep warm and also allowing them to put a bit of weight on to see them through the colder months.
Layers pellets are a brilliant source of the essential nutrients the birds need but a little helping hand over the winter really helps your birds along.

They also taste great too so your birds will be more than willing to scoff the corn put out for them

Due to customer demand we have now got chicken feed in larger feed buckets. You can still purchase the 1.5kg bags if you need a smaller bag however we now have Layers Pellets and Mixed Corn in larger quantites available. The good news is if you need larger quantites then the price comparison is in your favour!
A 7.6kg bucket of Layers Pellets is only £9.99 saving you almost a 1/3 on the price if you were to purchase 5 smaller bags. Also the buckets are of good quality and have carry handles so you can carry the food easily and also store it in sealable buckets giving the rodents a run for their money

I’m sure that we will be producing more types of chicken food in larger quantites soon, giving you a chance to stock up for less!

Well the weathr over the past couple of days has changed, very much for the worse. Upon hearing the news and traffic reports as I drive home, I can tell that it has not only affected us here is the middle of Wales, it is nationwide
The birds don’t seem to mind too much though, the ones in the fields seem to locate a little sheltered spot and sit there quite happily, waiting for one of us to go to the feeders and top them up.

The one thing worthy of investment (especially in this weather) is the automatic door opener - trust me right now I would not want to be walking through the field to the large chicken house we have to shut the birds away at night, or have to do this again in the morning. The door opener is one of lifes little luxuries which, once you have, you will not know what you did without it! We have some new timers in stock now also. They are similar to the older design however are now digital so the time is displayed on the screen as well as the on-off interval.

When it gets windy and rainy then cleaning is a little more laborious also, so chicken houses which are easy to clean are always a brill idea. I suppose we are lucky here as we have a some breeding stock which are in Jersey Giants, Brahmas, Cochins and also a few Seabrights and the houses do not take too long to clean. But if you are looking at your house thinking about cleaning it in the poor weather which is bound to happen in the next few months (I know I sound depressing, and I secretly hope for an Indian Summer ) then take a look at the houses on offer and see if they could be your next chicken house.

I know I have seemed to talk a lot (all the time some would say, lol) about these awful creatures, but this year seems as bad as last year, and the mites just seem to be thriving.

Many, many orders are coming in for Red Mite killer and although we are a business and orders are good news, we would much prefer that the mites are killed and controlled the first time around so you do not need to come back for more product.

If you have noticed mites in the chicken house then the Red Mite powder is not the option for you, you will need a chemical treatment to kill off the infestation. Remove the bedding and spray/fumigate the house and leave the chemicals to work in the house for a couple of hours, then air the house and you can put fresh bedding in. If you can burn the old bedding do so as you are definately ridding of any mites in this also.

The vital part (and it is vital) is the second treatment. It sounds like a clever marketing ploy, but honestly, without this you will go back to your house and within a week it will look like you haven’t touched it - the mites will be back. This is because nothing kills the eggs, so you will have killed off the adult mites and the egg will then hatch and thrive.

The second treatment ideally needs to be done between 3-5 days after the first one. This will make sure that the eggs have hatched and the immature Red Mites will have not reproduced. After this second treatment you will hopefully have got them all and you can go back to using the powder again.

If you have a felt roof on your Chicken House then you may need to rip the felt off to conduct a proper treatment as the felt will harbour the Mites and they will nest there so you will never be able to break the cycle and you will be forking out on product week after week, which can be really demorolising.

If you do not know how much product to use or have found Red Mites and are in a bit of a panic then please just give us a call. They are daunting but they can be beaten

We have seen increasing orders for Red Mite fumers and Red Mite sprays, and I don’t know about you, but it really doesn’t seem that long ago since we were all talking about the dreaded mites and how to successfully rid of them.

Part of me hopes that we are all stocking up “just in case” however after a few phone calls unfortunately they are making a reappearance

It is as important this year as last - if you are trying to rid of these pesky creatures then you need to treat the house with one of the chemical treatments, and treat it again in a few days time.  The second treatment is as vital as the first as the first treatment will not kill the eggs.  The second treatment then kills the immature mites before they reach maturity and lay more eggs.

There are a lot of treatments on the market which state that they kill eggs, but please don’t expect this as they won’t.   If there was something that did this we would sell it by the bucket load

I am still crossing my fingers that last years mite problems stay there, and this year is a lot easier for not only the chicken keeper, but for all our lovely chickens.

Hello peeps

Yay, our new stocks of the Large Seabright Chicken houses are in, and after seeing one constructed here I think we might actually do ourselves out of the Standard Seabright houses!!  They offer additional run space and when you are looking for something to keep the chickens in if they can’t free range then I’m sure you’ll agree, cleverly thought out run space is definatley a good idea.

My little chicks are no longer little!  They have started to venture out, enjoying the amazing weather we are having and it’s quite comical the way the venture together in their group, going so far then running back home, just in case… 

I have not yet succumbed to having chickens at home, being lucky enough to have them here at work, but I can definitely see why so many people have these brilliant additions to their family.

Hello everyone

Well yesterday I had my first experience at cleaning out chickens!  To start I thought that it would be a heinous task and that I had been lucky to escape it until now, however I was surprised.  We have a selection of Seabrights, Dorkings, RIR house and runs and then some larger chicken houses as well.  So I donned my wellies and got stuck in.

The easiest way I found to clean was to get the bedding out of the nest boxes then just pull out the sliding trays.  I know that we rave about the Ark Maid on the website however it really does make a difference!  When I pulled out the trays the bedding just slid off - trust me as it was starting to rain this was extremely handy.  We put some more Ark Maid down and then some wood chip bedding and it was really as simple as this.  I had heard so many stories of “the ammonia smell” and chicken poop getting stuck to the bottom of the house, but this wasn’t the case - how happy was I?!

We will start to put some Red Mite Powder down soon as the weather gets milder as this will stop any ideas those pesky little creatures have.

Now I have been advised that I will not be cleaning the houses out every week, but I have a feeling that my wellies may be seeing more use in the near future…

Friday morning it was so clear and sunny but cold by 2pm only very specialised 4×4’s could get here!

Got old betsy our old Mazda pickuk out of storage and went out for a drive to collect our chicken feed delivery from 4 miles away where they got stuck

As the weather is going to be cold for upto 2 weeks we have changed their feed to 4 parts mixed corn to 1 part Layers pellets with liquid tonic in the water.

The reason for this is the corn will fill the crop overnight and they can keep warm and use the energy slowly ensuring they keep in best health over the cold snap.

We have also increased the depth of the bedding from 1/2″ to 1″ to increase insulation and also if your house is of good quality and well built ideally do not remove the snow from the roof as it is also a good insulator.

So now we have fed and watered the birds, geese and sheep we are now going to have a nice relaxing day off infront of the fire so enjoy the weather if you can the birds will

Just check they have acess to water during the day check it is not an ice block.