Neil Armitage (517)

I am an experienced poultry keeper who has been raising chickens for over 20 years in challenging conditions in Yorkshire, UK. I am passionate about helping people learn about and enjoy the benefits of keeping chickens. I love raising chickens because they are such friendly and productive animals, providing me with fresh eggs, meat, and fertiliser, and they are a lot of fun to watch.
A leghorn hen coming out through the automatic coop door.

My review of the Omlet automatic coop door. A must have for busy, time poor chicken keepers.

seven mice caught and killed in one single night.

Mice in the chicken coop. How to get the upper hand over these sneaky invaders.

Some of my egg flock free ranging in the sunshine.

Clucking mad about keeping chickens. Your guide to the egg-squisite life.

A nest of baby rats from under a shed.

The pests, vermin and parasites that can make a chicken keepers life a misery.

Barnevelders were my first rare breed as well as first breeding success.

The art and science of breeding chickens. See my successes and failures.

Realising breeding goals can takes many years of careful selection.

How long does a chicken breeding program take before you get show quality birds.

Genes can be added or taints removed by outcrossing.

What is outcrossing or outbreeding in chickens and is it worth the risk?

A group of line bred chickens.

Enhancing Chicken Breeds: The Science and Strategy of Line Breeding

The creeper gene in Japanese bantams is one of the more well known lethal genes.

Lethal genes in chickens and poultry and what to do if you have them in your flock.

Our survey results.

Our survey results. How do you compare to 2731 other chicken keepers?

A good selection of well coloured chicken eggs.

Egg size and colour chart by chicken breed.

An early winter hatch means birds mature in spring.

Winter incubation. A guide to out of season hatching and brooding of chicks.

Diagram showing some of the feather faults in chickens

A complete guide to the feather faults in chickens. What causes them and which ones can be fixed.

The vents in one of my chicken coops in winter.

Winter chicken coop ventilation. They need more than you think and can cope with it.

Must haves for your flock during the short cold days of fall and winter.

What chickens need in winter. And how I provide it.

Some of my chickens in the snow we had last winter.

Keeping chickens in winter. What I do to look after my flock in the cold, rain and snow.

A batch of day old chicks in the brooder.

How to care for just hatched chicks and what to expect as they grow and develop.

Three dead chicks that passed way during my last hatch.

How often do baby chicks die? Exploring the causes of mortality in young chickens.

An incubator full of baby chicks that have just hatched.

Should I put food and drinking water in the incubator?

A brood of my chicks caught in the rain and getting wet

The dangers of rain, cold and water for baby chicks and what you need to do to protect them.

A batch of chicks getting some fresh air and sunshine.

How do you know if your baby chicks are healthy and happy?

A flock of chicks with their feed.

Chicks not eating? Helping baby chicks to eat and the reasons some new hatchlings struggle.

A newly hatched day old chick but which part of the egg did it comes from?

Which part of the egg becomes the chick?

A batch of fodder I have grown for my chickens.

Fodder for chickens, 14 seeds tested and how to grow it with almost no costs.

Does periodic cooling during the incubation of eggs make a difference to the hatch rate.

Periodic cooling of eggs during incubation. Does it work and should you being doing it.

The correct conditions for setting up the incubator for dry incubation.

Dry incubation and hatching, does it give better results and should you be using this method.

Can a sick chicken make its keeper ill.

Which diseases can humans catch from chickens and how to protect yourself.

A batch of Wyandotte chickens in my hatcher.

Sexing Wyandotte chicks and chickens.

Most of my egg incubators lay the eggs on their sides and turn them back and forth.

Should you incubate eggs flat on their sides or vertically with the big end up?

My flock of heritage chickens roosting for the night.

Why your chickens are awake at night and what to do about it.

My chickens are all considered to be pets.

Chickens as pets: Which breeds to choose and how to look after these easy to keep egg-laying companions.

The silver laced Wyandotte was the first to be bred.

The origin, history and development of the Wyandotte chicken.

A show winning gold pencilled Wyandotte hen.

The Wyandotte: A look at one of America's favourite chicken breeds.

A blue laced red Wyandotte, one of the prettiest colours.

Wyandotte colours and types.

A Brahma cockerel.

Sexing Brahma chickens

A close up photo of the Brahma at a poultry show.

Brahma breed standards

A limping chickens is sick or injured and needs care

Limping, hobbling and lameness in chickens, what is causing it and how to treat it.

A gold laced Sebright cockerel show winner

Sebright bantams. A hen feathered delight with over 200 years of history.

One of my chickens eating her pellets.

When to switch chicken feeds. Going from chick ration to growers and on to layer pellets.

A very sick chicken. Learn how to identify the common chicken diseases and how to treat them

Common chicken diseases, their causes, symptoms and treatments.

A Brahma chicken at a poultry show, showing just how big they are.

Are Brahma chickens right for you: The characteristics and temperament of the breed.

An artists drawing of the Brahma chickens from 1874

The history and origin of the Brahma chicken.

Keeping your own chickens is environmentally friendly friendly

Sustainable chicken keeping. Create an environmentally friendly and healthy backyard flock.

My egg flock getting their daily dose.

The vitamins and minerals in chicken feed.

A comparison images of  the colour of my egg yolks before and after.

The secret to brighter egg yolks. How I naturally changed the colour of my yolks in 30 days.

Egg yolk colour scale from pale yellow to bright orange

From pale yellow to deep orange: A guide to egg yolk colour and why it is important.

My chickens eating.

Different types of chicken feeds explained.

A fox crossing the fields on my land.

How to deter foxes and keep them away from poultry.

A fox proof chicken run with weld mesh fences.

Can chicken coops and runs be fox proof and how to achieve it.

A fox that has been shot after worrying chickens.

Dealing with Foxes. What you need to know about catching, trapping and killing them.

The pile of feathers left after a fox attack.

How do you know if it is a fox killing your chickens?

Dealing with a fox that has been killing your chickens or other poultry.

Outfoxing the fox, the complete guide to protecting your flock with all your questions answered.

A blue Pekin chicken at a poultry show

The complete list of chicken feather colours with pictures, video and breed examples.

This is the result of a bear attack on a chicken coop and the door is broken clean in half.

Bears and how to protect your chickens.

This is me applying diatomaceous earth to a nest box to control red mite.

How, how much and where to apply diatomaceous earth to chickens and poultry.

The six colours of diatomaceous earth we tested and whether it matters.

The different colours of diatomaceous earth.

A range of diatomaceous earth sold and tested as feed supplements.

Feeding diatomaceous earth to chickens and other types of poultry.

An insect that has been treated with diatomaceous earth.

How does diatomaceous (DE) earth work?

An advert for Plymouth rocks from 1921.

How much did chicken, eggs and poultry supplies cost in the old days?

How have chickens changed and evolved in the last 100 years

What is the difference between old and modern chickens?

A wild red jungle fowl cockerel, the ancestor of the modern chicken.

The evolution and origin of the chicken.

packaged chicken feed in 1910.

How and what did they feed chickens in the old days?

An image from 1910 showing an old incubator and brooder.

The history of artificial incubation.

A poultry supply shop advert from 1915.

The history of backyard chickens.

A clutch of baby chicks.

Help! my chicks are sick, unwell or dying

Vets can help sick chickens but avian veterinarians are better.

Can a vet help a chicken?

Floor eggs are easily broken and represent wastage for the keeper.

Floor eggs. Why it happens and what to do about it.

Should you get day old chicks, growers or ready to lay hens.

What is the best age to buy chickens. That's the chickens' age and not yours!

Chickens make good pets and lay eggs.

Why do people keep chickens?

A lovely pair of paint Silkie hens

The Paint Silkie

The self blue is a difficult colour to breed well.

The Blue Silkie

A buff Silkie hen walking on green grass.

The Buff Silkie

A splash silkie free ranging.

The Splash Silkie

A red coloured Silkie.

The Red Silkie

A cuckoo Silkie on green grass.

The Cuckoo Silkie

Young chickens in a wooden coop.

What is the best material for chicken coop construction?

Silkies are lovely birds and full of character but they are not good for every keeper.

Are Silkies right for me? The pros and cons.

Chicken coop roof, how much slope it needs and what to cover it with.

The chicken coop roof.

How to deal with and treat lethargic bantam chickens

Lethargic bantam chickens.