Neil Armitage (516)

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.
Chicken pee is white crystals on the outside of their poos

Do chickens pee or urinate?

Some day old rhode Island red chicks eating chick starter crumb

The ultimate guide to feeding baby chicks.

The complete guide to caring for new baby chicks

Caring for new chicks and baby chickens.

Chicks in a brooder with a red light and a heat lamp

Do chicks and baby chickens need a light at night?

Escaped chickens are quite common but can be hard to catch

I have found an escaped or abandoned chicken, now what?

Some young chicks on grass in the sunshine

I cannot keep my chickens.

A flock of chickens free ranging on pasture

Will chickens kill my grass and ruin my lawn?

Can you successfully incubate a craked egg like this one.

Will a cracked hatching egg survive incubation.

A row of Pekin bantams on a perch

Where to get Pekin bantams and how much to pay.

A photo of Pekin chickens from an old poultry book

History of Pekin chickens.

A breeding flock of 1 cockerel and 5 pekin hens

Pekin breed standards and faults.

A pekin chick hatching in the incubator.

The incubation and hatching of Pekin bantam eggs.

There is an extraordinary number of colours and feather patterns for the Pekin bantam

Pekin Bantam colours and patterns.

A selection of 12 Pekin bantam eggs from my flock

Are Pekin Bantams good egg layers?

A flock of Pekin hens in the garden

Are Pekin Bantams noisy?

A fuly grown Pekin bantam

How big do pekin bantams grow?

Broody barnevelder hens on a nest

Broody hens: 7 ways to break them, 6 ways to prevent them and can you just leave them?

Chicks are cute but get sick easily and die quickly

Whats wrong with baby chicks that are sick, unwell or dying?

What is the egg song and why do chickens cluck after laying an egg

Why do hens squawk and cluck after laying eggs?

A barnevelder rooster basking in the sunshine

How long do roosters live?

Looking after chicks is hard work and one of thre pros of chickens keeping

What are the Pros and Cons of raising backyard chickens?

A selection of chickens eggs

Do the hens mind you take their eggs?

A cuckoo Pekin Bantams perching .

Pekin Bantams.

A true bantam cockerel in a show cage

The True Bantams.

A broody Barnevelder hen sat on a clutch of eggs

What I learned hatching eggs naturally with a broody hen.

A selection of different coloured chickens eggs

How many eggs will my chickens lay?

A flock of chickens being scatter fed with corn

Scatter feeding chickens

A breeding flock of barnevelder chickens eating sprouted grains

Sprouted grains for chickens with 17 types tested

A small flock of my chickens eating sweetcorn

Can chickens eat corn, sweet corn and maize?

My chickens eating peas as a treat

Can chickens eat peas?

My chickens eating salad leaves and lettuce

Can chickens eat salad, lettuce and spinach leaves?

Can chickens eat cauliflower and greens.

My chickens eating some pasta leftovers.

Can chickens eat pasta or noodles?

A hatch of dry fluffy chicks ready to move to the brooder

When to move chicks to the brooder.

A group of pullets free ranging on grass.

When is a pullet ready to lay eggs?

A chick hatching in an incubator

When is it safe to open the incubator?

A broody Silkie hen

Can you move a broody hen?

A classic blood ring inside an incubated chickens egg

Blood rings in incubated eggs and how to avoid them.

2 hens fighting while a cockerel watches them

Why chickens fight and how to stop it.

A mixed age flock of chickens basking in the sunshine

How do you tell the age of chickens?

dealing with and preventing bird flu

Bird Flu FAQ and some practical advice for Avian Influenza.

Mealworms just may well be illegal to feed to chickens

Why is it illegal to feed mealworms to chickens

A thief in the night

Stop chickens from being stolen

A chicken with an encyclopedia

Dictionary of Poultry words and terminology (inclucing acronyms)

An incubator full of day old chicks

What percentage of chicken eggs will hatch

A stunning show quality cockerel

Roosters and cockerels everything you need to know

Well bred black breasted game chickens

Inbreeding in chickens.

Defining pure or heritage breed chickens

What is a pure or heritage breed chicken

All about the complex genes of chickens

Chicken genetics, gene table and breeding

A breeding group of brown barnevelders

The Brown Barnevelder

good examples of Barnevelder hens

Barnevelder faults

A trio of autosexing barred barnevelders in a show cage

The Autosexing Barred Barnevelder

2 young barnevelder chicks growing up well.

Barnevelder Chicks

A blue laced barnevelder hen free ranging on grass

Blue Laced Barnevelder.

A chestnut barnevelder cockerel in the sunshine

The Chestnut Barnevelder

A selection of Barnevelder eggs at a poultry show

The Barnevelder egg.

The beautiful chocolate brown barnevelder hatching eggs we sell

Buy Barnevelder hatching eggs.

How much do barnevelder chickens cost and where can you get them

Where to get Barnevelders and how much to pay for them.

A double laced barnevelder cockerel

Sexing Barnevelders

A blue splash barnevelder hen free ranging on grass

The Splash Barnevelder

A beautiful example of a double laced barnevelder hen

The Double Laced Barnevelder

A show bantam barnevelder that scored 95 out of 100 points in judging.

Bantam Barnevelders

A show quality black barnevelder hen on display.

The Black Barnevelder

A show quality trio of white barnevelders

The White Barnevelder

My trio of partridge barnevelders

Partridge Barnevelder

An stunning silver laced barnevelder bantam

Silver Laced Barnevelder.

Two young gold double laced barnevelder chicks free ranging on pasture

Types and colours of Barnevelders

A barnevelder hen sunning herself in the sunshine

Barnevelder image and video gallery

A selection of brown eggs from barnevelder hens

The history of the Barnevelder

A stunning show quality silver laced barnevelder hen

Barnevelder breed standard

A show quality blue splash barnevelder hen on pasture

Showing Barnevelders

A double laced barnevelder show quality hen

The Barnevelder breed profile

Pictures, video and measurements to show what is going on iside the egg during the 21 days of incubation

What is happening inside the egg during incubation?

A broody then that abandoned her nest.

Why do hens abandon their nests and eggs?

Hens can spot bad eggs quite well

Why do hens push eggs out of the nest?

An incubator in use hatching chicks

Why do incubators fail?

An incubator with an exterior water tank and humidity pump

Why do incubators need water?

One of my incubators showing eggs in a cradle

Why egg turning during incubation is so important and what the science says is best .

My egg flock has 60 hens and no roosters and produced many eggs.

Can hens lay eggs without a rooster or cockerel?

One of my flock of red sex link chickens.

Red sex-linked chickens and how to breed them.