Oakdene Coops are known for their selection of well designed, British made chicken coops. Today they launch their new chicken coop which mounts onto a fence, garden wall or even a tree. This new concept of keeping chickens has many advantages over a conventional chicken coop. The coop houses up to three chickens and takes up virtually no room in your garden, making it ideal for small spaces.
The chickens will put themselves away in the evening by using the fox resistant ladder, all you have to do is slide the door shut. Cleaning the chicken coop is easy, the floor is wire mesh which allows most of the muck to fall through. The roof, perch and nesting box are made from recycled plastic, giving a great life span and providing an easy to clean surface.

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Shropshire based firm Roger Parry & Partners and local poultry enthusiasts ChickenStreet have teamed up to put the vibrant market town of Oswestry squarely on the poultry map. The town is already host to a successful twice yearly poultry show and will now be running a Rare Breed Poultry Auction at Park Hall showground just on the outskirts of the town.

Andy Cawthray of ChickenStreet said "This is a first for the town and area and promises to be a major benefit to buyers and breeders in the West Midlands & Mid Wales region. There is a huge upsurge in backyard poultry keeping and the sale will provide people with a chance to see the vast array of traditional and rare poultry breeds that are available."

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Most of us enjoyed our eggs this Easter, but Sophie Mccoy from Wigan is hoping hers can raise a lot of money for charity.

She swapped an egg laid by one of her ex-battery hens for something of greater value, and plans to keep 'up-trading' until she has something valuable to auction off for the British Hen Welfare Trust, a charity which rescues battery hens from slaughter and rehomes them so they can have a happy retirement.

"I got the idea when somebody in Canada traded a paperclip all the way up to a house" said Sophie, 33. "I thought it was a great concept that could easily be adapted to raise cash for charity and, since it's for the British Hen Welfare Trust, an egg seemed like a perfect starting point".

Sophie has set up a website at www.OneLittleEgg.co.uk and hopes the Great British public will get into the spirit of things, sending her lots of offers for swaps.

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Spring is traditionally the time when gardens are brightened by the appearance of colourful tulips and daffodils, especially welcome after a cold hard winter like we had last year. But the unsavoury side to this time of year is that parasitic worms affecting poultry also spring into action. The ‘trigger’ temperature is commonly thought to be 10 degrees centigrade, which allows worm development and completion of lifecycles. The result? More infective parasitic worm eggs and larvae in the soil to be picked up by poultry and other hosts, such as the earthworm, which are later eaten by the birds. The bad news is that this year the mild weather has meant that trigger temperatures have been experienced since March, giving worms an early start.

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iChicken is a great new App that has just been released and it's exclusively for Chicken Keepers like us. As well as being a unique Mobile App that offers detailed information on Chicken Breeds, Chicken Health, Caring for your Chickens and lots of other features including a 'Poo Compare' section, iChicken also has a fairly unique story behind it.

Toby, our 14 year old son, has always wanted a pet but with an allergy to animal hair, that proved challenging. His Aunt decided to get some Chickens a few years ago and as a regular visitor, Toby got to see them often and found them very easy to handle with no side effects. A year later we ended up with a coop in our Garden and he had 3 cute little hens of his own - We will always remember the day 'Babs' laid the first egg. His Chickens are now right there alongside his other love, his imac computer.

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The British Waterfowl Association has just launched a new 'birds for sale' section to their website. This is a place where BWA members can advertise any waterfowl they may want to sell (you don't have to be a member to browse or buy of course!)

Simply visit http://www.waterfowl.org.uk and click on 'birds for sale'. To make an entry, you will need to be a BWA member: all you will need is your name and membership number and in a few clicks, you can get your advert listed. Once your birds are sold, you are also able to delete your advert.