Dr Chicken

Hi, I'm Lewis ...aka DrChicken, a nickname started by my customers at work which kind of stuck and grew into where we are now!



I graduated with an Animal Science BSc and then studied for a further five years to become a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. I work as a small animal vet in Tamworth, Staffordshire with a special interest in exotic birds; mainly birds of prey and poultry.

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We've had chickens for 15 years; starting off with a trio of Belgian bantams which the flock then grew with the addition of Pekins and hybrids, we caught the hatching bug when I built my own incubator from scratch and now breed and hatch a few birds every year just to add to our flock.

My undergraduate dissertation project focused on creating a new and natural Red Mite treatment which proved 100% successful in labs and now Mitey Kill Elixir is currently being tested across the UK in actual chicken coops!

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I have worked with a wide range of chicken related companies... from selling chickens and feed, working on trade stands for Omlet and the British Hen Welfare Trust amongst others. I've also spent time seeing practice in the UK and mainland Europe with some of the best avian vets and learnt lots!
I write articles for poultry magazines on chicken care, health and well-being as well as running chicken keeping courses in my spare time.

I've been lucky enough to give talks at The National Poultry Show, BBC Gardeners World Live at the NEC, The Edible Garden Show at Alexandra Palace and even ran a day-long course at Highgrove Estate, home of HRH Prince Charles!

I'm here to give advice and share experiences to help encourage people to keep chickens as pets.