Dr Chicken
Chicken Keeping Courses
I run a variety of poultry husbandry courses, so there is something for everyone.
Full dates and details can be found at DrChickenCourses.co.uk, with a brief overview below:
Beginners - for just that, people starting out with chicken keeping!
Advanced - for people who have had chickens for a short while but looking to learn more about them
Poultry Dispatch, Pluck & Gut - a course for people looking to raise their own meat chickens for the table
Beginners Chicken Keeping Course
You will:
- Meet chickens (and ducks) of various breeds - pure breeds in bantam and Large Fowl as well as hybrids and Ex Battery hens
- Learn how to properly hold a chicken
- Learn about hen health-care and to how perform basic health checks
- Know what to feed your chickens
- See the day-to-day maintenance required to keep chickens
- Find out about eggs
- Learn how to pick a suitable garden spot
- Get up close + personal with the FULL Omlet housing range: Eglu Classic, Pet, Go and Cube ... even help to clean if you wish!
- See samples of the colours that the eglu's come in
- Go home with an Chicken Goody bag containing Omlet pen, chicken badge, beginners guide book, various poultry leaflets, product samples and more!!
This is an interactive course getting you involved and hands on with the hens, the eglu's, their feed and everything else related to them.
You will then be able to ask any questions you may have, over drinks and cake :)
There will even be some of our free-range eggs for sale at the end of the course too!
26th September 2021 at Denmark Farm Conservation Centre
£35 (£15 for under 12's)
Held in Lampeter, Wales and Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands - please email for future dates
Getting More from Keeping Chickens - Advanced Course
You will:
- Meet pure breed chickens (and ducks) in bantam and Large Fowl size, as well as Hybrid and Ex Battery hens
- Learn how to securely hold a chicken
- Learn about more advanced hen health-care and to how perform health checks
- Basic treatments for common inuries and diseases
- Learn about supplements and tonics available
- Learn about introducing new hens
- Get up close + personal with the FULL Omlet housing range:
Eglu Classic, Pet, Go and Cube ... even help to clean if you wish!
See samples of the colours that the eglu's come in
Go home with an Chicken Goody bag containing Omlet pen, chicken badge, guide book, various poultry leaflets, product samples and more!!
This is an interactive course getting you involved and hands on with the hens, the eglu's, their feed and everything else related to them.
You will then be able to ask any questions you may have, over drinks and cake :)
There may even be some of our free-range eggs for sale at the end of the course too!
26th September 2021 at Denmark Farm Conservation Centre
£45
Held in Lampeter, Wales and Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands - please email for future dates
Poultry Dispatch, Pluck & Gut Course
Courses start with a seminar style introduction covering rearing birds for the table, breeds, and their husbandry. Using models, props and posters we then learn about the external and internal anatomy of birds paying particular attention to the organs we eat, where we may find parasites and signs of disease; important knowledge when rearing meat birds.
Participants will be taught how to humanely dispatch a meat chicken and then how to pluck their birds, first we cover dry plucking and then wet plucking.
The chickens used for the course are reared free range on a 22 acre smallholding less than 10 miles from Denmark Farm - talk about low food miles!
You will then learn the gutting process in a bright and airy classroom complete with instructions to take home for you to follow later and reinforce what has been learnt on the day.
I understand the worries participants may have whilst learning to dispatch birds and so take the time to explain the process in detail.
Courses will be held in small groups to ensure all participants are supported throughout the whole process of dispatching and dressing, so that individual assistance can be given where necessary.
Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.
Course cost is £95 to include your free range meat chicken, a specialist poultry boning knife (worth £12),
course notes to follow step-by-step at home and continued support by email
– all you need to provide is an apron and a cool box or bag in which to take your chicken home!
Course Dates: 25th September 2021 at Denmark Farm Conservation Centre
Previous courses have been held in Sutton Coldfield, Aberystwyth, Lampeter, London and Warwickshire
Please contact for future dates
- please email info@DrChicken.co.uk to book!
Please note I work full time as a veterinary surgeon so courses are usually held on weekends but can be booked to suit you if enough notice is given.
