Poultry Feeders, drinkers, incubators, poultry healthcare and poultry disinectants

BELOW ARE PICTURES OF OUR HENS NEW HOMES

If you have bought hens from us, we would love to see some pictures and find out the names you have called them. Email Us and we will add you onto this page.

Karen

As promised here are a few photographs of the “Fox Fortress” built on an old greenhouse base. While making it I discovered huge variations in the price of wire mesh, “Scats” did the best deal at just over £8 for a 10m roll. We get visited by foxes almost every night so the hens only get to free range when I am out working in the garden.

The 2 blues are called Henrietta and Penny and the 2 sweeties are called Victoria and May. Collectively they are called the “twits” because they act so stupid at times. Egg production is incredible at 3-4 eggs a day, so good in fact that we normally hand out at least a dozen eggs a week to neighbours and family (in the hope that they will look after the hens when we go on holiday!).

We have been totally converted to keeping hens – the daily reward is very addictive.

Thank You for your help.

Richard Allen

merrydale Poultry Hens new Homes

Hi Karen, just a quick e-mail to let you know how the two Cresteds are that my husband and I bought from you this morning. They've had a very busy day getting to know us and the garden and avoiding my other girls like the plague!They're all roosting together now so hopefully tomorrow they should be a little braver with each other.We were very impressed with your set up (having visited lots of poultry farms in the past) and thought your service was excellent depite you being obviously run off your feet.I've forwarded you a little snap shot. we've named them Daisy, the more golden one and Doris the darker one.Thanks again,

Sarah and John Shelley

merrydale Poultry Hens new Homes

Hi Karen
Just a quickie to let you how my lovely ladies are doing!
Thought you might like a photo or two!
Still haven't named them just cant ALL(five of us that is) agree on the same names! lol
They are being very spoiled, again by ALL of us !!
Only one still laying eggs and the one laying eats like a horse not a chicken, she's always the first one there when we have any food.
I will share with you though i have had sleepless nights worrying about the cold/frost/wind, keep trying to think of ways to keep them warm!
We do live on top of a small hill so it does get rather windy but they do seem to go in when they are ready.
Am i being a big softie?!?!?
Oh its the pied thats laying is that because she is the oldest?
Hope you are well and will up date you later on.
Kind Regards
Amanda (lincoln)

Well Karen, as promised pics of our girls.

They had only been with us a week and Florrie laid an egg. They dont seem to mind our 6 dogs and have already made head contact and not flinched. After showing and breeding dogs for over 25 years I never guessed I would find another exciting passion. The chickens are great. They give me a reason to get up early in the morning - to let them out. Florrie the blue is the most tame. She loves a fuss and she is the one who is laying. Charlotte the other blue who is magnificent to look at is more timid but she is slowly coming around. Gracie the Sussex is greedy. She loves corn and also my bracelet and gold necklace. They all have individual natures and are such fun to watch and I simply adore their lovely noises. Thanks a bunch for the girls. We already love them

www.konishiki.co.uk

merrydale Poultry Hens new Homes

Hi Karen!

A photo of my hens investigating their favourite type of plant. Sweetie and Bossie Britches (aka Crested!) are 'in charge', with Snowbelle next and Marmite (Schwartz) bottom of the order. Marmite got her name the first time she saw a crust of bread with a scraping of Marmite on it - it's the first time we saw her stand her ground!

Watching the hens is fascinating, we really enjoy watching them and eating their scrummy eggs!

Many thanks

Sharon

Hens in their new home

hi karen

attached a photo of our chickens they have settled in well and the two sweeties laid eggs on the sunday, we have named all the chickens as follows

the 2 snowbells are called tinker and bell

the sussex with the darker neck is called clairy after my youngest daughter [she is the bossy one]

the sussex with the lighter neck is called dawny after my eldest daughter

the sweetie on the block of wood is called scary mary after my sister

the sweetie we called dotty

once again many thanks

tony [scarborough] xx

chickens

just thought i would drop u a quick line to let u know that the hens have arrived at there new home and are looking good!! take a look at the pics i thought it would give u a good idea as to where the hens will be living and there new freinds (well hopefully)!! there are no magnets in sight lol. the hens come out into there run near enough straight away, and my hens came over and all looked reasonably well. i do hope i can introduce them all soon as the two hens do look a little cramped to say the least in the pen. for the rest of the afternoon one cockrell seamed to take control and kept on going inbetween the pen and other hens and flapping his wings. must be trying to show his boss status!!!

thanks for u help

liz and the hens!

chickens

Hi again. Not very good photos yet - will take some proper portraits when it is warmer and the light is better. Both hens are still a delight, very friendly and "silly tame". I have to say we are even more impressed with them than with our first two F1 hybrids we bought earlier elsewhere, The Blue, who is named Trooper because her colour reminded my son of military uniform, started laying on 2nd January and has laid an egg every day since - though she won't use the nestbox and has laid every blasted egg on the droppings board. The Crested, who is named Roadrunner because she looks and moves like one, hasn't started laying yet, and we are agog to see what colour eggs she will lay! Having now been hen-owners for six months, we are now definitely addicted, both to the infinitely-better-than-shop-eggs produce and to the presence of friendly burbling hens in the garden.

Many thanks,

Amanda

STOP PRESS. Roadrunner the Crested laid her first egg today and it is a beautiful blue - to my eyes identical to the ones laid by our friend's purebred Araucanas. Also, she laid it in the nestbox like a well-behaved hen! Many thanks for your tips about persuading the Blue to use the nestbox. We will start with putting her in it (tricky, because she lays very first thing in the morning, before the others have even got up - in fact I am sure she lays before it is quite light, but we will try anyway) and if unsuccessful will try some dummy eggs.

I am going back to the kitchen to do some more gloating over our blue egg.

If we had more room, I would come back and buy some more hens - must admit I keep prowling round the garden trying to spot a space somewhere that could be used!

Thanks,

Amanda

chickens

As promised, here are some photos of the girls that we collected from you on 7th October.
The Splash Cochin is gorgeous. I'm really excited about the prospect of getting two more from you next year. The Cochins are my favourites.
Thanks for the advice tonight.

Jan

Karen,

Just to let you know that the three girls we collected on Sunday seem to have settled in well. Jo has named them Sweetie, Snowbell and Copper (even though she's a Schwartz!!) No prizes for originality there then. Sweetie is definitely in charge of the other two and keeps them both 'in check'. They are causing much amusement to Bubbles - the barn owl - she can't quite make out what these strange looking 'owls' are doing in her garden. As for the cats - well one now won't leave the house and the other ran so fast up the garden he nearly flew. They are all eating well, drinking ok and were quite happy to have their wings clipped. When we get a nice day (sometime soon I hope) we'll take some photo's and let you see them all in their new home.

Thanks for letting us have some great girls!

Julie, Dave and Joanne x

Dear Karen

A few weeks ago I bought 3 hens from you - a Sussex, a Blue and a Crested. They are all well and have settled in with my old lady Aretha - a six year old Maran. No eggs as yet but I have named them after the Spice Girls. The Sussex is Baby, the Blue is Scary and the Crested is Ginger. This is continuing the tradition of naming hens after female singers. Crazy I know.

Regards, Ros Randle

Just a note to say thanks for your time and patience when we came down to choose two chickens for our garden.We/you was worried that the two new ones would pick on the silkie but it was the other way round she didnt like the thought of any one else sharing her home!!The two girls think they are great ,Im sure they will settle down in a few days.No doubt we will see you again for any supplies/advice or even more birds!!Thanks again.

Neil Barnett and family

Hi Karen,

Just wanted to say it was great to meet you this morning. You have a lovely set up and I will recommend you to others! The chooks are lovely – very friendly already which is a bonus. No doubt I will be back for more in the future!

Best wishes,

Cathy from Fleckney (and boys)

PS Chickens are named already: Roley Mo, Little Bo and Bambi J

Hi Karen

Many thanks for the excellent service and advice you provided in our new venture into hens. We intended on having 6 chicks but couldn’t decide between 2 of them so the 6 became 7. As you can see in the pictures they have settled into their new environment very well, fully exploring the garden and making good use of the purpose built climbing frame that we clearly provided just for them! They are delightful and terrible time wasters, with the Sussex being the friendliest at the moment. She really likes being stroked when perched on the chair and makes those funny chirping hamster noises all the time. The rest seem to want to be petted but don’t yet feel it is appropriate for them, keeping just out of arms reach. The Blue is most adventurous and will come into the kitchen if we leave the door open, quickly followed by the Rhodie.

We named them the day they arrived, after family members, and some have really grown into their characters. It looks as if the pecking order is beginning to take shape with shared power between the Black (Oma Christa - named after my matriarchal German mother in law) and the Rhode (Mindy - named after my American sister in law) both of whom seem to be in charge some of the time. We are not sure who will triumph but their power struggle does have an air of reality about it!

We will keep you informed of progress as we excitedly await the arrival of egg laying time, with both Christa and Mindy looking like the nearest according to their combs. They seem to be in competition again – funny that!

Kind regards

David and Ingrid Archer
23.08.08

Hi Karen,

Just thought we'd drop you a note to let you know how "The Girls" are getting on and to thank you for the brilliant service and advice you gave us.

We purchased a Sweetie (named Sweetie by our youngest daughter!), a Sussex (Kylie), a Copper Black (Sage) and a Cuckoo (Daisy)!

They have settled in really well and although we had a few hair raising moments with Kylie the Sussex pecking at Sweetie, they have sorted it out and are really entertaining to watch. We find ourselves sitting in front of "The Manor" watching them for ages most evenings! Hamish the Westie is just about getting used to them waltzing around the garden when they are let out.

Thanks again and hope to see you again soon when we come for supplies.

John, Angie, Sadie and Aimee

Birstall, Leics
15.09.08

I just couldn't resist sending you these pictures of one of our hens who loves to be buried in their dusting bath. I can't believe that she appears to enjoy being buried and loves me to rustle her feathers whilst doing so. Afterwards she will just lay there for 10 mins or more until something attracts her attention and she gets up. I suppose this demonstrates the confidence between bird and owner and how tame they can get.

Regards

Gordon Staines (Newbold)

19.09.08

Karen,
After our telephone conversation Saturday me and my daughter popped over. We were really impressed by the care of the birds and the time / advice That Tim gave us. I really am pleased that the original supplier let us down as it allowed us to find you. Tim set us up with all the bits we required and a couple of Sweeties (which my daughter chose). You can be assured that we will be back, and recommend your superb establishment to anyone thinking of buying chicken's.
it's been a pleasure to do business with you.

Kind Regards

Marc
05.10.08

Dear Karen

I have at last got round to sending you some news of how the girls have settled in and some pictures. I can't imagine life without chickens now and am thankful for your great service and for providing such wonderful hens. The children love to get up in the morning with me to let them out and we always check for eggs after school. My son is in charge of corn time and I have attached a picture of the comical sight of 5 chickens chasing him round the garden with his tub of corn. They are named as follows after terms of endearment (as per the children's request!);

Merrydale Ranger - Cutey

Merrydale Sweetie - Sweetie

Merrydale Sussex - Noodle (an obvious choice!)

Merrydale Blue - Angel

Merrydale Crested - Poppet

They are pretty much free range now but we try and keep them in the enclosure when we are away for any length of time. Cutey our Ranger is an escape artist though and will often come to greet us when we arrive back from the school run. She is extremely tame and docile as you can see from the picture of her with our daughter. Top of the pecking order is our Sweetie and at the bottom is our black and white cat Winton!!! Actually it's our Crested Poppet but she frequently chases and pecks the cats to build her self esteem.

Lastly I would like to say a big thanks to Karen for answering my frequent and sometimes ridiculous emails asking for advice. I am definitely getting a bit more savvy now so thanks for your patience.

Kind regards Rachael Smith (15/10/08)

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