As long as you have a garden or outdoor space, you can keep chickens and enjoy freshly laid eggs every morning. Whether you live in the city or countryside, an increasing number of people are now keeping chickens in their garden, mainly due to how ea
Luckily, chickens don't require a lot of space. The absolute minimum area for a run is 1 square metre per bird but the more space you can provide for your birds, the better; so we recommend at least 2 square metres per bird. Many people grant their c
The 1950 Allotment Act states you can keep chickens on an allotment as long as they are for the allotment holders’ use only and not used for business or profit. However, we suggest you check your specific allotment's rules as some allotment landlords
Generally, no. Hens do make a range of noises, but these are mostly gentle and quiet... until they've laid an egg, when they like to have a quick shout about their achievement - and who can blame them? The noisy ones are the males, known as roosters
If handled from young, chickens will become very tame and make fantastic family pets. Keeping chickens in your garden is great fun for children of all ages and provides hours of entertainment, as well as the opportunity to learn about sustainability,
Keeping chickens is really easy and doesn't require a of your time. Chickens are quite happy occupying themselves by exploring your garden or their run. The only things chickens require of you is to let them out of their coop in the morning (although
Most novice chicken keepers usually start with a small, manageable number of hens, and when we’re asked what is the best chicken coop for beginners, we always recommend the Nestera Ground Coop. It’s the perfect entry-level chicken coop - not only doe
Unlike traditional wooden coops, the smooth interior surfaces of Nestera plastic chicken coops leave nowhere for red mites to hide, meaning your hens won’t be subjected to painful (and sometimes deadly) red mite infestations. Not only that, but the 1
As experienced chicken keepers, we know that owning chickens is very fun and extremely rewarding. But with fun comes responsibility, which is why we’ve created our coops to minimise the downsides of chicken keeping. Traditionally, chicken coops have
Traditional wooden chicken coops come with a huge number of disadvantages: they are a pain to keep clean, take ages to dry and are an easy target for red mite infestations. When designing our chicken coops, we took all these pain points into consider
For up to 6-8 chickens, we recommend at least two nesting boxes. Each of our Medium and Large coops from the Ground, Lodge and Raised ranges (plus the Wagon) all offer two secure nesting boxes for your hens to lay their eggs in comfort. The Small Gro
Two of the most commonly used materials for coop bedding are wood shavings and sand. Aesthetically, sand looks cleaner and has been proven by Auburn University researchers to lower coliform counts, including E.coli, compared to wood shavings. You can
We are often asked how many chickens you should have in one coop, and this depends on several factors, including the breed of chicken, and their size. It’s important to remember that chickens need plenty of space to move around, roost and lay eggs. O
Chickens are highly flock-orientated, so for a starter flock size we recommend no fewer than three chickens. You can expect around 12 eggs per collection (every couple of days) from three laying hens. If you have no previous experience looking after
Luckily, the 70% recycled plastic we use for our chicken coops is an excellent thermal insulator, and when combined with the fully-adjustable ventilation featured on every Nestera coop, it provides ideal temperatures for your hens all year round. How
Most chicken breeds are hardy enough to handle the cold weather. There is no official yardstick of what temperature is too cold for chickens (in Canada, chickens are often kept successfully at -20°C!) - and in fact, it’s heat that causes chickens mor
A chicken’s average body temperature is around 41.1°C, but this body temperature lowers when it loses more heat than it can produce. Chickens often huddle together at night time on their perch; they may hold a foot up to their breast; or they’ll puff
One of the main reasons for a chicken coop is to offer your flock protection from the weather and predators. Providing your hens a chicken coop with four walls and a roof will keep them safe and healthy. Other basic elements every coop should have in
We advise against keeping chickens and ducks in the same coop. This is due to both birds having different needs, behaviours and to prevent health risks. We are aware that historically, chickens and ducks have been housed and kept in the same flocks b