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CHICKENS, DUCKS AND BEES
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO KEEPING LIVESTOCK
IN THE GARDEN
Paul Peacock
CONTENTS
Title Page
Chapter 1: Introduction to Chickens, Ducks and Bees
Keeping animals for food
Why times are changing
Why chickens, ducks and bees?
Keeping animals won’t save you money
Three great reasons for keeping animals
Teacup philosophy
Becoming more self-sufficient
Chapter 2: Organising the Garden for Livestock
Finding out all you can before buying your livestock
Hens
Ducks
Bees
PART ONE: CHICKENS
Chapter 3: Introduction to Chickens
The hen and what she needs
Having time to look after your hens
Eating the meat
Using the feathers
Enjoying fun and companionship
Clearing up poo
Enjoying new-laid eggs
What do your chickens need?
Do you need a cockerel?
Where to put your hens
Housing your hens
Siting the hut
Spare housing
Stopping your hens fighting
Temperature
Clipping wings
A word about sickness
What do hens really enjoy?
Checking that you have permission to keep hens
Dispatching your hens
Getting advice
Chapter 4: Handling Your Hens
Why would you want to hold your hens?
How to hold a hen
Releasing your hen
Using a carry box
Chapter 5: How To Feed Your Hens
The importance of protein
The best ways of delivering food
Feeding hens in the city
Pellets or mash
Using a gravity feeder
Providing water for your hens
Providing calcium in your hens’ diet
How much do chickens eat?
Providing the ‘extras’
Chapter 6: Housing Hens
Providing ventilation
Materials
Nesting boxes
Providing perches
Providing a litter tray
Providing a big enough run
Siting the hut
Moving the position of the hut and run
Storing food
Using a broody box
Building your own chicken hut
Introducing hens to their new home
Inroducing hens to each other
Chapter 7: How To Keep Your Hens Healthy and Clean
Cleaning the hutch
Don’t over-disinfect
Cleaning the nest boxes
Cleaning feeders
Chapter 8: Choosing your Birds
What are the advantages of keeping a cockerel?
How to buy hens
Breeds suitable for everyone
Chapter 9: How To Recognise When Things Are Going Wrong
Apple cider vinegar (ACV)
Other additives
Hens sitting in the corner, hardly feeding or drinking
Hens with feathers missing
White encrusting at the base of the feathers
Birds with scaly legs
Lots of diarrhoea and hungry birds
Pale combs and reduced egg production
Wheezing birds
Chapter 10: What Makes a Chicken Tick?
The chicken gut and how it works
How hens make eggs
The moult
Broodiness
Crumbs
What are you going to do about cockerels?
Caring for your hens around the year
PART TWO: DUCKS
Chapter 11: Introduction to Ducks
Good gardeners
What you need to keep ducks
Housing your ducks
Feeding your ducks
Using your ducks for meat and eggs
Handling ducks
Duck life
Chapter 12: Feeding Your Ducks
Organising your ducks’ diet
Finisher pellets
Providing water
Allowing your ducks to forage
Offering oyster shell
Making grit available
Providing extras
Chapter 13: Housing Ducks
Making the housing strong
Waterproofing the duck house
Siting the duck house
Lifting the hut
Roosting
Nesting
Fumigating
The run
Chapter 14: Keeping Ducks for Eggs
Choosing ducks for egg production
What’s the egg like?
Where your ducks lay
Storing duck eggs
The good duck egg guide
Cooking with duck eggs
How do ducks lay eggs?
Chapter 15: Duck Breeds
How to buy ducks
Buying in trios
Choosing your ducks
Keeping bantams
Chapter 16: Duck Diseases
Tips for healthy ducks
PART THREE: BEES
Chapter 17: Beekeeping
Chapter 18: Bee Anatomy
The respiratory and circulatory system
The exoskeleton
Wings and legs
The head
Inside the bee
The sting
Differences between the castes
Chapter 19: Getting Started
Asking for advice from experienced beekeepers
Wearing protective clothing
Using a smoker
Buying a hive tool
Using buckets
Blowtorch
Feeders
Varroa control requirements
Choosing the hive
The brood box
Rearranging the furniture
The supers
The lid
The stand
A mentor
Races of bees
Castes of bee
How to buy bees
Chapter 20: The Beekeeping Year
Warm way/cold way
The development of bees
Orientation flights
Chapter 21: Beekeeping Techniques
What are you looking for in the hive?
Establishing whether there is room for expansion
Feeding
Hefting
Using other feeds and applications
Swarming and supersedure
Marking a queen
Collecting honey
Returning the frames
Chapter 22: Bee Diseases
Problems with bee genetics
Why bees contract diseases
Varroa
Foul brood
Small hive beetle (aethina tumida)
Nosema
Wax moths
Chalkbrood
Stone brood
Tracheal mites
Viral infections
Sacbrood
Chilled Brood
Index
Copyright
