Getting Started with Chickens. See New dates for 2024

Chicken Keeping Courses for Beginners Ideal for a complete novice who is embarking on their chicken keeping career, this excellent course provides you with all the information that you will need to purchase both chickens and housing with confidence, day to day maintenance, feeding, health checks and how to handle your chickens.

You will:

• Learn how to pick a suitable garden spot
• Day to day maintenance required to keep chickens
• How/what to feed your chickens
• How to hold a chicken
• General health and what to look for
• And of course you can ask lots of questions
• Get a bulging goody bag and a compre-HEN-sive set of notes

Chicken handling and cake eating are compulsory (although not at the same time!) and you will get plenty of opportunities to ask questions as the course is steered by your requirements. Please don’t hesitate to call us on 01608 683912 should you have any further queries.

2024 dates:

10th November

All courses start at 11am, and are held at the The Old Methodist Chapel in Oxhill our local village. Families are very welcome but please bear in mind that the the Beginner's course takes roughly 2-2.5 hours so very young children might find this timescale difficult.

To book either select one of the options below and pay online, or telephone the office on 01608 683912 and pay by card. Alternatively, email us on aagoodlifeco@gmail.com

Full payment must be made prior to the course.

Recent feedback:
A great introduction to chicken keeping delivered at a good pace and at a level that complete novices and those who are just starting out with chickens will both enjoy. I'm looking forward to my next course. PS the cakes were delicious. 
Andrew, 
..........................................................................
We learned a great deal attending this course - We also found that it reinforced a lot of the knowledge we have gained already, which was very reassuring and good for our confidence. The course notes are very comprehensive and there was plenty of time to ask questions and learn from other attendees. The course started with practical matters of holding a chicken correctly and inspecting it - this was great and we used the technique immediately on getting home and found our own chickens relaxed more than usual to enable a good health inspection. So, well worth it and in a nice part of the country too
Rob, 
.............................................................................
I have to say that it was an excellent course and I will be joining up for the second one on more advanced chicken keeping.
It answered many nagging questions that I had about health issues in chickens and the facilitator was fantastic and really helpful in answering questions.
I feel much more confident now and should have done a course like this earlier. Just thought I would mention it as I was soo impressed!  Andrew, Claire & Agnes
...........................................................................
I had such a good and informative time on the course, We were made to feel very relaxed and especially after we had cuddled our chickens (a first for me). And I came away feeling I was on the way to being well equipped to have my own chickens. The knowledge that there is always someone you can ask when you have a query is nice too. If I have one niggle and it's a very little one is that the timing should be more realistic. On the website it says 11.00 - 12.30. It went on until 1.40! which for some could be a difficulty. Don't get me wrong it was fabulous to have so much time and information and it was with much regret that I left it while there were still things going on - I had left my (disabled )husband in the car and was worried about the time. However he had had a doze and never realised the time!!. So all in all it was a great course and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of keeping chickens who, like me, has no previous knowledge of them. Many many thanks. I was pleased to see the eglus and decided which one I shall be getting - in a month or two as we have work in the garden that needs doing first!! so I must be patient. By the way, lovely cakes!
Madeline
..............................................................................
We had been thinking about getting some chickens for a while and had been looking for a course to go on to get us started. We were looking for a course close to home in Weston-super-Mare but couldn't find one that fitted the bill on the date we wanted so looked further afield and found the beginners course run by Cotswold Chickens and were so glad we did. Held in a barn on a poultry farm, on a gloriously sunny day, the scene was set and the course didn't disappoint. So much was covered that you'd be hard pressed to remember all of the things covered but the notes that were supplied had all of the points covered in detail so you can refresh your memory back in the comfort of your own home. Highlight for me has to be the handling of a chicken for the first time ... I can't even remember touching one before then let alone picking one up! After the course you can visit the well stocked shop on the farm that has everything that you could need (including chickens to take away with you!) All in all an excellent course to get you off and running ... and I've not even mentioned the cakes at break time ... worth going just for them :) 
Anthony -