Poultry checklist

Before you go

• In Great Britain all bird keepers must register with APHA, including keepers of a single hen. It is free and it is how you get told about avian influenza housing orders.
• Check your deeds and tenancy. Some prohibit poultry, and most prohibit cockerels.
• Build the run before the birds arrive, and make it fox-proof: buried or skirted wire, a solid roof, and a door you will actually shut every evening.
• Poultry, ducks, geese, quail and pheasants feed independently from hatching, so there is no weaning age. Point-of-lay is around 16 to 20 weeks.

On the day

• Bright red comb and wattles, clear eyes, clean nostrils.
• Clean vent, no lice or mites at the base of the feathers. Part the feathers and look.
• Smooth legs. Raised, crusty scales mean scaly leg mite.
• Standing squarely, moving freely, no limping.
• Breathing silently. Any rattle, gape or head-shaking is a reason to leave.

Questions worth asking

• What age are they, and are they laying yet?
• Have they been wormed, and when?
• Vaccinated against Marek's, Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis?
• What have they been fed, and are they used to being outside?

Once home

• Quarantine new birds for two weeks away from an existing flock.
• Introduce slowly and expect a fortnight of pecking-order noise.