Chicken breeds

[Snadger]

Fancy some chickens...know nothing about chickens..want large eggs so don't want bantams..what breed? How much will they cost? Where to buy? Only want three to six...not sure yet

[yoanbob]

we have a warren which is some kind of cross who produces very large eggs and regular double yolkers, some of which are bigger than our mature aylsbury duck eggs. ouch.
she started of as they all do with small ones, for a few months but now shes amazing.
our others produce supermarket sized eggs we have a mixture of chucks for veriety and easy I.D. personally i would start with 3 and see how you go you can allways add if its going well, your gonna need a lot of hungry mouths for 6 chucks. how much they cost depends on the breeder and breed, we pay 6-8 quid but we know he looks after them and they are free range, also we can call him up for advice whenever.
you can get them for 1 quid at not very reputable farm markets but you have to bid with the locals and personally i dont want to give them my money.
or even better you can get a recharged battery hen, google it dont know address
look for bright eyes when you buy, its allways worked for us.

[Snadger]

we have a warren which is some kind of cross who produces very large eggs and regular double yolkers, some of which are bigger than our mature aylsbury duck eggs. ouch.
she started of as they all do with small ones, for a few months but now shes amazing.
our others produce supermarket sized eggs we have a mixture of chucks for veriety and easy I.D. personally i would start with 3 and see how you go you can allways add if its going well, your gonna need a lot of hungry mouths for 6 chucks. how much they cost depends on the breeder and breed, we pay 6-8 quid but we know he looks after them and they are free range, also we can call him up for advice whenever.
you can get them for 1 quid at not very reputable farm markets but you have to bid with the locals and personally i dont want to give them my money.
or even better you can get a recharged battery hen, google it dont know address
look for bright eyes when you buy, its allways worked for us.

Thanks yoandbob...three sounds good to me and is less to go wrong initially

[Squirrel]

Suggest you get from a breeder - will cost you a bit more but you at least have someone to contact if you get in a bind. Light Sussex are a very good starter chicken, lay well usually through winter and are very hardy. Calm too so can become quite tame.

There are some good threads on here re housing and feeding, but feel free to ask if you need any more info.

[Shortie]

My silkie was gorgreous and I'm sure she thought she was a shoulder sitting parrot!

[yoanbob]

You wont regret it they are so amusing! you need to develop a litany of "curiosity killed the chicken" they are worse than two yr olds. they will follow you around the garden wanting to know what your up to.
if you get any books ignore the disease's section till you have a problem, the list is endless, and it will only give you nightmares. if your good to them and they have access to outside, good balanced feed, (we use organic, its twice the price but worth it.) lots of water (you'll be surprised) and clean house you should'nt have too many probs.
just for the record I didnt mean compete with locals i meant compete with restarant owners and the price fits how they have been raised, not that i'm against what the restarant owners are doing, there meat is fresh as poss after all and all buisness needs to make a profit. just that i would prefer to pay more for more humanley bread chucks. just to clear that up, i'm not racist, from mixed blood myself, think i wasnt clear, too many wines this eve.
good luck snadger.
let me know how it goes, any probs just ask.

[Shortie]

Yes, chickens are totally curious and nosey and fun all at the same time.

[yoanbob]

And amazing stress relief, hard day at the office? go sit with your chucks for an hour. belly laughs here you come!

[poultrychat]

I would personally avoid buying from a market just in case as some people use the markets to get rid of bad stock or diseased stock

[yoanbob]

yes, definatly better to see how they are being cared for