When to buy me chickens

[Phattaff]

Woo Hoo lucky old me has finally be given the ok to get some chickens by the better half (love her to bits). so i've now got me coop and the run is being finished off this weekend, but i'm now thinking should i get me chickens so close to bonfire night, with all the bangs and whistles going on will they be alright or should i wait??????? which to honest i don't want to coz i'm all excited

I know all you lovely chicken people out there will guide me so thanks in advance.

All the best

Phattaff

[lettucegrow!]

If you're all ready I'd go for it now- I remember the feeling of being given the OK to get them and not being able to wait( I think I was counting sleeps!!) Wherever they are there's going to be noise from the fireworks, so why not be in your garden. What sort of chooks are you after/ Where from? and don't forget pics of the new girls are compulsory. Good luck, you'll soon be as hooked as the rest of us!!!

[Flummery]

By the time the fires and most of the fireworks get going it'll be dark and the chickie-wickies will be asleep and in their nice coop.

[Eco-Chic]

My chooks don't seem bothered by the fireworks. They look around and agree sagely with me when I rhetorically ask "What sort of plank lets off fireworks during the daytime?"

The dogs, on the other hand, like to run about barking in a great state of panic and confusion, but not, if you please, they have been permitted the rare luxury of being on my bed

[Phattaff]

Cheers peeps
Well thats me finishing off the run tommorow come rain or shine or anything in-between, well this is the UK. I was thinking of getting a Maran, Sussex and a couple of the hybrid layer ones possibly a Marsh Daisy, there's a place near me in Chelmsford, something Hatchery their called was going to get them from there.
And of course i will put some pics up when i get them. (Can't Wait).
All the best
Phattaff

[Bramble-Poultry]

One of the luxuries of being in the absolute middle of nowhere is no noisy fireworks!!

Dad however lives in teh middle of a village and if his house in anything to go by you will be waiting ages for birds - the failed medical experiements that pass for kids these days have already started letting off fireworks and if memory serves me correctly they continued to do so for most of November!

As long as they are safely tucked up in bed and no one lets off fireworks too close to teh coop they will be fine - they will have to learn to be unless you plan to send them on holiday every october/november!

[Eco-Chic]

I wondered if there had been some restriction on selling fireworks because there have been very few going off here compared to previous years, I'm pleased to note.

[MaureenHall]

Unfortunately the local toe-rags have already started letting off fireworks around here and have been for the last couple of weeks!! It'll continue right up to the New Year if previous years are anything to go by. Doesn't seem to upset my girls too much though, they've also got a busy railway line less than 50 yards away from their coops

[lettucegrow!]

Oooh! bramble,that was harsh,don't you like little people?!

[bluemoon]

Normally it's like a war zone round here by now, but I haven't noticed any this year. Mum's little village though has been suffering for ages. We're lucky in that we have Labradors from working stock and they don't seem to flinch when even a loud firework goes off. We also have a rescue crossbreed and although he was scared the first year he seems to have picked up from the other 2 that there's nothing to worry about and, like them, now doesn't react at all. I'm lucky in that my hens are a long way from any habitation, so they should only hear them distantly, but even if they were closer I think that as long as they feel safe in their house and run they should be OK. A former neighbour of my daughter has kept chickens for 60 odd years and he told me that November was the best month to buy POL. I can't exactly remember why now, and I didn't listen to him anyway, because it was March at the time and I simply couldn't wait 8 months. His reasoning seemed sound though, I recall. Something about chicks hatched in June being very healthy because that was the best climate for them and them laying extremely well through their first winter because the darker nights didn't seem to affect them so much, almost as if the biological need to lay was so strong it overcame the normal restrictions of a lack of daylight. (don't quote me on this, but I think that was the gist of it)

[MaureenHall]

Now that's interesting bluemoon. Hebe, one of the Wellies that I hatched out in March is definitely looking as if she could start laying very soon. I was thinking that as they're late developers, they probably won't start until they're almost a year old - but .............. watch this space