Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi every one,puter now up and running for now.Jo has just finished the roof on my greenhouse,hooray,its only taken him 2 yrs,but hay,who am i to complain now i have asked him to build me a chicken coupe.
what are the best birds to get?where do i get them from?what do i feed them?how hard are they to look after?Liz and i will be helping eachother so things shouldnt be that bad.Any advice ?

Dear Grockie, how nice to have you back on line.
Sounds like you need someone who is quite experiened with birds.

oldherbaceous wrote:Dear Grockie, how nice to have you back on line.
Sounds like you need someone who is quite experiened with birds.

You've met the spaniel before Grocky, down boy!

Alan
I can see some logic to getting 3 chickens - if one dies there is still a pair to keep each other company. But surely eventually one will be left on its own and need a new buddy anyway. I only have a small garden and live on my own so not sure if i can cope with 3 and the number of eggs they produce

Anyone with comments or personal experience?
Seedling

Dear Seedling, spare eggs bring new friends.

oooh so you are a dab hand with birds!!!!!! what about grocks? you still not given me any advice.

Seedling

The logic in three, I suppose, is that it gives you more time to think and act before buying replacement/s.
As OH says, spare eggs bring friends. You can sell them too.

Grock - before you bite

Go and explore Katie Thear's brilliant site.

For a beginner (I assume) I would recommend a good hybrid layer such as Isa Brown (commonly called Warrens), though I prefer Blackrocks (slightly fewer eggs but hardier and longer lived).

As for where to get them; it's a few years since I was your area, though I used to have relatives in Ormskirk, so I can't help directly. Katie's site has a Breeders' List so you might find something there.

I feed my birds layers pellets and a bit of mixed corn, plus, of course, all left-over food goodies and veg such as cabbage and lettuce, tomatoes, marrows etc.

Hens are fairly easy to keep and are not too tying if you have a bit of help for when you are not there.

Hope this helps

Alan

There you go Grockie, Alan has replied with all you need to know, i always find the links he supplies very useful.

I'm sure you have heard of the Horse whisperer Grockie, Well i'm a Grock whisperer, so qualified to deal with all sorts of naughty habits.

we got 8 ex battery birds from the rspca in october, they ask for a donation and suggest arround a pound a bird. they live in a 6x4 shed with a run. we started feeding a mix of layers mash and pellets cos we wernt sure which they were used to but have dropped the mash now. they started laying within a day or so and were giving 5 or 6 a day up until the snow, theyve dropped to 3 or 4 now from 7 birds , one just keeled over after a month or so. they are eating a bag of pellets a month.. about £6.50 at our local farmers feed place.

Thank you for the replies,the link was very good Alan,as for you !!! Mr Grock whisperer Cant wait for the sweet nothings blown down my ear...

Seedling has succumbed.

Chicken feed was bought yesterday.
Eglu arrives on Friday.
In half an hour we're off to pick out THREE chickens to collect next weekend.

It was only a matter of time

Dear Chantal, that just goes to show the power of this forum, poor Seedling really wanted talking out of it, i think.


On second thoughts, Hens can be ........

We have just driven at least 50 miles, been to more places than I can recall and found no suitable chickens.

Got home and as a last resort asked a bloke in her road, who can't help but knows a man who can, just down the road and the chickens should be with her within the week.

Fifty ******* miles and we sourced them within 50 yards!

It pays to shop local...

On the up side, we did do a little shopping

Just drinking out of the sheep mug i bought on our "around the world in one day" expedition. Been to 2 garden centres and 3 farmshops, one of which was patrolled by a snaggle tooth mad woman in a butchers apron and no apparent shop . It was down a very bumpy farm road and we made a hasty retreat when she came out of the building.

We also met an alcoholic south african man at a manor house - dont ask

Eventful day and as Chantal said found a supplier of chickens in the same road i live in.

Seedling

Ooooh. Eggsciting!

Bet you're eggstatic.