Chicken advice

[SueSteve]

I am a complete newbie to chickens. But we are considering getting a few for eggs.
We have a fairly small garden, 2 cats and 3 children.
Can anyone recommend a breed? Give any advice? Recommend a good website or book?
Cheers,
Sue
Forgot to say, we live in an urban environment, so ideally would like to avoid noisy chooks!!

[Annpan]

I have no cooks myself...yet but I have looked into it a bit.

Check out http://www.omlet.co.uk and http://www.thehenshouse.co.uk for advice, especially for urban gardens.

Hope that helps

[SueSteve]

Hi Ann,
Thanks for the links.
I have spent most of the afternoon looking through all the info on the omlet site!! Looks really good.
Would love an eglo, but boy are they expensive!!

[Shirley]

VERY expensive! Can make a chook house from old pallets for not much money. They do look nice though.

We've got light, buff and silver sussex and are all fine all round birds - the kids (youngest is 4) like them too. Noisy? Not really - the cockerels make a fair racket and the hens make a wee bit of noise when they lay an egg (wouldn't YOU?! )

Silkies are good for younger children - and are pretty birds.

[Annpan]

Totally agree that the eglu is WAY too expensive... but cool looking. I think the site is really good for total novices, it explains alot about the basics (FAQs etc)

I'd love to give a home to some ex battery hens myself but the henhouse website doesn't cover my area, we won't be getting any till next summer anyhows.

Good luck with whatever you choose

[glenniedragon]

I wish I'd started keeping chooks years ago as I love the clucking noises, their antics and picking up a still warm egg! so do the kids more to the point! I'm with Shirlz as far as breeds go - I love my Sussex (fairly good layers, surplus cockerals can be eaten), Silkies as they have proper personalities and I'm a recent convert to Langshans (black with green tint and crazy long legs, they both seem very inqusitive and will eat anything) But if space is a problem give Bantams a try as you can get mini versions of many popular breeds (Sussex, Orps,Silkies) with a reasonable egg 'output' but with more foot per chook, not much of a meal on a banty cock though if you'd be up for that.

Build your own house-it gives a real sense of pride! To stand back and say, I did that.

Kind thoughts
Deb

[Thomzo]

Hi
I got my ex-bats about 6 months ago and love them. The don't lay as well as younger girls though. I can't see that you would have any problems with children or cats. Mine keep the cats under control quite easily.
The girls do make a little bit of noise but it's nice noise and I doubt your neighbours would object. I don't have a cockerel though as they could be too noisy for a built up area.

I was lucky in that I had a shed that made a perfect hen house. I would thoroughly recommend having something that you can stand up in. That way you can clean it out easily what ever the weather and have somewhere to prepare their food etc even if it's raining.

Zoe

[flower]

I have an eglu

Yes they are expensive but having used wooden coops in the past, I'm never going back!
Our eglu (bright pink) takes just moments to clean, makes it so easy for people to 'chicken sit' while we're away and looks so funky I just love it.

On the omlet site there is a thread for visiting eglu owners. Pop round and see one if you get the chance....they are so much bigger than they look in the pictures.

As a general rule, hybrid birds are cheaper, tough as old boots and give you an egg every day. They do however tend to die young, at about two or three years.
Pure breeds won't give an egg every day...but they live a lot longer and many have special characteristics ie, blue eggs..good at brooding.....etc
Bantams, being small pure breeds are my personal favourites.

you know...keeping chooks is totally addictive

[possum]

Most hens can live to 12 years old, I would be surprised if you had so many dropping dead (from natural causes) before that.

Bantams are a great first time bird - hardy as anything, some of ours refuse to roost in the hen house, preferring the pine trees.

We also have australorps which have the record for being prolific layers and also the best dual purpose breed. They are an interesting black colour with a metalic sheen.

I prefer the taste of the bantam egg if I am honest

[flower]

Hi possum!
so far, I have only lost one bird, (to a fox) and she was a bantam frizzle.

But I understand that the majority of hybrids are not very long lived...being bred to produce eggs every day at the expense of longevity.
Sadly, battery hens are usually culled after one year for this reason.

However, I am by no means an expert and am only repeating what I've read since the rest of my chooks are happily still going strong


(and I also prefer bantam eggs )

[possum]

But I understand that the majority of hybrids are not very long lived...being bred to produce eggs every day at the expense of longevity.
Sadly, battery hens are usually culled after one year for this reason.

This is not the reason that they are culled, ex battery hens can live to ripe old ages with the right conditions. The are culled at 2 or 3 years old I believe because their egg laying has slowed down, mainly because the birds are just plain worn out. Artificial light is used to keep them laying all year round rather than allow them to have their natural rest during the winter. Once they are no longer laying as mush, the profit margin reduces, hence why they are culled.
I may be wrong, but I believe the most common battery hen is a brown shaver which isn't a hybrid.

I haven't have our chickens that long, so I am not an expert, though I know a couple of ours will be easily over 5 years and I believe the rooster is positively geriatric

[glenniedragon]

Most of the ex-battery girls Ive seen over here are Warren hybrids, Warren ISAs I think, generic brown chicken! it would be intersting to see what each country had as its 'mass producers', I wonder if the choice is affected by cultural preference for white/brown egg- large size, double yolk etc...is there an international standard for eggs? my vote is for a medium brown egg with a glorious colour yolk from all the great forage the hen has found,with a nice stand-uppy yolk when fried...mmmmm

Kind hungery thoughts
Deb

[red]

we are currently converting an old shed into a hen house. we are also building a large run.

my family have always kept chikens - even when we lived in town, and despite having foxes in the area (we would see them at night) the problems we had were with dogs - other peoples dogs breaking in and killing our hens (we caught them at it) - so you will need to think about protecting them. cats should not be a problem, hens are not that noisy.

if you find out where your nearest farmers suppliers is (yellow pages) - it might well be worth visiting them and seeing what they have - often cheaper than other companies. also a good place to source your hen food from.