PoultryTalk.com

Hi everyone just joined the site as im getting some chickens at the end of june after our hols we have everythng ready to go we are complete novices and think we will most likely learn as we go hopefull the books we have bought will be of some use and we wont encounter any problems, has any one got any useful advice on where to buy the birds from as there seems to be loads of places and prices really vary alot from £14 to £25 for a hybrid hen is that about right?

Welcome JD how many are you going to be getting and do you have any specific breeds in mind? or are you wanting them just for the eggs?
I'd recomend a place like "Mini Meadows Farm" the vaccination program they have there is second to none!
Speak to you soon :)

thanks for that i'll google them, i'm thinking of getting 4 i think the coop has 6 boxes but i thought if i had 4 i could replace them with 4 others when they stop laying and by the time the 2nd four stop laying the first 4 will have died of old age, not sure if it will work out but thats my plan! to be honest i'm choosing birds on what they look like and what i have read about their personalities and also if they are good layers, i'd quite like a silkie for the kids but i have read their eggs are small and they are more broody than good layers, and i'm not sure if this is correct but i think i cant mix them with larger breeds altough i dont know why??

Thanks for the plug TC :) jd, if we can be any help with with your choice then please either run a question by me or come and have a look. We have hybrids, hardy friendly and excellent layers and pure breeds if you'd like something a bit different.

Silkies are very friendly and good for children but do lay small eggs as they are bantams (small chickens) You can mix large fowl (L/F) with bantams as long as they have enough room to give each other a wide berth.

I started with hybrids and bought 4 of different colours so we could name them. They also each layed a different colour egg so we could thank each hen for our individual breakfast! Its great to know who layed which.
Please feel free to ask about the hens x

Chicken Lady

Ps Beware, chicken keeping is highly addictive!

Hi just been looking on you website you say to enquire about availability as you sell lots, can you tell me if you always have a wide selection? i like the grey/blue/lilac chickens but it will be the childrens choice and i know one wants a golden one and the other a black one i see chickens of these colours on your site but are you likely to have them? we would be getting our chickens around 25th june, also i think we have an area about 35sqm would that be big enough for 4 large birds and 2 silkies, if not i think i'll just have to stick to 4 but if it is do you always have silkies available?. i'd like 4 different ones as i'm sure ours will have names but hopefully short ones!, the guinea pig is called bambi 'a' dinosaur although i have no idea why!

Hi jd, We always have a wide selection of hybrids and pure breeds. As we breed so many different types it just depends what is POl (point of lay) at the time. This really more of an issue with the pure breeds as we can sell out of certain breeds and colours, then have to wait for more to mature. So when looking for something specific it best to call than make a waisted trip.

I will check about the chance of having silkies at the end of June.

35sqm is plenty of room for 4 l/f and 2 bantams. They should have about 20sqft per bird but obvioiusly th0 more the better.

Hi Jayne.

Warm welcome on board. We hope you enjoy being a member here.

Please do let us know how it goes getting your birds, if you get them from Mini Meadows, who look like they have a fantastic set-up or somewhere else.

Regards
Jamie.

1. thanks Jamie just backj from my holidays today so hopefully will be getting the chickens within the next week, just need to fence their area off... definately getting them from minimeadows as they have been helpful and have lots of stock and variety which is important when the kids just want to pick based on colour! just hope they dont pick anything to expensive purely because she is pretty!