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Chicken keepers

Meet others keeping chickens on our Mumsnet Chicken forum.

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Original poster

Finally got a our allotment and we can have 4 hens on it,what type though?

21 replies

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 20:37

Been on the waiting list for a plot for over 3 years and we've finally we've been offer a junglehalf plot,it's a fab site as it's literally a 2 minute walk from our house.

The bonus for us is that the association allows 4 hens per plot.

We had hens 4 years ago in our tiny Victorian terrace garden and have missed having hens and scrummy eggs dreadfully.

We had a bantam,light Sussex and a Rhode island red before they had to be dispatched and then we had pekin bantams.We rehomed them as this house has no idea space outside to house big or tiny chickens.

I loved our little banty but she wasn't a ideal match with the bigger hens and I as much as pekin are pretty,I don't think they are a breed for me.

So do I just stick with 4 bantys? or go for a mix of larger breeds?

If we go down the bantam route,we'll see if we can get battery rescue girls.

Any advice?

OP posts:

MollieO · 12/04/2011 20:42

No sensible advice as I'm just about to get chickens for the first time. If you keep them on your allotment won't that mean having to go there twice a day to let them out and shut them in?

KatyMac · 12/04/2011 20:48

We have a cream legbar (blue eggs) & a cross between a Sicilian daisy & a Marsh buttercup (or was it a Sicilian Buttercup & A Marsh Daisy) anyway cream eggs

Boh tiny

virgiltracey · 12/04/2011 20:51

Are you after eggs or pretty girls?

You want hybrids for max egg laying but if you're after pretty then orpingtons are soooo beautiful and fluffy and if you can only have four then you get a lot of hen for your money!

Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 20:54

MollieO- yip but both dh and I walk that way every day,dh leaves for the bus at 7:30am and I walk ds to school a hour later.

It's literally is 2 minutes from our front door so no hardship letting them out in am and locking up before dusk.

Will look at those types katymac,I've never heard of those tbh.

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Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 21:00

Oh Orpingtons are pretty aren't they?

How much per bird on average?

I was shocked looking at pekin prices today to recap £25 each?! We always get our fancy hens at the local poultry sale and bantams were usually £1.50 each.

The eggs are important (we found bantams eggs a bit too small) but I'm a sucker for a good looking chicken.

speckled orpington is lovely

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thehairybabysmum · 12/04/2011 21:01

Hens are fab, my only word of caution would be that if you haven't had an allotment before is to maybe go with just the lotty for this summer. half a plot is not that big once you get your crops in. You may find that you'd rather have the room for crops than the hens?

virgiltracey · 12/04/2011 21:04

We have an amber star, a light sussex, a sunnyside blue, a speckled star, an orpington, a pekin bantam and a gold star ranger.

my favourite ever hen was a buff orpington. She was lovely. Really beautiful and very placid (unfortunately she was eaten by a fox ).

Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 21:08

We already have a raised bed plot and polytunnel on another piece of land ( very lucky to use it through my work) so this plot will be more of a close to us and easier to water hobby plot (salads,herbs and bits) with the main section being a chicken coop.

We sadly can't have the chickens on that bit of land as it's over 5 miles away and completely out in the sticks.I can't keep a eye on it daily.

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virgiltracey · 12/04/2011 21:08

We bought a couple at point of lay recently and paid £16 a bird. That was a good price. Some places you'll pay £35 for a point of lay bird.

My pekin goes broddy really easily. I'd avoid any breed that tends to go broddy since the egg production will drop off for ages and if you will only have four hens that could make quite a difference to the number of eggs.

We also had a cochin who was also lovely and fluffy and absolutely enormous!

Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 21:10

do they all get on virgil?

I found when we had the bantam she was really henpecked by the Sussex and the Rhode.

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virgiltracey · 12/04/2011 21:14

Ada our penkin is top of the pecking order. You should see her bossing the others around!

They do get on fairly well but they free range and so its easy for then to escape one another if they need to. When we first started keeping hens we had two pekins, two orps and two standard size hens and I worried about the pekins but they were absolutely fine. I don't think size makes any difference, its the personality of the individual hen.

virgiltracey · 12/04/2011 21:15

just re-read my posts and realised I typed "broddy" twice! I meant broody of course!

Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 21:35

I shall look into all those breeds.

I'm so happy to be able to have chickens again,I'm like a child with money in a sweet shop .

Thanks for your help,mucho appreciated!

dh now has to build the coop and run I'll leave that to him I think.

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virgiltracey · 12/04/2011 21:38

if you go onto the omlet website the info on there about the various breeds is really user friendly.

Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 21:44

Didn't realise they had sellers on there as I've not checked their site out since we laughed at the ridiculous prices of their houses many moons ago .

Thanks for the tip virgil.

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chickchickchicken · 12/04/2011 23:28

ive always had ex batts and they are lovely girls. they have always laid really well and they all get on with each other. we have rehomed via battery hens welfare trust and little hens rescue over the years. all the girls are checked after they are taken from the farm and any poorly ones are not rehomed to general public (they are kept by the volunteers)

Original poster

Thingumy · 12/04/2011 23:34

I've had a look at British hen welfare trust and our nearest volunteer is 35 miles away so a 70 mile round trip.

Hmm.

I'll have a look locally and see if we have another option to rescue battery girls-I would like to help out if we go down the bantam route.They would have a lovely life here.

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virgiltracey · 13/04/2011 13:19

only problem with ex batts will be that they are nearing the end of their productive egg laying life (i.e the production will tail off) and so you're likely to end up with a long period of unproductive hens. Fine if you have lots but maybe not so good when you only have four?

chickchickchicken · 15/04/2011 09:33

my ex batts have always laid for years after we have them. rescues always warn that there is no guarantee of laying but most people find that with a free range lifestyle they go on laying for years. we only have a few at the bottom of the garden at one time but over the years we have rehomed quite a few ourselves and collected hens for others. we find they are the best layers

you could also try little hen rescue as might have a volunteer nearer. also you could ask the volunteer who is 35miles away if they have anyone collecting from your area and car share (we have done this)

mrswoodentop · 16/04/2011 17:41

We have 4 ;a speckledy (would highly recommend she is in her third year of laying and very pretty)a welsummer (definately the best flavour eggs but doesn't lay in the winter),a columbine (lays pale green eggs but not very friendly,bit skittish) and a coral star(lays large white eggs).

If you look on the omlet forum they have a section on the different breeds but I would seriously recommend the speckledy

Original poster

Thingumy · 16/04/2011 20:36

Thanks chickeny ones

We are looking at a 6-8weeks build time for house and run so I've plenty of time to browse chicken makes.

If anyone is Somerset way and knows a good breeder,let me know!

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