First time chicken keeper - which breeds?

[jujubean]

We are planning on getting into this chicken's in the garden lark and have found lots of useful info on here, thanks. I would really like some lovely lavendar pekins and the chickens that lay blue eggs but I'm wondering if I should splurge first time round on posh breeds or just get bog-standard chickens. From reading on here I'm sensing that chicken massacres by foxes are quite common and don't want to spend a load of money on a chicken that might not survive. Once we've had a bit of practice and outwitted Mr Fox then I could go for the posh breeds. We have a pheasant in the garden who has survived both foxes and the local shoot, but he can fly and chicken's can't. Next door have chickens and they said once they move the coop nearer the house the massacres stopped.

Personally, I'd go for some "regular" chickens - if it's eggs you are after, your bog standard hens will (probably) be much more productive. Also, once you've got them and they are your chickens, they'll be special anyway, whatever breed they are! Mad though it sounds, they really do have individual personalities.... Depending how much space you have, get at least two, three if you can, as they really do keep each other company.

We have had various over the years - Maran, Goldline, White Sussex, Bluebell, Speckled, and of course your bog standard brown hen.

We've been very lucky and never fallen victim to foxy.... We have an automatic closing door on our henhouse - done on light sensor as opposed to a timer, so if we are out or away, we know the girls are safely in bed and no little blighter can get to them!!!

Chickens CAN fly, a bit, so you, or your chicken breeder will need to clip their feathers (one wing only) and the feathers may grow back so you will need to do it again in say, 6 months to a year's time.

Owning chickens is great fun and very rewarding. You will enjoy it!!

Thank you. About how much are the light sensors? We saw one on a website and it was £100 is that right?

We have found Amber Rock chickens to be very friendly birds that lay well. The Black Rock hybrid birds are also quite docile and brilliant layers. Our cream legbars (blue egg layers) are quite flighty chickens and so harder to handle, but lovely looking birds.

my light sussex chooks were brill, weren't egg machines so i wasn't swamped with eggs but had enough for brekky every day.
thet are also pretty docile so no need to worry about pecked toddles etc.

had to get rid of ours when we moved into a new rental house can't wait to buy a house and realise my chickenopolis dream.

Light Sussex make great pets. They're friendly, easily tamed, bright and quite cheeky/funny. We have two and I'm very pleased with them. Good layers too

Light Sussex are my fave. Also, you could consider ex caged birds who usually turn out to be extremely friendly. My Black Rock is a good one too - a very strong bird.

I had a beautiful Ancona killed by a fox. I now have a weld mesh walk in run surrounded by electric netting.

We've got 6 pekin bantams and they're just great, friendly, funny family pets. Daft little things even let my 3 year old dd push them around in her doll's pram and if we sit down they try and hop in to our laps. Our dd was a little intimidated by our friend's ex-batts, who are surprisingly big so we decided to go for bantams instead. They cost us about £15 each 18 months or so ago from a local breeder and we've got six different colours so we can tell which is which.

They lay the cutest little eggs, (think a modern cadbury's cream egg sized) which seem to appeal to kids alot , and whilst they might not be the highest egg-laying chooks ever, I find one or two eggs every day through the winter and three to six a day in the spring/summer/autumn is more than enough for us.

The whole reason for being of a breed which has the dimentions of a football, brains the size of a gnat, looks little a ball of fluff and lays half-sized eggs was for them to be sweet and charming pets, so if that's what you're looking for they I don't think you'll go far wrong. I'd have another dozen at least if I could just talk dh in to extending the run...

Ahem... for "they" read "then".

Can you mix bantams with bigger birds? I don't want all teeny eggs but do want some cute sized birds for the kids.

I began with hybrids and now have Sussex and Croad Langshan. They are gorgeous. A light sensor is great but be warned that foxes do not always operate at night. We have a large aviary, a run and a bigger more open run for when we are at home. Then I have four (excessive I know) Foxwatch devices around the place.

My Light Sussex is so old now and she is quite skinny for her breed. But she laid an egg on the first day we got her and continues to be a very heavy layer. I would actually like her to stop so that she can have a rest and put on some weight.

Omlet have some lovely hybrid chickens - our two beginner chickens were absolute poppets. Make sure you trust the place you buy them from and check them over for lice/mites/scaly leg etc....

I think mixing pekins with bigger birds would probably be fine as their fiesty little characters. Not so sure about other bantam breeds though. Our sablepoots are sweet little softies and get bullied enough by the pekins let alone a proper full sized hen!

Gah! For their please read they're. Sorry, got distracted by dd.