dogs and chickens Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Hi All, What a lovely day today, I have been out in the garden and planted my chilli and pepper plants ready for the spring ! My cube (when I have changed the order from the eglu) will be arriving on the 29th Feb. I am getting a Miss Pepperpot and a Gingernut with the cube. However now that I am getting the cube I would like to get some additional birds, I had originally thought I would get some more from omlet, on reflection on have decided that it would be really nice to have an assortment of egg colours, and sizes. My question is (knowing nothing as yet about chickens) what are good breeds to get that lay differnt coloured eggs other than the normal brown? Also I was wondering about getting a couple of Bantams, are there differnt breeds of bamtams? and do they lay differnt coloured eggs? We have a couple of local breeders that I know of locally, there advert says they sell: Cochins, Faverolles, Welsummers, Buff Orpington, Maran, Light Sussex, Araucana, Partridge Pekin/Wyandotte and also Hybrids. I have no idea even if all of these are breeds of chicken, and although I know I could ring the breeder and ask, I wanted a bit of info from the people in the know first - that's you folks ! Also I live near Wendover, in Buckinghamshire, does anyone know of and good breeders locally? One more thing, how many Chickens and Bantams can you have in the cube. Say with 4/5 chickens, how many bantam would I be allowed? Or with 6 chickens etc... I know it says 10 Chickens on the products page, but it also says for the eglu you can have more bantems than chickens ! Many Thnaks to you all and I hope your enjoying this lovely weather we have at the moment. Michelle x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 (edited) Araucana's will lay blue eggs, as will skylines/jasmines. Mixing bantams and hybrids can be done, but to be honest, there may be bullying problems, so it is probably not for the novice. Others on the forum have achieved it though and may advise differently. Edited February 10, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 To avoid unecessary hen fights, I'd go for a selection of the same size and type. If you are getting omlet hens, then there are other hybrids that will give different coloured eggs and will get on well with them. Bantams are obviously much smaller and will not lay reliably, so fewer and smaller eggs. Larger pure breeds will lay fewer eggs per year but probably keep going for longer than a hybrid, 6-7 years rather than 3-4. Look out for blue egg layers - pure breeds are cream legbars or araucanas, hybrids are skylines, jasmines, fenton blues, columbines. White egg layers - pure breeds like the leghorn (can be flighty and not easy to tame) or hybrids like the whitestar or partridge amber. Best bet is to identify a good local breeder and they will be able to show you which ones will be best together and give you best egg variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shirl Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I have mixed bantams and ex batts but I do feel sorry for 1 of the pekins because she seems to be a loner. I don't know if that's because she's not laying yet though. The other pekin and bantams are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 As most people have said it can be tricky and not advized to mix different types of chickens. 2 is a small number even for an eglu let alown a cube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 We have a couple of local breeders that I know of locally, there advert says they sell: Cochins, Faverolles, Welsummers, Buff Orpington, Maran, Light Sussex, Araucana, Partridge Pekin/Wyandotte and also Hybrids. I have no idea even if all of these are breeds of chicken, and although I know I could ring the breeder and ask, I wanted a bit of info from the people in the know first - that's you folks ! Hi Michelle Just scroll up to the green bar at the top of the forum and you'll see a link marked "breeds" - guess what you'll find there It's certainly possible to mix bantams with regular sized chickens but it probably depends on the breed. I had a Speckledy (a hybrid breed) who was somewhat smaller than your typical Omlet chicken, and she was fine with my Wyandotte bantams as they are pretty feisty! On the other hand I wouldn't try to mix a heavy breed with small bantams - Buff Orpingtons or Brahmas with Pekins, for example - as the size difference is enormous! Araucanas are fairly modest-sized chickens, I think - if you want coloured eggs and are thinking of getting bantams at some point, one or two of those might be a good bet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 All my girls are hybrids, all very friendly and easy to keep. We love the multi coloured eggs we get. Daisy - white leghorn cross lays lovely white eggs. Darcy Vader - Black Rock she is a prolific layer of brown eggs. Delia - Brown Nick lays pale brown eggs. Hilda - Columbine lays khaki green eggs. Hazel - Skyline (same as a Jasmine/Columbine) lays blue eggs. Hermione - Skyline lays pale green eggs. What more could we ask for? Speckled or chocolate coloured eggs I suppose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 We have a Maran, she's an excellent layer and lays perfect dark brown eggs. We also have 2 cochins, I dont think they are great layers (ours have only just started laying) but their eggs are a lot smaller and are normal egg coloured. I would recommend the maran though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...