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Help me decide which breeds?

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I will be getting 6 chickens, hopefully 3 will be ex-battery, so that leaves me just 3 to choose from my ever growing list.

 

My requirements, in order, are :

 

JOINT FIRST must be docile/friendly, my boys and I would like to be able to stroke them, maybe pick them up.

regular egg layers - not too concerned about the quantity , as with 6 chickens we'll have more than enough eggs for our needs, but I would prefer they didn't go broody or stop laying for weeks at a time.

 

SECOND Our lowest boundary fence is 5ft,they will be allowed in the garden under supervision so it would be good if they were contained by this - there is a playing field on the other side and I don't fancy doing daily laps to catch a chicken :lol:

 

THIRD As I will have different breeds, I would like them to get on together - so nothing that may be aggressive towards the others.

 

 

I've scoured these forums and compiled this list, which 3 would you choose ?

 

Brahma

Orpington

Speckledy

Bluebelle

Black Rock

Sussex

 

Any others I should consider ? anything I should cross off ? oh and I would LOVE to see photos ! :lol: esp the speckledy and bluebelle as I can't find any pics of those.

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Here's our speckledy - called Speckle ( :roll: kids!) it doesn't really do her justice as she's HUGE and round with big fluffy grey knickers. She's a good layer but did go broody last year and was a real grump with it. That said she regularly lays big brown speckled eggs, she hasn't stopped over winter but isn't our friendliest. She's alright once you've got her but doesn't really want to be grabbed.

freerange044.jpg

 

Here's our Calder Ranger / Gingernut Ranger - Hermione.

freerange045.jpg

 

She's great, easy to catch in fact so bombproof I took her to middle daughters pet week, she bok bokked around the classroom and allowed everyone to stroke her and feed her (a class of 30 4 and 5 year olds

:shock: ) She's laid eggs all winter too.

 

Our best layer is our Black Rock / Pepperpot - Rainbow. Lays our biggest eggs, doubleyolkers some of the time, easy to catch and still laying all winter.

 

If you were starting off with 6 you might have to delay getting the ex-batts, they may need time to themselves to adjust before being put in with healthy hens. It'll be such a culture shock for them being free never mind having to contend with bigger stronger hens.

 

Good luck choosing

 

Mrs Bertie

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So, meadowsweet/gingernut ranger added to the list ! anything I can cross off ? was hoping this would make choosing easier, not harder :wink::lol:

 

if I do get some ex batts it would be in a couple of months time, so they wouldn't be all together at once.

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Hi

I have bantam Orpingtons -- but they are large for bantams and they are the friendliest sweetest natured girls. Wonderful (and forgiving) with children. The good news is that they lay regularly. The bad news is like most pure breeds they take a well deserved break from laying in the winter. More good news-they will lay for many more years than hybrids. (so over a hen's lifetime you will probably get more eggs) . Pure breeds also tend to live longer than hybrids.

Orpingtons don't fly, don't need their wings clipping and only need a low boundary fence.

chooks91.jpg

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I may be biased but have have a bluebelle, blackrock and light sussex - all look very different and very docile - I think the man at the domestic fowl trust thought I was made when I was picking them, because I was asking 'are those ones friendly?' all the time!

 

Out of mine the bluebelle follows me at heal all the time and is very friendly, the blackrock always comes if I go outside and is friendly too, the light sussex keeps herself to herself - she is lovely, but just does her own thing and ignores us humans most of the time.

 

Just go and look at them is my advice,

 

Tracy

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thanks for the photos, they all look gorgeous ! how am I ever going to choose ?( oh, that's right , you don't, you just keep adding 'one more chicken' until they've taken over the garden :lol: )

 

Do the bantam Orpingtons have the same temperament as the large orpingtons ? and how would a large Brahma get on with a bantam orpington ?- they look as though they would squash them !

 

One thing I forgot to ask - are all these breeds fairly easy to get hold of ?

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Bantam Orpingtons will definitely be harder to obtain - OTOH the various hybrids can be had from Meadowsweet agents and the like across the country. Secondly, most purebreeds are only just starting to lay, so unless you are lucky and find someone with pullets that hatched late last summer, at this time of year you are looking at either 1-year-old hens or waiting until this summer for POL pullets. Finally, because more cockerels are born than pullets, pure breeds are more likely to be only available as breeding pairs or trios, which you definitely don't want! (I say all this based on my own attempts to source pekin pullets at the moment.)

 

Not trying to put you off pure breeds - but it does really depend on how long you are prepared to wait and how hard you are prepared to look...

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No experience of pure breeds (although the variety you can get is amazing).

 

I have hybrids.

 

100_2405.jpg

 

All friendly as you can see they come rushing over to be photographed.

 

From left to right they are:

 

Miss Pepperpot from Omlet - always rushes over to me but looses interest after a while and does her own thing. So definately friendly but not as friendly as the others. But she is by far the prettiest to look at and I wouldn't be without her.

 

Amber Star from Meadowsweet Agent - her colouring makes her look like she's dirty - she's a creamy colour with brown bits - she's very friendly and docile. Loves to fly up onto the eglu run for a look about.

 

2 Gingernut Rangers from Omlet - friendly, friendly, friendly, and oh so inquisitive. They are into everything and follow me around the garden like dogs.

 

If I had to do it all again, I would have the same 3 types but I'd have a 4th a different breed/colour instead of a 2nd Gingernut, just because I like to see their different colours dart around my garden.

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I see you are in Herefordshire - the Domestic Fowl trust in Worcestershire may not be too far - I went twice in Jan - plenty of different POL available - many pure breeds as well as hybrids were available (my light sussex is a pure breed) all my are now laying.

 

Tracy

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Sharon Gould at Gould Life Poultry, Pinvin Nr Pershore is also worth trying, I got my Brahmas from there and WitchHazel (a forum member) picked up a Bluebelle from there a couple of weeks ago.

 

I have four Brahmas, they all follow us around the garden though one is not so friendly, the others are all so docile and don't complain when my 7yr old neice is grabbing them for a cuddle :D

 

But I would love a Speckledy and a Bluebelle myself....

 

My Cream Legbar is a little flighty but those blue eggs she lays compensate for that - its lovely to see a coloured egg in the nest box. :D

 

Helen

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