4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Kittycat]

Well, OH, bless him, spent yesterday creating a wood chip area for our new eglu and visiting B&Q to buy a gate and fence panel to secure the side of our house so that the chooks will be able to free range in the back garden. Now all we need is the chooks.

 

I fear I am about to open a huge debate, but does anyone have any views on hybrid vs traditional breeds? Is it true that hybrids potentially lay more eggs but for a shorter overall period - i.e. the traditionals live/lay longer?

 

Also, has anyone out there picked up traditional breeds at 8 weeks? I understand that 8 week chicks are not as well vaccinated as POL hybrids, but provided you keep their environment clean is this really an issue? I think I also read that traditional breeds are generally more hardy???

 

Any thoughts much appreicated as always

[Busybird]

I don't have much experience as I have only ever had my 3 original Omlet girls but based on their egg laying abilities I would go for hybrids again. I love looking at the different chicken pictures posted and they are gorgeous birds but we keep our girls for their eggs and they have been fantastic.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I've had hybrids since June last year, and got them as some of the pure breeds can be a bit flighty & would wind my 3 hairy monsters up without even trying! I wanted "bomb-proof" chooks to make sure we could all (4 and 2 legged members) deal with them as part of the family & felt that the hybrids fitted that bill. Also I found settling on the different breeds difficult...coloured eggs...huge & feathery...not so huge & feathery...feathery feet....etc etc

 

Since then I have adopted 4 Orpingtons, who are wonderful to look at but their egg laying is a bit erratic, maybe 2 a day maybe none, I'm hoping that this will settle in a week or two (I've only had them a week! Their previous mum said they laid 3-4 a day ). If egg laying is your priority then perhaps hybrids would be best mine give me 2-3 a day, although I understand that they will lay for more years overall than the hybrid girls. My Orpies are also really quite noisy compared to my other 3!

 

My 4 batties are wonderful too, and a whole different ball game from the healthy chooks. Their "egg factory" days are behind them now & any eggs I get from them are a bonus (1-3 a day in the week they've been with us)!

 

It's swings & roundabouts, if you don't want many eggs but lovely pretty girls get pure breeds, if you want/need more eggs get hybrids.....or a selection!!

 

I've not had younger than POL (from 18 weeks) so have no experience of the care of younger ones, sorry.

 

Congrats on the chook friendly OH, mine started off a bit " yes dear" & has become a very good practical chook-daddy - although he won't/can't pick them up, he will stroke them tentatively with one finger if I'm holding one, it's a start!!

 

No help at all am I ?!

 

Sha x

[Old Speckled Hen]

I've only ever had hybrids. The first three were rehomed omlet chickens ( Mr FFFFFFF

got them) and the next four are hybrids too. The advantage I think, and somebody will come along and correct me if I'm wrong, is that they lay through the winter.

I will soon be able to expand my flock potentially to 10 so aim keep 3/4 hybrids, so that I get eggs all the time, and get 4 purebreeds ....

(oh the fun in choosing is amazing ), leaving room for 3 exbatts.

Well, that's the plan

 

If you've room for only 3 and want eggs regularly then get hybrids.

[Saronne]

Yes, I have hybrids, too, and they are lovely, friendly girls, but then, I mainly keep hens for the eggs they produce. They tend to lay really well (most days when they're young - unless they're in moult) for a couple of years, then it dwindles off.

 

Purebreds are popular, too, with so many varieties to choose from. I've heard they live longer, but lay better in the spring and summer - and less so (not at all?) in the winter. Their laying apparently goes on for more years, too. I'm sure others with more 'purebred' experience will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Saronne

[Chook n Boo Mum]

The advantage I think, and somebody will come along and correct me if I'm wrong, is that they lay through the winter.

 

aaah I'd forgotten about the winter slow-down...that would be another of the many reasons for the Orpies to be erratic - not just the fact they've been uprooted from a small protected garden & put into a wind tunnel of a garden (which opens out onto a field so might just as well be part of it!!) with big hairy monsters who sneak in & steal their food on occasion and 3 chooks who come & stare at them through the netting, not to mention the children...! We're getting there ! I can now pick most of them up, something I don't think happened in their old home, & they don't create tooooo much!

 

Sha x

[Daphne]

Hybrids do lay more, and are more likely to lay in winter than pure breeds but I understand their laying lives are probably shorter than a pure breed (tho as all birds get less productive as they age I'm not sure this is a problem).

 

Re getting youngsters at 8 weeks, at this time of year you would need to make sure they are warm enough. Pure breeds aren't generally vaccinated and although its luck of the draw to a certain extent whether or not they 'get' anything (tho of course your hygiene and quarantine needs to be excellent) in my experience growers do need to be kept a special eye on, they seem more susceptible to passing bugs or worse.

[Kittycat]

Thanks for all the good advice. It seems like hybrids are going to be the better choice for me.

 

I was tempted at the thought of having some still-fluffy 8 week old chicks and thought they might settle in better but my common sense (backed up by your sound advice) tells me that they are still going to be somewhat vulnerable at that age.

 

Only a few days to go before all the chicken chat becomes reality - wish me luck!

[MadMitch]

I only have pure breeds. I got them at 6 & 8 weeks old and never had any problems with them. I was expecting them all to stop laying in Winter but my 2 Old english pheasant fowls continued to lay throughout out so I never had to buy any eggs. The other 6 only had about an 8 week break and are all back laying again now. All except Myfanwy who is now 48 weeks and never laid.

[chickenanne]

BUT there are loads of different hybrid types, and loads of different pure breeds. All with very different characteristics: it's a bit like asking "which is better, a mongrel or a pure bred dog?". It would depend on the type of breed of dog.

 

I have 2 hybrids and 2 pure breeds (rhode island and sussex). I much prefer the pure breeds, as they are calmer, bolder, friendlier, etc., and lay really well: this is their second winter and the RIR and Sussex lay about 4 times a week, one of the hybrids lays about the same, the other hybrid hasn't laid anything since November....

 

A lot of pure breeds were raised to be good, hardy, scratch-abouth-the-farmyard poultry, so some types are very hardy etc.

 

The other thing is that a lot of older breeds will cease to exist unless small scale keepers take an interest in them: they don't have the same commercial worth as those used by industrial egg-producers (weather free range or battery), e.g. shell colour, uniformity of size, etc.

[Hen Watch]

Kittycat, I went for hybrids as I was a bit scared at first of what chicken ownership might entail and at the time I thought that a vacinated, year round egg layer would suit best. I love my hybrids and they are fab, friendly birds and don't regret my decision which was right for me at the time.

 

But very soon after getting them, within months I'd quickly got the hang of chickens and most advice can be sought on this forum. So if I did it all over again I would be bold and go for pure breeds. But I would go to a seller with very good knowledge of the breeds to advise on which are most docile, less flighty, friendly etc. Possibly even which are the least broody (since I wouldn't need broodies for hatching chicks). Which breeds make for a good mix etc.

 

So I know that helps diddly squat but thought I would share it. Basically, they are not as hard to look after as you think, easy in fact. So if you fancy pure breeds make some enquiries and see what is on offer.

[Kirstine]

Kittycat

 

One concern, which I don't think has been raised, is that most pure breeds won't be reliably sexed at 8 weeks, so you might end up with some unwanted cockerels. Most hybrids are sex-linked and can be separated out at day-old. So if you are getting the pure breeds, make sure the breeder will take back (and replace) any unwanted boys!

Otherwise, I would say to go for it. The pure breeds we have had have been great and they can make very pretty pets - the difference in egg production isn't that noticeable in a domestic setting as with only a few hens you can get some individual hybrid hens which don't lay well and some pure breeds which do, especially after their first year.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

The other thing is that a lot of older breeds will cease to exist unless small scale keepers take an interest in them: they don't have the same commercial worth as those used by industrial egg-producers (weather free range or battery), e.g. shell colour, uniformity of size, etc.

 

Good point chickenanne, here's a list of endangered breeds if you are interested http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/poultry

 

Sorry if it sounded as though I'm anti-old breeds, I'm not. TBH, now I've got to grips with the whole chook-keeping malarky I would have moved on to a few of the older breeds, I just felt that I needed to know I was ready (and the dogs were too!) to take on different breeds... I actually wanted to start with ex-batts but felt they would be too much to cope with first time round as my dogs are quite young & lively. I didn't want to put the chooks at any unnecessary risk.

 

When I was admiring the selection of different coloured eggs I'd collected that day, I suggested a blue/green layer would be nice, DH left the room, probably due to the "I couldn't just introduce one though it would have to be 2, and that would give me 13 and I'm not having 13 chooks, so it would mean I'd have to have 3......" that followed it up !!

 

Hooked.... me...not much !!

 

Sha x

[thewhitehouse]

I have pure breeds and chose them because I knew what they would look like (not much of a persuasuve argument I know!) and as one omleteer has already said - i wanted to do my bit to keep some of the pure breeds going. I have shown and judged pedigree dogs for 30 years (I was an early starter! ) and so I think that I would always tend to go towards pure breeds no matter what the animal!

 

My girls came into lay just before Christmas and I get 4 eggs a day usually - more than enough for my family of three and plenty left over for family and friends.

 

I want to get a couple more girls and want some egg colour variation (blue and dark brown) so am happy to get hybrids for this if necessary.

 

Although I got my chooks for eggs - to be honest, they are such wonderful and easy pets, it really wouldn't matter!

[mostin]

I have a "bit of both". I love them all and my pure breed only stopped laying for a couple of months this winter. The good thing about pure breeds is the don't lay as they are moulting so it puts their bodies under less stress. I couldn't choose one type of the other though.

 

I'm no help either am I

[Kittycat]

Oh no - I thought I'd decided and now I'm all confused again! I know at the end of the day that only we can make the decision, but there's just so much choice when you only want 3! Of course, one day, when I get my big house with a couple of acres, I will have an entire flock (a girl can dream) but until then, I have to narrow it down. What I do know is that I definitely don't want a cockerel so that's definitely something to bear in mind if I get 8 week old chicks...

 

If I do go for the pure breeds I was thinking about a cou cou maran, an exchequer leghorn and either a speckeldy sussex or a silver laced wyandotte. Anyone got any views on that mix? I know all the books say that leghorns can be 'flighty' but they are good layers and (I naively assume) are unable to actually fly if they have a clipped wing?

[quickcluck]

I too have started with hybrids I have 6 all completely different so I could tell them apart

 

I have now ordered 4 pure breeds for the summer... I already have more eggs that I can use... although my friends are very pleased, so the egg count is not that important... But I wanted bigger girls as I think they will make excellent pets as the others already are!

[Patricia7455]

This is a really interesting thread. I have been wondering whether getting traditional breeds would be better, to have eggs for a longer timespan, rather than hybrids laying nearly every day for a couple of years then tailing off. I can see from the replies that it appears to depend on the hens themselves to a great extent.

 

My question is that if I get chickens from an endangered breed to save them from being extinct, would I really be helpful if I was not planning to breed from them myself?

 

I quite fancy getting something a bit out of the ordinary.

[mostin]

If I do go for the pure breeds I was thinking about a cou cou maran, an exchequer leghorn and either a speckeldy sussex or a silver laced wyandotte. Anyone got any views on that mix? I know all the books say that leghorns can be 'flighty' but they are good layers and (I naively assume) are unable to actually fly if they have a clipped wing?

 

The cou cou marans are gorgeous and lay lovely dark brown eggs. There is another thread on the forum at the moment about speckeldy sussex, see below

 

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=38682

 

a few people say they go broody quite easily very easily, you may be better with a light sussex who lay much more regularly.

 

I've never had a leghorn or a wyandotte so no opinions on them, but I too have heard the white leghorns are amazingly flighty .

[MadMitch]

This is a really interesting thread. I have been wondering whether getting traditional breeds would be better, to have eggs for a longer timespan, rather than hybrids laying nearly every day for a couple of years then tailing off. I can see from the replies that it appears to depend on the hens themselves to a great extent.

 

My question is that if I get chickens from an endangered breed to save them from being extinct, would I really be helpful if I was not planning to breed from them myself?

 

I quite fancy getting something a bit out of the ordinary.

 

 

 

I think it always helps because it keeps the interest going, as long as a few people buy then it shows the interest is still there, I chose all mine off the rare breed list. I only ended up with the two welsummers because I originally ordered Marsh Dasies but they had all hatched as cocks.

[LJ's Chooks]

Im not sure Im going to help either... we have a combination of pure breeds and hybrids.

 

we started with 2 omlet girls, and then bought some hybrids... but a nova noir (maran), white Nova(white leghorn), sussex Nova (light sussex), columbine (legbar - but she passed away). these Hybrids are great as they look like the pure breed, but seem to be a bit more resilient (I think). Howver we lost our columbine so had to re-introduce a blue egg layer and of course couldn't just get one, so added our cream legbar and a blue/Lavendar araucana. they seem a bit more snooty, but great personalities.

 

I would not be without my pure breeds or my hybrids... perhaps you could get 2 and 1....

 

one word of warning though.... please introduce all 3 at the same time and make sure they are the same age or size...

 

Pure breeds and Hybrids can all be very different sizes .... the only problem we have really had was when cloud (our columbine) was introduced as part of a group, but was much smaller than the others. Just be sensible and dont get pushed along by a breeder if you dont think it's right dont do it!!!

 

I hope that helps in a round about way.

[helenmb]

I have a mix - 2 hybrids and 5 pure breeds. When I first got my eglu I just had two hybrids who both sadly we lost last autumn. They laid continuously from the day we got them for about 2.5 years and then that was it. They both had peritonitis which wasn't nice so we decided to get more pure breeds than hybrids this time, as I had read that they tend to live a bit longer too. We felt we'd rather have fewer eggs and have them live longer. The article I read I have added as a PDF to my gallery album, a link to it is here - which might be of interest.

 

I'd say that having had hybrids for 3 years before my pure breeds was a help as the PBs are definitely more cranky than my hybrids - except my Speckled Sussex who is quite placid - but this is probably because she is huge and not to aerodynamic!

[HENthusiastic]

The only downside of chicken keeping.......... having to choose! I suggest you move house right now, get the big garden and then get 5 hybrids and 5 pure breeds. SIMPLE.

[Gallina]

I would say start with hybrids, then when you get addicted, go for pure breeds, otherwise you will never be able to cope with all the eggs.

 

I like pure breeds better: mine have always been much more gentle than my hybrids. But the best thing is that they can live for over ten years. I didn't like seeing one of my hybrids grow old and die before she was three years old: it seemed too quick, and I felt she had burnt herself out laying eggs for me.

[Louisdog]

I like both, have a mix, and am sure you will be happy with whatever you choose.

 

Both hybrids and PB lay through first winter then have a rest next winter for moult, but hybrids may come into lay faster, that do tend to burn out and die younger though.

 

My hybrids have been more placid than PB except for the White Star.

 

Re 8 week olds, they will be well past the cute fluffy stage and will be gawky I am afraid My first three chooks were 6 week old cream legbars (they can be reliably sexed at a day old) and I had to wait forever for eggs!

 

I bought some 12 week olds last October and they have been fine outside.

 

Let us know what you get!

 

Cheers

Alex