Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[stehaggan]

I am in the process of building my Walk in run, and ordering a cube, I visited a local garden centre and they had POL warrens for £15 each. I liked the idea of getting them from here, as my friend has had problems when buying from poultry farms.

 

Does anyone know if the warrens are a good breed- easy to handle etc? help and advice greatly appreciated.

 

thanks

[Space Chick]

I have 3 warrens (2 are ex batts), and they are a lovely breed. A little cheeky, and very friendly. I would recommend them

 

There are lots of good chicken suppliers out there though if you wanted a mix of breeds

[migsy]

A friend of mine has Warrens and hers are very tame and don't mind being picked up.

[migsy]

I noticed you are from Manchester, like me. Which garden centre has chickens? Also, I recently got my hens from a place in Fylde called Happy Chicks. You can get all sorts there - they have hundreds. Look on their website www.happychicks.co.uk. It took about 1hr 20 mins to get there and the hens were fine during and after the journey.

[Busybird]

I have 5 warrens. They are great egg layers and not too big. Once they get used to you they are easy to handle.

 

They can be a bit aggressive towards newcomers, particularly smaller birds. This calms down over time but doesn't seem to go away. Not sure if this is the case for all warrens or just mine.

[stehaggan]

thanks guys, ive built a 12 sqm run so i think ill get some warrens to start me off then get a mixture later on when i get used to keeping chickens.

 

the garden centre is newbank garden centre in Royton. They also have silkie chicks.

[Space Chick]

One of my warrens (Donna - not an ex batt) has a love/hate relationship with my Silkie (Big Suze). They are either the best of friends and inseparable, or Donna is picking on Suze

 

So I agree that warrens can be a tad feisty

[Mollie333]

Hi,

I wouldn't reccomend getting them from a garden centre, and i think that poultrys know what there doing and always check the birds over. If you are willing to travel form Manchester there is a lovely little place called ''Pages Poultry'' which is near Burton On Trent, which had a young batch of hybrids which have now grown up.. this includes of the following point of lay hybrids.

 

Bluebells £14

Sussex Star £12

Black Star £12

Magpie's £14

Gold Star £12

Speckldy's (darker brown egg) £14

White Star (white egg layers) £14

Needwood Blue (Blue egg layer) £18 each

 

Websight: http://www.pagespoultry.co.uk/index.html

 

they also have alot of different poultry, and you can go down and have a look before youeven think about purchasing. She is very kind and will help those which are new to chicken keeping, also if you are looking for pure breeds, this is the place. I've brought 3 Pekins, 2 silkie x pekins and 2 Silkies from this place, its brilliant.

Websight for more information.. Also: The number on the websight is the home number, if you're interested PM me and i'll give you her mobile number. Thankyou!

[Mollie333]

Ok so you're going to get the warrens. No problem. I have 2 warrens. There beautiful birds, amazing girls, such personalitys. They get along with the other girls, big, hardy, good egg layers and will happily give out cuddles!

! CHECK IF THERE HEALTHY! Tip: these girls should have 3 toes, make sure there eyes are clear and that they are acting lively. Also, if you go for one which is lying down, check there feet are straight, and always ask if they are POL, and not old birds .

 

I hope you the best of look with you're girls. Cant wait to see the pics!

 

My girls, Betty and Rita when they was at POL.