Dizzy-Deb Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 To have some more exbats, younger different breed birds, or hatch some eggies I want to do all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I love ex batts & would happily have lots more but one thing to bear in mind is if like mine they live a long time (Boris is about 4yrs old) they will stop laying at some point. Whilst I am relieved that she no longer lays I have other hens who will hopefully lay for longer. Why not have a couple of pure breeds who will lay for longer and your ex batts too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Looks to me as if the decision is between more exbats or hatch some eggies as doing the latter will give you 'younger different breed birds' As you have some ex-bats, why don't you go for the eggies ? Then get some more exbats when your current exbats have tottered off to wherever good girls go. However, to do this, you would need an incy and spare accomodation as I doubt that the baby chicks would be entirely safe with your current ex-bats. Getting some largish breed girls at POL might be easier on the equipment side of things once intros were over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy-Deb Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Hi thanks for advice. It is so difficult to decide what chickens to have next I must admit I really would like to hatch some chicks and have been looking at incubators etc, but the one thing that stops me is that no doubt there will be boys, and then what do I do with them. I appreciate the reality of the difficulty of trying to rehome any, or them ending up as table birds.... which would make me feel sooooo bad. If I went for some different POL, there are a few breeds I quite fancy and have found someone locally who breeds them, and would take back if did turn out to be cockerels. Exbats will always have a special place in my heart as its so rewarding to give them a chance a some freedom and quality life. See how conflicted I am...is this a common chicken keepers condition ? I am currently searching/looking for spare coop/run and pricing/researching incubator stuff too...... There is just no hope for me really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I got a rabbit hutch for free off preloved and converted it by adding a cardboard box with straw for a nesting box and borrowed the wee square of roosting bars out of the eglu. I'm using this as temporary accommodation for my new girls. It looks a bit 'step toe and son' ish but it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy-Deb Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Thats a good idea. I have quite a lot of strong chicken mesh over from when hubby made the WIR... am sure he could easily knock up a secure run for me .. and could use similar to you as would like any new chickens to hopefully integrate with my other girls so dont want to spend a fortune on new coop etc. Off to sweet talk him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
