Sooo much pooping

[robs5230]

we have only been keeping chickens for a couple of months but love it. we did a fair bit of research before we started and decided to keep light sussex bantams. we managed to acquire 2 pullets and unfortunately 1 passed away. we have now got another booted bantam cross with our original ls and she has just started laying which is great.

however , we would like another 1 or 2 ls bantams and are struggling to find any at all, so i have a couple of questions :

1 is the ls bantam rarer than i thought ?

2 is the time of year wrong to be looking ?

3 is there an accepted way of buying poultry at distance ( not locally ) ? or should i wait to find something in our area ?

we live in north devon and have tried most if not all of the advertised breeders.

thanks

[Redwing]

Its not an ideal time really no. Breeders dont tend to hold on to stock over the winter as its costly and with the recent hikes in feed costs this probably has been more so this winter

 

Having said that breeders that show may well find themselves with a glut of birds now as its nearing the end of the show season and decisions are usually made regarding the birds to be kept for breeing so thats an option

 

Prices are usually at their highest at this time of year though

 

You could try contacting the Sussex club to see if they can put you in touch with a breeder that you may have not already tried

 

You can buy birds from further afield and have them sent by courier but I would check your source as carefully as possible if buying unseen

 

Some really nice ones have come over from Ireland in recent years and there are some good quality birds in the UK

 

They arent an uncommon bird but this time of year isnt the best time to be looking sadly, if you are on Facebook there are a number of chicken selling/buying groups and also chicken community groups such as The Poultry Pages and The New Poultry Pages, both of which are very active and where you could post a wanted ad