keyhole kate Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Having lost all but one of my original big girls to old age and having broodies for Britain I thought I might hatch again but not bantams as last year as it took me almost a year to find Mr Madras my sorely missed Lav boy a new forever home, Somewhere fairly local will rehome boys but only LF now I have the opportunity and choice of welsummers C legbars or orps in buff,blue,black I know orps are big birds hence my indecision as whatever I hatch will be in with my littlies in a 8x8 WIR although I am considering expanding to 16 x 16 but they FR every day unless wet I don't have any knowledge of either breed anyone share there opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Difficult Personally I'm not overkeen on mixing LF with bantams, I always think one group is slightly unhappy - but you will get lots of people telling you they keep both sizes and they mix easily - so its a personal decision. With CL, these are autosexing, so you could cull/give away the boys as chicks for reptile/raptor food for example. Orps take an age to mature and can be hard to sex so you will be feeding for a while - I don't think 8x8 is big enough although they are docile and don't need too much exercise, but really they will take up a lot of space. I think Welsummers tend to be active and can be a bit feisty so I'm not sure they are the best breed in your set up either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 I'd also choose Cream Legbars - they're autosexing as Daphne has already said so you won't get attached to and name the boys and of course you get blue eggs! They're a large fowl but not too big so should get on with your current girls. I have 2 CLB adults who live in with bantams and 18 chicks in the garage, 8 of which are CLB and some of the others are CLB crosses to give olive eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 I have had all three, welsummer, orp and cream legbar. My orp is lovely but a bit thick and not very friendly, she also has a mean streak when she goes broody and can be bossy the rest of the time. My cream legbar is very friendly, always first in line for treats and my welsummer [rip] was lovely, very docile and laid back. She was broody quite a lot but laid a lovely dark brown egg. I have bantams and lf in the same run but they are big bantams, ie wyandottes, silkie crosses and a couple of polish crosses. My little bantams live in a seperate house and run although they have been known to wander into the big run without any any trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...