The Wernlas Collection in south Shropshire deliver chickens all over Europe so South Wales is definitely fine and in fact you may even be able to save the flat £40 delivery fee by spending an hour or so driving there yourself. They sell rare breeds and rare breeds come in all sorts of fancy and interesting looks!
Although our 2 current chickens are cheap but cute modern hybrids, as a child our chickens always originated from the Wernlas Collection so I can vouch for them. It is run by a married couple Sue and Shaun Hammond, and they are also more than happy to provide information and advice over the phone. Their chickens are about £35 each but you are supporting rare breeds!! They don't have photos on their web site but they will give you a list of which breeds they stock and what they have available now (and you may well have to wait for new hatchings later in the year!) and then of course you can check them up on the web as to what they look like. If you are looking for a really exotic looking bird I recommend the appenzeller spitzhauben - they come in several types, my favourite is the silver spangled - a beautiful striking black and white bird with a fantastic feathery headdress and blueish face. If you want a bog standard hen that is not brown then I believe you can not do better than the Speckled Sussex - basically as fat and tame and friendly (and good all purpose bird) as the Light Sussex but being brown, black and white with a lovely sheen as well. Marans are stripy and grey and lay deep chocolate eggs.Buff Orpingtons are huge, docile and amber coloured. Frizzles are interesting - their feathers seem to grow backwards - and silkies have feathers so fine they look like fur and have metallic coloured faces. You know this list is going to get ridiculous if I don't shut up and I recall you never asked about breeds - you probably have a good overview of them anyway - I just got carried away!
Good luck with your quest.
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October 28, 2010, 20:55