Purchasing Chickens

Hi,

  I have finally purchased a hen house, Aunt Sally will be happy to know I got an Classic Eglu (used but still eglu).  I have taken 3 chicken courses, two none omlet and one omlet.  I have read and research as much as I think I can (aka reading all that I can here as well as books). 

  Ready to purchase the chickens (min 3 poss 4) and I have figured out what type I think I want by researching the personalities.  Silkies and Polands.  I was wanting a mixture of both not wanting all three to be the same so different color etc.   

  Is it best to go there or email and ask what they have.  I can't do egg hatching for two reasons 1) not confident 2) can't kill one if it was a cockerel and couldn't keep due to my house has neighbors so close you can hear them pee if their windows are open and your in the garden (I always make sure mine is shut)!  I really want to purchase all three together so that I don't have an issue with introducing another to the group and having problems with separating them cause I have no place but the one coop.

  Any suggestions or recommendations?

  Thanks ...

 

totally agree with joy, go and see the set up, i was stung that way, got my last two girls over the phone as it were, hubby went and picked them up and with him not knowing wot a healthy bird should look like they came to me in a right state,   regards to your choosen choice of birds, are you wanting a bird purely for egg production, you say you dont want to go down the hatching route but i thought i would just say silkies are very very prone to broodiness, not sure about polands though.   Good luck x

Hi Casey,

  I don't think your putting a dampener on things I really appreciate your honesty and advise.  And your helpfulness on the links as well!  I have read that the silkies needed more cover from rain then most chickens.  Due to this I have arrange the coop to be under a very well established tree that would be a help as well as cover most of the run as well. 

  As for the Polands one of the main reasons I purchased the Eglu was due to the coop being plastic and easy to keep clean and get rid of mites easier.  And if I had to choose between the two breeds I think I would have Polands and just get different colours and smooth and frizzle style as well to keep them different.  Was hoping the breeder when I purchased could advise me on the best way to keep the crest dry from the water and feeders. 

  The main reason I even wanted to get chickens is cause I fell in love with the Poland breed and am willing to spend extra time and energy with their care.  I don't want to breed them myself I just don't have the space in my garden so was just looking for 3-4 hens. 

  Thank you all for all your comments and I really appreciate all your thoughts and advise and help!  If anyone knows any breeders of either breed I could contact or go see,  I am in Essex but would travel to Kent, Surrey or even Sussex. 

Thanks Joy 

  I did go through it and contacted about 5 people finally today spoke to someone in two towns away and she is hatching  some Poland's  this weekend and has a few Silkies that hatched 2 weeks ago.  She said they could be ready in a few weeks ... personally thought that was too early.  I asked her if I could come and see them in the next few weeks.  She also offered to keep the 4 that I want together so that they would get use to each other early before I brought them home, thought that was really nice.

  I had contacted alot from the list but only contacted one's that had Poland's most were out of stock or were going to get some later this year.  Which was why I thought I would post and ask.  Finally did a google search and contacted about 5 from there some didn't respond as yet some didn't have any etc.  Finally found this one but want to visit before hand to check things out.  Not sure why I doubt I would know if there was anything not right since I am such a newbie.  But saying that sometimes you just get a feeling that things are NOT quite correct.   

Thanks though...
 

  Well I did explain that I could NOT have a cockerel my neighbors will lynch me!  So if one does turn out that way I know where she lives... 

  Can you tell the sex at 6 weeks?  Also yes was really excited that she did both Silkies and Polands and would keep mine together so that they didn't have any issue with each other.  However was told that if you put your added chicken in the house after they went to sleep they would wake up and would accept the newbie thinking it was part of the crowd.  Any truth to that???