New hens in Beckenham

Pabloelchico · « **on:** December 30, 2009, 15:11 »

Hi All
First post to this forum, as I am the proud owner of an egloo, courtesy of Santa. I was hoping I could tap the collective wisdom....

I live in Beckenham in Kent, and have 3 young children (two under 3 years and a 4 year old) and a long grassy garden.

I have done some research and liked the idea of getting a couple of hens. My main criteria being:
- get some young hens at point of lay pr just before, so they know the kids from an early age
- to get hens that are good layers year round, but not necessarily prolific layers
- to get hens with a good personality so that they bond well with the kids and are fun to have around in the garden
- not too broody
- get them from a good breeder and all early vaccinations done
- hardy and able to cope with living in egloo run for most days, rather than free range

I liked the idea of a pure breed, and have seen a lot of good write ups on the light sussex. A few questions, if I may be so bold:

- Do you agree light sussex is a good breed to go for, or should I go for something else?
- Are they too big for a 4 hen igloo?
- I was thinking of getting 2 hens. Is this ok, or should I get three as a minimum ?
- Can you recommend any breeders local to me for light sussex or other breeds you recommend? Some of the postings on this forum seem to highlight the importance of the breeder in creating a "well balanced" hen, so I am keen to get this right. I have found one near the M23 that does light sussex, and was wondering if people had any experience of this? Can breeders register? - if so should I focus on using one that is registered?

Any guidance would be much appreciated

Many thanks

grumpydad · « **Reply #1 on:** December 30, 2009, 16:39 »

congratulations, you must have been very good for santa to bring you an eglu.

read lots of books, you cants have too many, read lots of the threads on the site, and never be afraid to ask a question, even if you think it is stupid, someone will always answer, and it will usually help.

chucks are either pure breed or hybrid.

pure breed will usually lay less per year, most will have time off in the winter as they lay due to the amount of daylight hours, but lay for more years, hybrids usually lay most of the year, but not for as many years.

there will always be exceptions.

google or visit the omlet site as they have a good visual selection of hens to look at, look at some of the hybrids, speckeldys etc.

decide if you want full size or bantams, which are a bit smaller, so you could quite easily have 3, but not usually in a hybrid form.

so many choices, dont rush it. you may get some offers of hens from people on the site.

raeburg · « **Reply #2 on:** December 30, 2009, 17:16 »

Light sussex are a nice hen. You can get utility light sussex, which are a hybrid, not pure breed and theses tend to lay more. I'd have 3 , then if you loose one you haven't got 1 on it's own. Be aware chickens are an addiction and you can soon have far more

lucylou · « **Reply #3 on:** December 30, 2009, 20:40 »

ive got 2 sussex bantams - a buff one and a speckled, they are not true bantams so are basically just a a smaller version of the large fowl (mid way between bantam and large fowl size) they lay a good size egg and i think they are pretty robust hens, good luck, its really exciting deciding what to get

ehs284 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2009, 13:41 »

Depending on whether appearance or egg production is important, you couldn't do worse than hybrids - black rock or Warren ISA are fine - the latter are great with children and very forgiving of rough treatment. A lot of people have trouble with prolapses and this seems linked to egg size v. bird size, so a large bird with small eggs may be an advantage. HTH

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New hens in Beckenham

Pabloelchico

New hens in Beckenham

grumpydad

Re: New hens in Beckenham

raeburg

Re: New hens in Beckenham

lucylou

Re: New hens in Beckenham

ehs284

Re: New hens in Beckenham

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