[SnooziSuzi]

Hi Guys,

I haven't been around for quite a while; lots of things going on on the outside.

I am going to have a look at 3 Fenton hens tomorrow and I wanted to know (other than the usual health checks) what to look out for.

Are they a large or miniature breed?

I know that they can lay blue eggs but that's about it.

The seller wants £15 for all 3 which are (he tells me) 5 months old.  Can I be sure of gender at this age?

sorry for so many questions when I haven't been around for a while but I know you're the people to ask 

Su

[joyfull]

here you are:-

http://www.fentonpoultry.co.uk/fenton_blue.htm

[SnooziSuzi]

Ooh, great   thanks Joy

From the write up, if they are genuine Fenton's then it looks like they would be worth the fiver each

Will post pics when/if I buy them

Thanks, Su

[joyfull]

make sure you can return any should they be cockerels 

[3Bluebelles]

We have a Fenton. £15 for 3 sounds like a bargain because we paid £25 for ours!!! (Compared with £17.50 each that we paid for the 2 Burford Browns bought from the same breeder.

She is a lovely chicken. Not minature, but standard chicken size, although with a much larger comb than the others. Lovely nature, very friendly and easy to handle, and very pretty colouring. Pale cream with a sort of apricot tinge to the ends of her wing feathers and tail. She lays beautiful full size pale blue eggs. She has laid consistently almost daily since we bought her at point of lay, and has just stopped recently because she is moulting.

I would recommend the breed, although I know it's a fairly recently developed hybrid, but just make sure it's genuine because that does sound cheap to me.

All the best.

[SnooziSuzi]

Thanks both,

I've been looking online to see if I can find some pics and breed information; my PP Choosing and keeping chickens book only has a passing reference to them and certainly no images.  I haven't bought PP for a year or two now so not sure if they have featured the breed or not.

I did find this site which has some images - they look a bit like a heinz 57 variety of bantam I had a few years back according to the images.

I can't find anywhere that shows what to look out for in case they are cockeralls (other than the obvious signs of this) - are they sex linked in any way?

[3Bluebelles]

Don't know whether it helps, but here are a couple of pictures of our Pheobe.

[SnooziSuzi]

 Thanks, that does help... sort of! LOL

I say that because the pics I have seen so far are more Cream Legbar like, but that would be likely with them being a CL x Arucana.  She's beautiful by the way  :happy:

[kittyb]

Hi,I have a fenton and she lays pale cream eggs and one we had a while ago layed bluish green eggs,breeder said they do vary in egg colour production.
I paid five pounds for each and they are a medium size hen and extremely friendly,when I'm in the run and filling water tank she will hop on my back to get a better look

[SnooziSuzi]

well, I did buy them and I've put pics of them in this thread.

they're in excellent condition and he really did only want a fiver each for them as he'd raised them from eggs - maybe in the future I'll see if I can get a Fenton cock and breed from them if the eggs do turn out blue, but that's something for another day.  I've heard that they don't sit well, so I'd have to get some silkies or similar to incubate them for me.

Tomorrow I clip their wings and let them out for the first time (they've been making friends with their new shed since last night so didn't want to let them out today unclipped and unsure of home) and I've booked some holiday time on Monday and Tuesday so I can spend some more time with them

[3Bluebelles]

They are beautiful. Well done it looks like you got a bargain. Interesting for me, because it made me read up a bit more on Fentons as ours looks so different, and I think our Phoebe is actually a Fenton Rose, not a Fenton Blue. She lays beautiful blue eggs and is really regular (or was until recently when she started moulting).

I hope yours start to lay and their eggs are as lovely looking and as regular.

All the best.