[tanya10]

HI
Iam new to this site , I have checked to see if we can keep chickens in our back garden & we can spoken to our neighbours & they have no problems, done a lot of research into keeping hens , phoned a man up who is down sizing his chickens & he has coops for sale & getting our coop this weekend , then getting 4 to 6 hens .

I have 4 children , just wondering if any one can help we want small to medium size chickens of different colours , breeds , can any one tell me which breeds are best for children as my children are aged 5 -9 . any suggestions will be gratefully received .
Hope I make friends on this site .
I am from the North East of England County Durham , we are growing vegetables & fruit too & that is going well .
Hope every one is having a good week .

[tanya10]

Hi
I am new here , my husband  & I are going to be getting hens , I have done alot of resaerch into this area , I have been given permission to keep hens in my back garden & asked neighbours in they mind us having hens & they have no objections .I have contacted a man who is down sizing his chickens & we are getting some coops from him & he will supply us with material to make chicken runs too , we are seeing him this Friday & hope to have every thing in for our new family members , we have 4 children & they want to help look after the chickens what I would like to know is what are the best breeds for children we want small to medium sized hens  different colours / breeds so they can tell the difference , any help gratefully received, hope to make many friends from this site , I am from County Durham , from the North East of England .
I am so looking forward to our hen keeping venturte . We are growing our own vegetables too & fruit too , trying to be self suffient , my oldest daughter who is 9 wants to be a vet , we also have 2 rabbits & a pony too & dogs ,so we have a small happy family .Hope you all have a nice week .

[joyfull]

Hi and welcome, whay not go for something like a pekin bantam - they are cute, medium sized birds and come in a range of colours 

[Beano]

Hi tanya10,
Not an expert on breed I'm afraid but would like to wish you well with your venture into chicken keeping and self sufficiency.
We have 5 chickens. 3 heinz variety very old ladies and two Cream legbars. I think your children will love them whatever the breed.
We also grow fruit and veg. and our shopping bill is reduced dramatically, especially in the Summer when the garden is in full production. I havent bought jam for years because we always have plenty of homemade.
One word of warning though. When you get your chickens they will be so adictive you find that you wont have time for anything but watch them all day long.
Enjoy!!

[tanya10]

thanks for that information joyfull , will look into that breed thanks , will let you know what we decide , will see if any of the north east breeders sell them .

[tanya10]

Hi Beano
Thanks , glad your self suffiency is working too , we are growing fruit & vegetables too , like carrots , peas , watermelon , cucumber, tomato plants , potato , strawberries , peppers, he have apple trees, plum tree, pear tree  & cherry tree , we are going to buy blue berries plants too & more fruit trees , thinking about rhubarb too , we have had some nice stawberries & cucumbers too ,I am sure you are right our children will adore them & so will my husband , I love watching birds come & get the wild bird food , will let you know what we get when we buy them , thanks for your comments .

[Jacinta]

Hello and welcome.  I'm just up the road in Ryton, just outside newcastle.  I got my hens from Durham hens in tow law which is right near you.  They have a great selection at good prices and they all come fully vaccinated.  After much deliberation i settled on a Coral Nick, she's an unbelievably friendly medium sized white bird and follows me everywhere, lays excellently and is no bother.  Next hen is a copper black, a beautiful black bird with a green shimmer and ginger neck, again really willing and friendly, spending as much time in the house as allowed, great egg layer too.  The final choice was a columbian blacktail who's a typical rust coloured bird with a black tail.  She is the most shy of the bunch, doesn't like being picked up (she's fine when you eventually catch her) she's quite stand offish and seems to enjoy her own company when out ranging.  So based on my limited flock of 3, and presuming their breed has something to do with their personality traits, coral nicks and copper black would be great for kids.  I could be totally wrong though, hens have such different personalities it's hard to know where they and and breed traits begin.  Good luck, you'll love it. 

[buttony22]

my 2 youngest children are 7 and 9 and r loving the girls, i am now wanting to plan my nxt coop, someone on here told me keeping chooks was addictive they were so right 

[rileyfin]

Hi, I live just outside Hexham, Durham hens does have a very good reputation!

I have silkies, they do not lay as many eggs as some breeds, however I find I always have more eggs than I need off my 5 girls and the eggs are delicious. I get anywhere between 2 - 5 per day.

Silkies are small, very friendly (so great with kids), low impact on your garden, dont fly so do not need high fencing, and dont need alot of space like some breeds.

Down sides, they are not waterproof so need some kind of shelter, and they are VERY ADDICTIVE!!!!

Good luck 

[joyfull]

silkies are also very prone to going broody so not really advisable if you want plenty of eggs. If you want a small very friendly bird then look at Sabelpoots - they come under the wing of the rare breeds club but there are always plenty of the lemon millefleur colouring around (the other colours tend to be more scarce in this country).

[buttony22]

my son has just run in from the gardening shouting "mum Rosie is out of the coop, and i can see an egg" so that is Egg number 2 in 3 days

[tanya10]

Thanks every one for your ideas on breeads , we got our chicken coop last Saturday , then we got 5 white bantam chickens , we have had them since last Saturday after noon & have had 2 eggs so far , my children love them , we got 6 in total wanting to get 4 chicks probably the polish bantams , just wondering can you mix different species of bantams together ? as some say you can not , just want to check on that , our girls are called Flower, my youngest daughter named her my youngest son called his Rosie, my older son called his Snowy , my oldest daughter called hers Willow , mine is called Henrietta , my husband called his Dinah .
They are so addictive , I love just watching them .