[andy and deb]

Hi Folks,
My wife Deb and I have just bought 4 hens yesterday, 3 seperate breeds a Nero a Speckled Rock a Blue star and a hybrid , we are first timers and will I,m sure be posting questions on here often .. my first question is basically how long is the average lifespan of a hen ? ours by the way are all about 5 months old and will fingers crossed be laying some tasty eggs soon ... will our dog barking at them occasionally, stop them from laying ?.. They seem to have settled in to their new home nicely and are just sorting the pecking order it seems which the hybrid seems to be at the bottom of  as she is the smallest ..'Poor martha '...and when they do start laying how.. will we know which are laying and which not?

[evie2]

New chicken keepers, excellent

Can't give you a definitive on their lifespan however a friend of ours still had her first hen 10 years on

We have a jack Russell at the bottom of the garden who barks constantly, it's doing it now, Ruby one of our hens decided to brood a clutch under the shared bramble bush, so I reckon once they get used to the barking it doesn't bother them

Ahem, pictures? it mandatory you know

[Beano]

Hi,
Congratulations on having the good taste to keep chickens!
To answer one of your questions:- You will know when your pullets will be getting ready to start laying when their combs gradually change over the weeks to bright red.
Also if you are as sad as me and spend far too much time just watching and talking to them, you will even know which one layed which egg.

[VickyW]

Hello, I'm new too, haven't got my hens yet but have ordered my coop and bought the drinker, feeder and smite today.
I'll follow your progress with interest 

[andy and deb]

Thanks for the kind words , I will certainly post some pics when I get my phone back from the o2 shop .. Our Nero 'Betty' has been bullying the other three all day much to Deb's annoyance and picking on our poor little hybrid Martha the most , we are hoping its just sorting out rank and file and they should settle down in a few days

[andy and deb]

 yes we are just as sad , spending our time just watching and listening to them trying to figure out their characters , we even sat listening to them after we had put them to bed to make sure they were ok the first night

[evie2]

Watching and listening is mandatory too

[bantam novice]

Be warned it can become addictive    You may well find that you want to increase your flock 

[daisy1990]

pure breeds live longer than hybrids as a rule.  You can expect 3 years for a hybrid and five for a pure breed.  This is obviously variable just as it is in humans.  Ex battery hens often dont live much beyond 2, which show that loving care, good food and fresh air makes for a long life (again like humans I guess!)  Barking dogs dont have any effect on egg production (we have three!) Another way to tell which hens lays which eggs is by the colour (certain breeds always lay brown, others white some blue and green etc)  If you google your breeds it will give you an idea what to expect.  We have two hens that lay white eggs but you can tell one of them as her eggs are a different shape (more angular)

[andy and deb]

Thanks again for the info, our dog poppy seems to have gotten used to the new additions pretty quickly which is good , as for adding to our flock ermm not sure about that we don,t have much room to expand the coop without losing poppy's play area plus we have a three year old daughter who has the rule of the garden too , she loves her new pets and keeps saying hello to them .. might add some more if we can put them in the same coop I,ll have to check on the numbers don,t want my girls getting overcrowded.. hopefully soon I will have fenced off the whole rear  garden so they can have a good run around

[Beano]

we even sat listening to them after we had put them to bed to make sure they were ok the first night

Yes, that's right done that.
As for egg colour, one lays little white shiny eggs. The other two lay green eggs. Pearl has layed the same size and colour from the beginning but Amber still hasnt made up her mind what size, shape or colour hers are yet. We have two retireees also who are at least 6 years old.
I cant have any more than the five, because my husband has been quite crafty and made sure that the coop is only big enough for five.