[Nicki85]

Hello!
I'm looking at getting four chickens at the end of May.  Although the primary reason is for egg production we have decided to go with purebreeds as they should lay over a longer period of time and having four of them it wouldn't matter if they do not lay every day.

We have a local supplier down the road who breeds chickens and she charges £30 for a POL  regardless of breed (she only supplies pure breeds not hybrids).  Does this sound about right?
At the moment we are thinking of having two Sussex and two Maran's although this may change if we can't find a Maran breeder...

I have contacted a couple of the breeders in the directory on here and they have said that their POL of pure breeds will not be available for a good few weeks yet as they do not lay over winter.  I'm a bit confused by this as the other breeder had them available a couple of weeks ago?   :blink:

So really I want to ask...
How much should a POL of pure breed cost?
When will POL pure breeds be ready available?

Thanks 

[Casey76]

POL is a really wooly term

Point of Lay is an estimation of when the pullets are sexually mature and ready to lay eggs.  With hybrids, POL is usually about 18 weeks old, with pure breeds it really depends on the breed.

Smaller, light birds (e.g. leghorns) tend to reach POL before the heavy soft feather (e.g. brahmas)

I would hazard a guess and say an average POL for pure breeds is probably going to be around 26-30 weeks old.

As for the cost, I don't know.  I could only give you an idea of what I pay in France, and I've never bought from a breeder, only at shows 

[joyfull]

I would say on average £25 per bird however if you want a good strain or a rarer breed then it could be more. If you want dark brown eggs from the Marans then go to a good breeder, with mine I was lucky she lays a super colour egg but then the breeder started to see pound signs before his eyes and his breeding programme went out the window and he bred to get more money rather than better quality (sadly with the huge interest in keeping backyard poultry quite a few breeders have done the same thing).
For quality get in touch with the whichever breed club there is for that breed and ask them for a sellers details 

[Nicki85]

Thanks everyone, her POL do look good and I assume they are 25 weeks old as she did say something like they cost a pound a week to raise and £5 to start with.   Which I guess makes sense!

Good idea going direct to the breed home page and looking for a good breeder.  Makes sense to get a good strain! 

Thanks I can't wait to get chicken shopping and have some chickens wandering around at home 

[jinty1911]

I paid £18.50 for my Gold laced Orpington bantie and £12.50 each for the Pekins 3 weeks ago, which I think was a very good deal.  The breeder said they were about 29 weeks then and 1 has laid every day but still waiting for the other 2 to produce.

[AL Hathaway]

i waited 50 weeks for a poland to lay 45 weeks for a Columbine Hybrid 37 weeks for the rest of my flock to start to lay and i just add two more 18 weekold maran to that and will be adding 2 more maran that are just growes so i wont see anything from them untill sometime this summer but they will lay 7-9 on the colour chart for marans so worth the wait but most of our flock are pure breeds.in January is when the most of them started to lay but my cream crested legbar just laid 2 days ago at 30 weeks.

white crested black polish £20.00
Columbine £20.00
barnevelder £10.00
lavender araucana £20.00
copper black maran £20.00
Copper Black £15.00
Amber £15.00
partridge orpington £20.00
australorp £20.00
blue orpington £20.00
crested cream legbar £1.20 i hatched her in our incy
Burford Brown £1.20 hatched her in our incy
Marsh Daisy £3.00 Auction for POL
Rhode Island red  £5.00 Auction for POL
vorwerk £7.50 Auction
wheaten maran £2.50 Auction
lemon pyle brahma hen £14.00
light sussex poland cross £10.00 Auction
lemon pekin £3.00 Auction
Leghorn x legbar £20.00
Welsummer £10.00
French Maran £10.00 Auction
French Maran £10.00 Auction

[Casey76]

Hi AL hathaway.  Just be aware that your Marans hens aren't guaranteed to lay dark eggs.  Even if they hatch out of very dark shells themselves, this is no indicator that they will become dark egg layers.

Also note that a 7-9 is classed as "exceptional" and even the very best hens may only lay eggs with that colour once or twice a season, and the eggs will become paler as the season goes on.

[AL Hathaway]

oh i know but i am getting them from a breeder that has i high % rate of the dark egg layers and it's a 50/50 chance so here goes nothing i have a hen that lays very dark eggs around a 6-7 on the chart so i am happy i just want a few more to add to the belt is all i dont mind if they taper off. here is the breeder i am getting my growers from

http://www.darkbrowneggs.info/#

[viettaclark]

Some of the pure breeds are £40+ on line!