Grow Your Own Magazine

Hello,

am new to chicken keeping and hubby is building our wooden hen house as we speak. Me, I'm joining forums and am enjoying reading people's tales about their chooks!

Am researching where to get hens from and have noticed that most 'normal' prices round here are £15 for a hybrid.

Am on waiting list for 3 ex-batts but hope to get hens soon. (how long can a house & run take to build?!?!? ) Have made list of favs, mainly being pekins, buff bantm orps, and anything in buff colour really!! Will probably get 2 (3?!?!?) hens but am not sure where to buy or what I should pay?

Any ideas? We're in Stevenage and can travel - probably 50miles is reasonable distance?

On previous searches of my own I have come across Happy Hens. They are based in Essex.
link: Happy Hens

Also, there is a feed place just outside Fulbourn near Cambridge who sell hens for 12.50 each. Not sure if thats within your travelling radius though.

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Hi Lemon, I'm only in WGC. Perhaps we could share hunting resources/places!!! I have found a really nice guy at a Poultry place - Thornes garden nursery in Letchworth (01462 675767). It's only about 15 mins from you and really easy to get to. They sell loads of chickens - Bantams are 30 pound a go though!

I am really after a few bantams too, and don't really mind what type, but I only want hens. I also fancy some other hens - pref. pure breeds so they don;t scratch up the ground as much as my 3 Rhode Island Reds!

Let me know if you find a good but cheap source - and I'll do the same!

try the north london battery rescue, Carly from there regulary posts on here. search the members list for her profile

heres a link http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...henrescue.html

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Carly has been very good! She brought my exisitng 3 hens up from Brighton a couple of week ago! They are great! So much so, that I want more!!!

There's a rare breeds poultry place just outside Stotfold near Fairfield called Thornes. Not cheap but I had some lovely birds from there a few years ago. You could try Standalone Farm too, they hatch out loads of chicks.

Mrs J

I've never seen them advertising them for sale, but they must sell them somewhere because they hatch chicks out all summer. Give them a call, there's no harm in asking.

Mrs J

Hi Fairy,

How'd you get on with the bantam hunt? Can't say I've found any on my travels....

Anyway, what I have to report is that I have found another source for chickens. Went there today after work. Its Notcutts Garden Centre in Smallford (in between Hatfield and St. Albans.)

The chickens are outside in an enclosure with the houses in the pen. They had (what looked to me - no labels no prices, just used knowledge taken from books) possibly, light sussex, buff sussex and others. They looked quite young, I'd guess pullets. They had bigger birds in a different pen and a last pen with a millefleur something or another and an interesting one with a muff (or beard - not sure) you know, fluffy feather either side of the beak but underneath the head. Cute though.

I enquired about prices and they said they vary with breed and the prices are from £18-£40. I don't think I will be buying my chickens from there!

May go back to Thornes next week to have a look around.....either that or Woodside. Not sure if all animal farms have chicks/chickens for sale though - I haven't asked. I can think of a few in the surrounding area.

Pure breed pullets will cost around 25 pounds for non-show-quality birds, so Thornes are a very average price. Nearly all bantams are pure breeds, so yes, they are all that expensive. My two pekin bantams came from there, and they've been very healthy and also very tame.

A lot of the reason is that pure breeds only lay well in the spring, so they produce fewer chicks per year. Not a good choice if you are keeping hens mainly for eggs!

Also, bantams and large breeds don't always mix, though Orpingtons and pekins apparently get on OK (Orpies, which are huge, are big softies!). I wouldn't mix silkies with big hybrids, for example, as silkies are quite timid in comparison, from what I've heard. (timid with other chickens - they are friendly with people)

I would second the recommendation of Happy Hens - haven't been there yet myself (they didn't have any pekins available when I wanted them), but I've spoken to Kirsty on the phone and she's very nice and friendly. She stocks a good range of hybrids, which are a good choice for beginners.

Yes they are - but a lot of hybrids are rhodie crosses, because rhodies are good layers as pure breeds go, hence maybe some confusion going on. IIRC, the standard brown battery hen is a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a Rhode Island White.

@fairy - Pure breeds will scratch just as much as hybrids. If you want a chicken that will scratch a bit less, you could try a short-legged/feather-legged breed such as pekin bantams - though frankly mine haven't read that page of the chicken handbook, judging by the amount of gravel scratched onto my path!

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Try asking around at any local countrystore/farm type shops. This is where we found the contact for our Maran Bantams - they came from a fairly local farm and were only £10 each (actually £20 for a trio, but we declined the cockerel and the price was the same). We'd only gone in to buy the ark, but the question of where to source chickens came up and they were a mine of information - makes sense because lots of the local farmers go there for supplies.

hi lemon

I am relatively new to this site, and am also looking for chickens. I have ordered my coop and run and am waiting for it to arrive.

I am getting mine from thorne's garden nursery from stotfold, if thats any help. am going for two hybrids.

I live in stevenage. poplars area, where are you in stevenage?!! what a coincidence!!

we can share stories of our new chickens!!

angelat

Hi there!!
I'm new to chicken keeping and have wasted many many a time of forums reading people's chicken adventures and learning stuff too!

Are you getting your coop and run from Thornes?

We went up there last month to have a look round and do some research...am off work this week (was supposed to have chickens by now!!) and went up there to have another look around! I am quite tempted by the bantams there - I really fancy a lemon cuckoo pekin - it'll cost me £25. I really like the Buff Orpingtons but am intimidated by the size - unsure if they have them in the bantam version.

Am unsure what chickens we'll get. It'll probably be from Thornes or Woodside nr Slip End. What hybrids are you getting Angelat?

Just had a thought, where do you plan on getting your supplies like food/corn/grit from? Thornes have the stuff, but they're not the cheapest in this area....

Am not too far from you I think - we're in Broadwater. Am not a Stevenage native but am enjoying the area - we've been here almost 2 1/2 yrs.

Oh, and we're still building our hen house and run.. that's what I've been doing this week (when not on forums!!) house almost complete - run to do now (& my hubby is quite fussy!!!)

...........back off to garden to progress---------------->

Don't be intimidated by big chickens. Like some other species, a lot of the biggest ones have the most placid temperaments (think Jack Russel v St Bernard). My big Cochins (now many years gone alas) were the friendliest chickens I ever came across, especially 'Cuddles' the cockerel.

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Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

I think we all must be in the same boat, I am new to the site as well and have just received my chicks last week they are now about 2 weeks old.
I have read alot on the internet as well, I'm really confused on disease control as my little ones have not been vaccinated to my knowledge and I don't really want to fill them full of chemicals if I can avoid it.
We are building a coop and run this weekend (well I am OH probably supervising), musn't complain he always does the digging when asked.
I found getting the chicks quite simple as I was in a pet shop getting things for my dogs and noticed the advert. As I am quite impulsive I rang them straight away then paniced about a brooder pen and heat lamp etc.
Any advice on what they will NEED to keep them safe and allow them to flourish is greatfully accepted

Hi chicken slave! I haven't owned chicks myself but I've read a lot in books and magazines and on the net, so...

Their starter food (chick crumbs) is usually dosed with a medicine against coccidiosis, a serious illness that kills a lot of chicks. Apart from that, vaccination isn't really essential for a home chicken owner as you won't likely come into contact with other chicken diseases. My pekins have been vaccinated, my wyandotte hasn't, and they've been equally healthy.

Apart from the pen and lamp, they just need chick crumbs and a shallow dish for water (emphasis on the shallow, as they can drown in anything deeper than a couple of centimetres of water). At 4 weeks you can offer budgie grit (or special chick grit) and fresh greens (something tender like lettuce).

When they reach 6-8 weeks they will need grower's pellets, then at 16-18 weeks you should move them on to layer's pellets (which have more calcium and thus ready their bodies for egg-laying) and regular mixed grit.

That's about it, really - chickens are simple critters, they don't need much apart from food, water, and space to potter around and scratch

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Small Plot? No Problem! - my blog about growing organic veg

I know they're supposed to be the soft friendly docile breeds but I can't help but get scared by their huge size even if they are big bundles of fluff!!!

It's like big spiders! I'm terrified by them but can cope with the smaller ones!!

Lemon I guarantee if you had ever met Cuddles you would not be worried by big chickens<g>
The medium sized ones tend to be the best layers.

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Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

I was slightly nervous of my chickens for the first few minutes after I got them, they seemed bigger than I anticipated somehow (I have 3 lovely ex-batts so they arrived fully grown if not fully feathered ) but they are 3 big softies who'll follow you anywhere for a handfull of corn Can't plug the north london hen rescue enough btw if you fancied taking on a few rescued hens..? North London Hen Rescue From Stevenage I think you're probably quite close to 2 of their pick up points, either the north london site or Bishop Stortford (where I got mine from a very lovely woman called Debbie )

Thanks Becky

When I went to buy feed from the horse/pet store, I saw advert for Stagenhoe Chickens about 7miles from me. I gave chap a call y'day and he said he had different hybrids available.

I collected 2 this morning and got a Lt Sussex X (she's flappy and very NOISY! ) and a RIR X (like ISA/goldline - they call her a 'Hertfordshire Honey' such a sweet name!) - she is lovely, well behaved and placid!