Thinking of chickens.
 

Sorry if you've seen this before. I'm sending it again because I think my ISP
is failing to post to the usenet. It happened before, but I upgraded my
software and continued happily.

Repost starts:-

Hi,

I'm considering taking over a weed and car tyre infested patch of land that a
neighbour has given up on. My though is to install a chicken coup, maybe with a
half greenhouse. Are there any particular breeds of chicken that are suitable
for beginers, based in UK Midlands? I did hear of one guy who started a
successful organic egg business with rescued battery hens, which were in a
pretty sorry state when he got them.

Any good books for beginers?

David Lloyd
So open-minded - my brains dribbled out.

Thinking of chickens.
 

Dear David,

Chickens are pretty easy to raise/look after, and to be honest its a bit
like asking dog owners which are the best dogs.
Everyone has their own opinion. Some hens are better layers, some hens are
better mothers, some types of roosters tend to be more aggressive etc etc.
Personally I like the OEG bantams, but they aren't fantastic layers, but
they are better layers that say silkies. I just like them because they are
hardy little birds that look nice, and they scratch around a LOT which suits
me because they I have a chook tractor. I also have 2 big hens for 2 people
egg production ,a sussex and a rhode island type cross) They all live
together very happily, and were introduced to each other as
pullets/chickens. The top hen is one of the bantams. (OEG were breed for
fighting birds so they may be small but they stand up for themselves)
There is no reason why you can mix the hens up together if they are
introduced to each other at a young age. They will spend a week or so,
sorting out their pecking order and then will get along fine.

Really its mostly a matter of 'choice' more than anything else. Of course
the bigger the bird/the more room/food etc will be required but they will
also lay more eggs, as a general rule. Soft feather chickens or chickens
with feathers on their feet tend to get mites more often/some hens have been
breed to lay large eggs but can often get egg bound which can be
troublesome.

Anyway this is a good site
http://members.iinet.net.au/~greggles1/index.html



"Sirius631" wrote in message
...
Sorry if you've seen this before. I'm sending it again because I think my
ISP
is failing to post to the usenet. It happened before, but I upgraded my
software and continued happily.

Repost starts:-

Hi,

I'm considering taking over a weed and car tyre infested patch of land
that a
neighbour has given up on. My though is to install a chicken coup, maybe
with a
half greenhouse. Are there any particular breeds of chicken that are
suitable
for beginers, based in UK Midlands? I did hear of one guy who started a
successful organic egg business with rescued battery hens, which were in a
pretty sorry state when he got them.

Any good books for beginers?

David Lloyd
So open-minded - my brains dribbled out.

Thinking of chickens.
 

In article 40ceb57d@tyson, "Liza" writes:

Dear David,

Chickens are pretty easy to raise/look after, and to be honest its a bit
like asking dog owners which are the best dogs.
Everyone has their own opinion. Some hens are better layers, some hens are
better mothers, some types of roosters tend to be more aggressive etc etc.
Personally I like the OEG bantams, but they aren't fantastic layers, but
they are better layers that say silkies. I just like them because they are
hardy little birds that look nice, and they scratch around a LOT which suits
me because they I have a chook tractor. I also have 2 big hens for 2 people
egg production ,a sussex and a rhode island type cross) They all live
together very happily, and were introduced to each other as
pullets/chickens. The top hen is one of the bantams. (OEG were breed for
fighting birds so they may be small but they stand up for themselves)
There is no reason why you can mix the hens up together if they are
introduced to each other at a young age. They will spend a week or so,
sorting out their pecking order and then will get along fine.

Really its mostly a matter of 'choice' more than anything else. Of course
the bigger the bird/the more room/food etc will be required but they will
also lay more eggs, as a general rule. Soft feather chickens or chickens
with feathers on their feet tend to get mites more often/some hens have been
breed to lay large eggs but can often get egg bound which can be
troublesome.

Anyway this is a good site
http://members.iinet.net.au/~greggles1/index.html


Cheers for that, I'll give the web site a good read. My big interest will be
having enough egg production and figuring out the waste input/outputs that can
be saved and used.


David Lloyd
So open-minded - my brains dribbled out.