What Chickens info??

Cran

Need some information that hopefully someone here can help.
Since herself has moved to country with me she is determined to start her own small holding, which I greatly encourage. She has a herb, veg, fruit garden planned and an orchard all of which I know something about and can help with.

Next its the chickens, now I know something about most livestock but not birds. Wonder what are the best chicken breeds for the garden, room is not an issue as converting a shed in garden as a coop and adding a large run. Was wondering what are the easiest to keep docile, hardiest and best layers? Know its probably similar to sheep/cattle that everyone has their favorites, but a list is fine as probably get a couple of breeds and also will depend on availability & price:D

Conmaicne Mara

I haven't got any yet, but I might go for hybrids, purely on laying ability.

Down this page a bit:

http://www.freerangepoultry.ie/our-breeds/hens/laying-hens

Not even fully sure if they're the right ones to get but I've no house for them yet so no hurry

muppet_man

Cran wrote: »

Was wondering what are the easiest to keep docile, hardiest and best layers?

I'm new to keeping chicken so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

After a lot of research about 6 weeks ago I got 3 ex-battery cage Rhode Island reds of my back garden.
I went for the Rhode Islands because what I found out online seem to point out that they are fairly hardy and forgiving to first time keeper. I knew I'd make a few mistakes and need all the help they could give.
They're also very good layers so far but I suppose thats why they're used in commercial farms.
I didn't initially plan to get ex-battery, was going to go to a bring and buy sale in Portlaoise, but just as I was ready to get them a local animal rescue shelter took in a batch of 1 year olds which were going for slaghter so I knew I'd have to help.
One bit of advice, fence your herb & veg garden or they will be destroyed. Would be good to let them in before planting to clear weeds for you and you'll always have plenty of fresh chicken manure for good yields.

Hope it helps.

SligoEdo

We got 2 Blackrocks and 2 Bluebells about a year ago...they're great. Fantastic layers. Lovely birds all round.
Only thing is though, we bought ours at POL (point of lay), so they were about maybe 18 weeks old when we got them. They hadn't really been handled much by the people we bought them off, so they run from us when we try to pick them up. They'll still hang around us when we're outside, and they'll peck food from our hands...but we need to use a net to catch them if we need to handle them. It's not a big issue though...it would just be handier if we could handle them to check their health etc (in saying that though, they've had no health problems). They also don't seem to mind too much when it rains. Some chickens won't come out in the rain, but ours are grand, unless it's a torrential downpour.

I'd also HIGHLY recommend getting some ducks. We've got 3 Khaki Campbells. They're great layers as well and duck eggs are much nicer than chicken eggs (imo). Same deal with the ducks though, bought at POL, so they don't like us going to close to them. Although I have heard that even if you hand rear ducks, when they get older, they'll tend to keep away from you. Anyway, ducks are no more hassle than the chicks. Make sure they have access to some water though, as they need it to keep clean and healthy...plus it's great craic watching them in the water. We just have a plastic container about 1 foot deep, 1 wide and 2 long which we fill with water every day. We'll hopefully be moving them into an area with a little stram in the next few weeks though.

Whatever you get, enjoy them. Watching their antics gives us no end of pleasure, they all have their own personalities and it's great watching them just wandering around doing their chicky (and ducky) business.

yellowlabrador

When I had chickens I had a main flock of rhodes but as I had a neighbour who bred rare breeds, I also had some of his hybrids. That was mainly because although they won't lay consistently like rhodes, they had, blue, green or chocolate coloured eggs. I also kept a few bantams because they go broody. Handy if you want some chicks. You do need a cockerel too, and that definitely shouldn't be a bantam. I used to have a bantam cockerel that was better than any guarddog. In fact it was quite a job to get visitors into the house. Ducks are great and the best layers are the khakis.

Qualitymark

If she's going to sell the eggs in the local farmer's market, she might think about a mix of silkie and araucana bantams - both of these lay blue eggs, which are very saleable. It's also a nice mix - nice-natured hens, both.

flutterby1

We started off with 'common owld garden hybrids', great layers, we now have rare breeds to that we intend to breed and sell on.
I would say that the Pekins we have are less messy don't scratch up the ground nowhere near as much as hybrids and RIR.

periodictable

Rhode Island Reds

martinangus

sussex, good dosile hen big egg, blackrock,whitestar,and aulstrope. hybrid rhode island to. all of them are good layers. i have 12 blackrock 3 whitestar.

aonb

Ive had Rhode Island Red Hybrids (basic little brown hen) and pure breeds for many years. The hybrids will always lay for longer, and consistantly more than the pure breeds. They are tougher and less prone to problems/disease.