The right time?

Image from http://www.freephoto.com/

It occurred to me that it is getting quite late in the year to be getting point of lay (meaning they're getting close to laying their first egg) hens as the winter is approaching. Pure breed chooks especially aren't that fond of the cold weather and it will most definitely effect their egg laying. I might be alright with some hybrids though, because they should lay in the winter and therefore might start laying a bit sooner. Still, because of the bad timing I might be waiting for that first precious egg until Christmas time or even longer.

If I was being Little Miss Sensible, I would wait until the weather starts warming up next spring and get the chooks then. Unfortunately patience has never been my stronger points. I promise to try really hard, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days not too far in the future I came home with a suspicious pet carrier and sounds of gentle bokking.

(Oh and I'm leaning towards getting a Bluebell and a Speckledy, the first two chickens I fell in love with!)

Choosing chooks

 

Images from http://www.omlet.co.uk/

Got the coop, what next? There are lots of different breeds of chickens to choose from and frankly, the more I read the more confused I get. There are so many things to consider. There's the bird's appearance, friendliness, hardiness, egg production, egg colour, flightiness, broodiness... My head is spinning.

If I understand this correctly, the hybrids (the mutts of the chicken world) are very reliable layers, they lay most eggs the first year and then the egg production starts to diminish. So far, I've taken a liking to Black Rock, Bluebell and Speckledy. The pure breeds may not lay as frequently, but will usually lay for longer and perhaps more consistently. Pure breed hens that have caught my eye are Cream Legbar, Rhode Island Red and Welsummer.

I'm guessing the best thing to do would be to keep a mixed flock, a little bit of everything, but how will I manage that when I've only got space for two? I think I'll just ignore everything I've read, go see the hens and pick the ones that I like.

Why chickens?



Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/


I suppose it started with watching the Edible Garden and falling in love with Alice and Gertrude... Now, for the past few months I've been reading about all things chickeny and browsing chicken houses, before finally stumbling across the ultimate chicken coop (and run) for a small urban garden, the eglu. It keeps the hens safely in and the foxes out, is very easy to clean (with plastic you don't need to worry about the dreaded red mite) and it looks lovely. The problem is that these beauties won't come cheap. After what has felt like an eternity, I'm happy to announce that I'm finally the proud owner of a second-hand eglu!


Image from http://www.omlet.co.uk/


It's all really happening now and it got me thinking, why do I (or anyone) would want to keep chickens? Well, here's how I see it. You'll have lovely pets that will gladly eat the slugs pestering your lettuce and the bits of veg that would otherwise end up in the compost bin. They will produce fertiliser for your veggies and you can use their dirty bedding to speed up your compost. They will keep you company when you're weeding in the hope of finding a juicy worm. And after all that help they still thank you for caring for them with an egg! Where could you find a better pet?

I've told all of this to Hubby, without going into finer detail about chickens wrecking the garden and eating all the veg. I guess he'll find out about that bit soon enough.