Free range eggs, 30 odd hens?

[Rabid 1,936]

Get some

light Sussex

Cream legbar

orpingtons or leghorns 

marans

rhode island reds (they can be Arsey things)

and then your Typical brown hen, that will give you a multitude of coloured eggs

 

be careful of some of the proper breeds as they won’t lay as many eggs as your hybrid types, but they do give a lovely mix of eggs, blue, white, dark brown, light brown, speckled.....

 

Edited to add, just seen your other thread, you need some pigs, give me a shout and I will sort you out, got about 200 up here you can choose from, all different breeds and some fancy ones you may like.

[Tyla 3,179]

Thank you. I definitely want pigs but got to get the infrastructure sorted first, access track, fencing, water supply etc. I'm slowly getting there though!

[Rabid 1,936]

16 minutes ago, Tyla said:

Thank you. I definitely want pigs but got to get the infrastructure sorted first, access track, fencing, water supply etc. I'm slowly getting there though!

All good sense, but don’t forget you can keep pigs behind two strands of electric and nothing more, they only escape when looking for food or breeding, just don’t get any boars and your laughing.

whater, you need an ibc, a few sheets of tin to collect rainwater.....

 

‘’god your so lucky getting that, it’s an adventure and a damn good one at that. Well done and enjoy it. 

[Tyla 3,179]

2 minutes ago, Rabid said:

All good sense, but don’t forget you can keep pigs behind two strands of electric and nothing more, they only escape when looking for food or breeding, just don’t get any boars and your laughing.

whater, you need an ibc, a few sheets of tin to collect rainwater.....

 

‘’god your so lucky getting that, it’s an adventure and a damn good one at that. Well done and enjoy it. 

Thanks, an adventure it surely is .... it's a bit daunting if I look at it as a whole but broken down into tasks it's all doable. And I'm loving it .... there is something about knowing it's your own that makes a huge difference

[Arry 22,504]

1 hour ago, Tyla said:

Does anyone have any recommendations on which breeds to go for the different coloured eggs? 

Marans                           Brown eggs

Plymouth Rock.            Brown eggs

Cotswold Legbar          Blue  eggs

Cheers Arry

[darbo 4,776]

Welsummer/ barnevelder dark brown eggs. Araucana /cream legbar blue eggs.

[gamerooster 1,179]

Coloured egg layers dont lay as well as white egg layers,,its to do with how long the egg is kept inside the hens system, all eggs begin white but then the hen adds the colour, the best egg layers are white stars or generic white leghorn hybrids and bovan neras,,isa browns, warrens,;all pretty much the same thing from different breeders, the bovan also do a bovan black which is the equivalent of your black rock, dont lay as well and eat slightly more but developed for a free range type system

[Rabid 1,936]

1 hour ago, Wideboy said:

Ex battery hens breeds have soft feathers and look fairly bad with a shower of rain. 

A hardy breed is blackrock. They lay a cream egg. Be careful when buying Marens as they will be hybrids and not lay a true chocolate colour egg.

No, I have to disagree, I’ve got maybe 50 or 60, and they are the last chickens to go in when it rains, all my ‘’true’’ breeds are the first in the house when it starts, and I certainly don’t have a higher mortality rate because of it,

The first month or so is important until they have hardened up a little, depending on time of year and just how bad they are when you get them, they soon feather up, and after the first mould they look no different to any other hen.

[forest of dean redneck 11,727]

I had ex batts an they were ok £1 a bird compared to £30 for a pure bred is lot of money .

[Pirate 9000 676]

Supprised you had to pay £1 each I'm just glad to get rid of them.

[Tyla 3,179]

You can't get them for £1 a bird round here! Too many people want to rescue them so they are £5 each from the rescue and just a bit less direct from the farm

[forest of dean redneck 11,727]

On 16/12/2019 at 11:46, Pirate 9000 said:

Supprised you had to pay £1 each I'm just glad to get rid of them.

They were quite good condition as well .

[leegreen 2,210]

On 16/12/2019 at 11:46, Pirate 9000 said:

Supprised you had to pay £1 each I'm just glad to get rid of them.

where are you and how old are your get rid of birds?