Rural Gardening: Want to Get a Few Hens, 1 by TamaraFaye

TamaraFaye wrote:
now, as i was saying...

i was going to recommend you find some adult birds, or half grown. you only want three, so buying day olds through the mail is out of the question, you could buy three from a feed store, but then end up with three roosters. i bought 20 straight run Black Australorps, and ended up with 3 pullets and the rest roos, and they were Plymouth Barred Rocks, see photo above.

i love them, they are cool b irds, but i would not have bought them knowingly, so some mistakes just work out LOL

for your yard, i was thinking you have a lot of vines, shrubs, flowers, plants etc. so a chicken tractor would be best, in which case don't worry about their size and a cat. also, when you let them out to work with you in the garden, you could have bantams, so you could easily have 5 or 6...

look at breeds here:
http://www.feathersite.com

i would recommend a silkie or cochin or brahma in bantams sizes.

if you prefer not feather footed, then Old English Games are really nbice, they make good pets, are about the size of doves, can fly well, but also will sit on your shoulder or scratch in the dirt whenever you have bugs for them. they lay nice eggs, but not regular like a laying hen would.

If you want a pretty barred chicken, the PBRs are nice, or Dominiques like you mentioned. also many other breeds come in barred coloring.

i like the coloring of a Brahma, very unique!

I would not recommend RIR or Buckeyes, as they are heavily feathered and would not fare well in your heat.

The naked neck AKA turken has the light feathering gene, if you like the looks of them, they are very freidnly pets, great layers, good foragers, and do well in winter also.

Meg_e lives in Dallas and bought some chicks recently, maybe she has extras or could tell you where she went.

another option is http://www.petfinder.com

i am so HAPPY you are getting chickens. everyone should consider raising their own eggs, and perhaps meat. and grass/bug fed is so much better than factory fed!

here is a shot of my bantam brahmas. out of five, only one roo.

well, what i found is a group shot, including one PBR roo on the right, the two buff in the middle are bantam brahma a roo and hen, the light brahmas are white with black, one on each side of the waterer and one in the corner, the rest are bantam cochin except for two polish...