Want to Get a Few Hens

I live in town, and my neighbors would love to complain..so just hens for me...I heard a rooster crow, down the street, so one of my neighbors has chickens...
I don't know much about chickens...not sure what kind to get...my parents had some Rhode Island Reds..they were pretty nice, and Big! (I saw the rooster gulp down a mouse, I was astonished! Didn't know they did that)
when I was a kid, we knew a Dr would had chickens and there was one that I thought was gorgeous, it was black and white...maybe a Dominique...are they a good one to have?
I have a cat, can they hold their own with a cat? Not the chicks of course, they would be protected, but when they are adults during the day, they would be in a coop of some sort, at night.

They can definitely hold there own with the average house cat---mine is so traumatized by being rushed by my very little flock, she won't go outside if they are out. She was semi-feral when I adopted her, but a large feral can might be able to take a single hen.

everthing i typed just disappeared... here is the photo i was looking up...

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:
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 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...

Thanks TF, a lot of good information. About 15 years ago I got a bunch of chicks when my parents had their place and a chicken condo it was so neat, and really big...I was in a small town, near Denton, and saw a sign on a feed store, "Now is the time to order your chicks" so I did. and I went kind of crazy, ordered 26, and 7 of them turned out to be roosters...Mom knew a woman who raised Peafowl, and she wanted the roosters to process for meat...it was kind of sad, but...I can't remember what all I got, except one that was called a Red Neck? I thought that name was funny...there were so many varmits out at their place that the chickens were not long for this world..we had something coming during the day, to pick them off, one by one. At night, they were locked up, but during the day..they were let out to roam around the place.

but you have a fenced yard, right?

tf

The back is fenced and that is where they would be.

cool, that is what i was thinking. you should still plan on a chicken tractor, to protect your plants, and turn them out when you are out...

have you looked at petfinder.com yet?

I will do that right now..BTW I only have 10 peat pots that are empty..what else can we trade? How is the other stuff doing? I have some Cork screw Willow...

Isn't he pretty???
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10551405

petfinder mostly has roosters unless I want to go to MN or MO....

aww, that's too bad. have you dmailed meg_e?

the vines are doing great. the last three are still in their bags, getting sprayed until good pootting weather, which is today!

sound like you need mor epeat pots? dmail me corkscrew willow info. i was thinkingof pussy willow or something along the front to block all the cars that go by. esp those neighbors, they love to slow down and stare when they drive past...

I haven't emailed her yet.
I will send you info on the Willows

sent you rpots, got your seed request.... did you get some chicks yet?

thanks for the willows,
tf

no, not yet...need to make a shelter first...so it may be later...I have been thinking about it for a long time.

let me know if you would like to borrow our a-frame plans, i could mail them to you...

Pictures? do you have pictures?