New here

I

Intrepid

New member
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Hi all,

just wanted to say hello. I am new here and also new to keeping poultry, so there will probably be lots of questions from me in the near future. I live in Lancing, West Sussex, and I hope to connect with poultry enthusiasts in the area as well as all over the world. I am a 55 year old female, with 2 dogs and currently 10 Emden goose eggs :mrgreen: Hopefully a few ducks and guinea fowl will follow very shortly, it all depends what will be available on the market in Salisbury this Saturday. Any way, it will be nice to meet all of you and I look forward to a lively board membership.

Regards
Karina
 
Hello Karina and welcome to the forum! :D :-)99 :-)99

Have you been to the salisbury rare breeds auction before? Certainly is an experience! :D
 
Hi Karina. Plenty of help available on this forum. I have been considering Guinea Fowl but at the moment the noise is a problem as they are very loud -have a look at the Youtube videos.
 
Hi Foxy and Chris,

thanks for the welcome :D I went to the Salisbury Auction on Tuesday and will go to the Poultry Rare Breed one this Saturday. It was my first time in such an environment and it was interesting, to say the least. A bit wary about the Rare Breed auction, I have heard that the prices can be quite inflated.

I know the guinea fowl make a lot of noise, plus of course they climb trees as well and start "singing" in the night. I might have to put that idea on the back burner for a bit ;) Anyway, ducks are the more important birds, before all the slugs and snails ruin my lovingly raised seedlings.

So, what do you both keep?
 
Well I have heard (and there are so many old wives tales involved in this) that half a dozen Guinea Fowl can scare a fox away. Well someone who had 8 had them all eaten by a fox!! So can't rely on the fox scaring aspect. They do talk a hell of lot to each other. They are a French seasonal delicacy, but don't taste the exceptional price tag of €15 each (TNN's are better). We have Orpingtons, Wyandottes, TNN's and English Leghorn Bantams, our 'pets' which we exported from England. TNN's climb trees and I am willing to bet they are far better at it than a Guinea Fowl. We are going to free range them in fox country with low tree cover and a secure coop- see what happens then Intrepid ?
 
That is an excellent idea with the tree cover :) I'd love to hear more about that and of course how you are getting on. We have just bought 2 ducks now, as the prices at Salisbury today were ridiculous. I might have to go for some rescue birds at this rate. :)
 
I breed both exhibition and utility faverolles in large and bantam, Muscovies and runner ducks Karina. Faverolles are not only a beautiful breed but useful layers also :D
 
Hi Karina, I heard there were some silly prices at the Salisbury Rare Breed auction. (£600 for a pair of Cochins!!!)
I know you seem mainly interested in ducks and geese, but if you are also considering rare breed chickens, or just very nicely- bred more common breeds, you might like to take a look at Chalk Hill Poultry see http://www.chalkhillpoultry.co.uk/ If you are prepared to drive as far as Salisbury, it would be about another half an hour further on the road to Blandford. I've had several birds from Chalk Hill over the the years and they've all been excellent in every way, very nice people too.
 
@ Foxy: The ducks you breed sound very interesting. Where are you located, if I may ask?

@ Marigold: We have decided against chickens as we have an exclusively vegetable garden and chickens would make too much mess there. That is one of the reasons also that we are still pondering on the guinea fowl, as I hear they can be very destructive too. Thanks very much for the offer though.

And yes, £600 for a pair of Cochins is right. My landlord got the cheapest available - a pair of Blue Saxony's for £56.

Karina
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top